These woven baskets are a fundraiser for Centre Amani, a grassroots organisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Centre Amani is a community space where children and young people have the opportunity to fulfil their potential. It was established by Lema Shamamba’s father in Bweremana, near the city of Goma in the east of the DRC. Through programmes at Centre Amani, women of the village can learn skills that have been lost through the continual war and unrest in the DRC.

These baskets are one of the first initiatives by the centre to help women reconnect with lost weaving techniques. Palm fronds are collected and dyed and woven into traditional Congolese baskets.

Buy your lucky dip woven basket here to support the work of Centre Amani and receive one of 35 baskets. All unique, with different sizes and colours, and each with the maker’s name written on the base. 

As their makers are in the process of learning their craft, the baskets aren’t perfect, but they tell vital stories of resilience and connection through making.

—

Objectspace is supporting this fundraiser on behalf of artist and community leader Lema Shamamba. Lema was born and raised in Bweremana, a district of Masisi in the eastern territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her family is Hunde, the Indigenous people of Masisi district. Lema now lives in Aotearoa New Zealand and undertakes different projects in west Auckland to reduce the isolation that refugee migrant families often experience. Lema exhibited a series of her embroideries at Objectspace in 2019 and has been a friend of the gallery ever since.