Wapennachawa San arts and crafts project - South Africa - Paintings - Hand painted tablecloths - Beadwork

About Us

Today only a few thousand San people survive in South Africa and many have scant knowledge of their ancient roots. Most of them originated from Angloa and Namibia, but due to wars in those regions they were moved to the Northern Cape where unemployment is a constant adversary.

The Wapennachawa (* San word meaning "God is Grace") Arts and Crafts Project began in 1997 when Karoo farmer Andries Botha recruited 100 demoralised San people from the Northern Cape, some 1 000km away. The men worked on the farm and Andries's wife Janita started afternoon classes, in 2003, in fabric painting, needlework and beadwork to develop skills among the women. Further art and craft classes were introduced and soon the women were rediscovering the talents that characterised Africa's original artists.

The Wappenachawa Arts and Crafts project focuses on the importance of San heritage and culture. It aims to create permanent employment for 20 women who will sell their beautiful creations and teach their skills to future generations. The San families of the farm Kareekrans have become a vibrant Christian community where we try to preserve their language,art and skills on the road to self sufficiency.

We have two schools on the farm. The primary school consists of 40 San-,Xhosa-and coloured children from our and neighbouring farms. This school was started the end of 2007. The children struggled with Afrikaans and English in school, so we started a pre-primary school the beginning of 2011. Our aim is to give our children a headstart in languages,art,mathematics and confidance.

Every year we do a mission to Platfontein"s 6000 San-bushman people. Platfontein is next to Kimberley.We train and disciple the leaders during the day and have meetings with all the other people at night. Our choir and band do the worship and Andries give them a message of hope and God"s grace.