The Making of Heritage Day Artwork

The following video features the creative process behind these objects the children to take home on Heritage Day. Why make whimsical duck plates from paper plates? Sophie answered, “to show there are many uses for a paper plate.” Why make beautiful flowers? Sophie felt, "because the flowers and the plates are nice things to take home and celebrate.”

The making of the unique painted houses of the Ndebele tribe reveals a fascinating history about their famous mud homes and beadwork. They are globally recognized for their unique geometric designs and colors.

About the start of the 20th century, the Ndebele tribe were oppressed by Dutch settlers after a dramatic defeat. As a symbol of their resistance, the Ndebele tribe communicated secretly using symbols within their wall art.

Sophie’s Transcript:

I’m in the big class. This ducks as you can see, like the small class, the children were not involved with the flowers, and wood house, because we wanted it perfect. Plus there is lots of glue and we don’t want the children touching the glue.

So this is the ducks, made for the big class. I will send you a video.

And here (at :53) is the Ndebele house...Here they have to put the roof on and the door. That is how they build their houses. Those are the doors, there are the windows. small stones that are colored. They color the paper and rip it around the toilet rolls. They are getting this tomorrow for cultural day.