Napemba Mashopa

Born in Etsha, Botswana, in 1970 Napemba is married and has a daughter and two sons.

She left school after two years to care for her younger sisters when their mother passed away. She still looked after them after her marriage. Her husband is a successful carpenter, and makes good quality furniture. Their eldest son has left school because he finds it difficult to study in English, but they are sad because he also refuses to learn carpentry from his father.

Napemba learnt basket weaving from her mother who wove patterned, bowl shaped baskets. She was ten years old before she learnt to weave a proper basket herself. Many of the women in her mother’s generation did not know how to weave patterned baskets.

Napemba used to be a farmer as well as a weaver, but she now weaves baskets all year round. She likes to try out different designs, but her favourite pattern is the “clay pot” design. The traditional clay pots are becoming very rare in the area, and only a few men still know how to make them. In the past the big pots were given a name and were very expensive.

She prefers to combine black dye obtained from motlhakola (Euclea divinorum) roots, natural mokola palm and orange-brown from the motsetsnile (Berchemia discolor) tree.

When possible, Napemba prefers to buy the raw materials for basket making, as she doesn’t like risking encounters with snakes and other dangerous animals in the bush. However she sometimes joins collecting expeditions with other weavers, as there is greater safety in numbers.

Her work is featured in the permanent collection at The British Museum, London: Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas.