7.3 Themes in support of an emerging contextual ecofeminist spirituality
7.3.4 Transformation and Justice
104 The theme of storytelling affirms the use of stories as a way of transmitting knowledge. The knowledge used to explore an ecofeminist spirituality needs to be birthed out of experience.
105 working with you?” and she replied that she was doing it on her own.101 The Project Manager states, “The Project has empowered local women and I have seen them taking on new leadership roles within their community and this is especially true with older women.” Illustrating this, she shares that the other day she saw a younger woman voicing her concerns in a meeting and it was encouraging to see the confidence with which she presented her ideas.102
In extending justice beyond humanity’s needs it is evident that ecojustice is the next step to humanity’s recognition in its role of stewardship and caretaking of the natural world. One of the main incomes in this very poor area has been perlemoen poaching off the coast. The women in the community once saw this as a viable way to make an income but through their educational exposure linked to the Project they now see it differently and have become much more aware of poaching and its danger to the environment.103 Environmentally the Project has made a difference as it has been able to support some of the key women perlemoen poachers.104 The Assistant Manager argues that the community has changed its ideas about harvesting and poaching perlemoen as they now recognize the importance of sustaining the natural resources for the future well being of the community. “They don’t just walk into the forests and cut down wood anymore but have learnt to negotiate with nature conservation for wood,” shares the Assistant Manager.105
The image of God as mother, with the emphasis on justice in regard to the fair distribution of resources, can be imagined by some Project members. The ecofeminist image of God as ‘Mother-Judge’ who manages the earth as a whole and is concerned for all its parts emerges through the interviews in ideas like those from Embroiderer 2 who describes God like a mother hen cares for all her chickens. She says that “God has a soft heart, listens and hears and that is like a mother.”106
Transformation and change underpin an ecofeminist spirituality and I argue that transformation is happening in the Project through skills development. The development of skills provides an impetus for change in other areas of their lives such as socially and emotionally. Members of the Project have assimilated new skills that are being used in the running of the Art Project such as embroidery, appliqué,
101 Embroiderer 2, Hamburg, 20/07/2011.
102 Project Manager 2, Hamburg, 20/08/2008.
103Art Project Manager, Hamburg, 25/03/2008.
104 Head of Fine Art Dept, Grahamstown, 25/06/2008.
105 Assistant Manager, Grahamstown, 29/06/2008.
106 Embroiderer 2, Hamburg, 20/07/2011.
106 beading, feltmaking, design, drawing and managing. The development of skills has contributed to both personal and collective transformation. Four people were sent for formal art training through a three-year diploma in Fine Art at Walter Sisulu University of Technology in East London and were later employed by the Art Project as artists.107 The Assistant Manager states “I have gained lots of skills and learnt that if you work as a group you can bring change as well as earning respect from your community through working in the Art Project.” This sense of change ripples outwardly to affect all aspects of life.
Embroiderer 2 states, “Art can bring change.”108
There are many other ways in which change is witnessed. Embroiderer 4 says “The Art Project has changed the way the community feels by providing work as bad things happen when there is no work.
The Project has helped to redirect the youth as they were breaking into white people’s holiday houses and now that has stopped.”109 Embroiderer 4 says the Art Project has challenged poverty and transformed women’s lives. She describes, “Lots of women are single parents and when a family is suffering you can see it written on them but now you can’t see it in the community.”110 Embroiderer 5 adds, “The Project has helped women because they now have salaries, are going to art exhibitions and have experienced lots of new things.”111 Embroiderer 3 shares, “I have learnt about marketing and how important it is to market one’s work. This means that one needs to talk to people in order to help them understand the meaning of the art and the workings of the project.”112 Embroiderer 2 shares how she has changed: “I pick up litter lying around even though I know it puts me at risk because I don’t have gloves but I don’t want people to see Hamburg as an untidy place.” She says that she has increased her knowledge in new areas such as accountancy and the economic market through the project and adds that the project connects with something within her and brings out something which was always there.113
The ex-Embroiderer/Writer describes “Before the project I had become depressed, I suspect this was because I had grown up poor and was unable to realize my ambition which was to write. I loved writing stories and tried to publish them but gave up hope but through the Art Project and Carol (Hofmeyer) I was
107 Head of Fine Art Dept, Grahamstown, 25/06/2008.
108 Embroiderer 2, Grahamstown, 29/06/2008.
109 Embroiderer 4, Hamburg, 21/07/2011.
110 Embroiderer 4, Hamburg, 21/07/2011.
111 Embroiderer 5, Hamburg, 21/07/2011.
112 Embroiderer 3, Grahamstown, 29/06/2008.
113 Embroiderer 2, Hamburg, 21/08/2008.
107 able to go to East London to study journalism and have had a film based on one of my stories for SABC 2 and a radio broadcast in which another of my stories was broadcast through thirty different episodes.”114 Embroiderer 2 has experienced a major transformation story which has been facilitated through the Art Project. When she began working on the project she was overweight and frustrated with the restrictions placed on her life as a married woman. Through her time in the Project she has dropped from a dress size 44 to dress size 32 and her self confidence has improved. She describes “I have developed a new interest in sport and now encourage the younger women to exercise and go jogging.”115 She has also walked out of her difficult marriage giving her more freedom and as a result she now lives in a conflict free home.
She says that the Project employed a woman counselor from Grahamstown who shared her knowledge with her and gave her the chance to talk through things that were happening in her life. She shares that she would not have had the courage to leave her husband without this woman’s support.116
The Project Manager 1 says, “Since the Art Project there appear to be more children better fed and riding on bicycles. Bicycles are a luxury item and as such gives a good indication of where the community is economically.”117
I argue that transformation and change have emerged through the Project. The introduction of new knowledge and skills caused the project members’ lives and in particular the women to flourish. I argue that their testimonies describe their liberation from captivity which began with skills development and subsequent economic empowerment. This transformation appears to have lifted them out of their self absorption and tunnel focus on survival allowing them to encounter and embrace new ideas that have emanated from the project.
114 Ex-Embroiderer/Writer, Hamburg, 21/08/2008.
115 Embroiderer 2, Hamburg, 21/08/2008.
116 Embroiderer 2, Hamburg, 21/07/2011.
117 Project Manager 1, Hamburg, 20/08/2008.
108