Mankosi: “Beadwork is very important for me - if I didn’t know how to do beadwork, I would be eating from the trash cans.”
Barbara: “Monkeybiz makes a difference."
Donna Karan: “There’s so much product out there in the world, but so little product that makes a difference. And Monkeybiz makes a difference.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “No one likes to be poor. No one likes to depend on handouts, on the charity of others. A project such as Monkeybiz addresses a very deep human need, in that it helps people to help themselves.”
Barbara: "We were entering uncharted territory. People could be excused for having thought we were monkeying around.”
Barbara: "A lot of women didn’t have the appropriate skills. The chain of passing it from generation to generation had been broken because of people migrating to the cities and losing touch with their roots. So we encouraged the women to teach one another in an informal manner.”
Barbara: "If you like it, you’ve got to buy it - you’re not going to get a second chance! It’s an authentic, one-off work of art."
Mathapelo: "I’m from a poor family, but at a material level things are much better now. There’s bread on everyone’s table.”
