Malawi products find gold in Namibia
Products from Malawi such as wood carvings and cloth-wrappers (zitenje) are among the loved items that are selling in Namibia and they are selling at higher prices.
A vendor, Yohana Abrahams is a Namibian woman who sells various artworks at a market at Okahandja 70 kilometres north of Windhoek, Namibia’s capital and confirmed the development in an interview at her hometown, Okahandja in Namibia on Saturday.
“My husband goes to Malawi to import the wrappers, curtains and various cloths and wood carvings. We sell them at this market and we sell to mainly tourists who normally pass-by. We also sell to Namibians who come here to buy these products,” said Abrahams.
The wrappers and other cloth from Malawi fetch better prices.
“I sell one wrapper for about N$800 [about K24 000],” added Abrahams. Other merchandise from Malawi she sells include; wooden sugar containers at N$ 100 [about K3 000], candle stands at N$ 200 [around K6 000], small curtains for kitchen windows at N$ 700 [K21 000].
“People come and buy, they love these products from Malawi. They are good,” added the 41 year-old mother of two children.
The wood carvings market at Okahandja is one of the biggest wood carvings market in Namibia, added Issy Karioko an official from Okahandja Municipality.
“We have sellers from Zimbabwe, Angola, Zambia, Malawi and other parts of the continent. They sell such merchandise here,” he confirmed.
In a separate interview, former chief executive officer for the municipality Regina Alugodhi also confirmed of the market’s significant stand in Namibia and the diversity of nationals that include Malawians.
Okahandja town is nicknamed ‘garden town of Namibia’ and dates back to the 1800 when nomadic Herero people settled there in search of grazing land for their cattle.
