Community

The team members of Ndau have the privilege of living and working in a unique environment – the spectacular Victoria Falls and its surrounds. Living where we do is the source of much of our inspiration and we feel a responsibility to maintain the beautiful place in which we live. To do this we have set up our wildlife conservation range, of which 20% is given to VFAPU. Please read all about our Wildlife Conservation Range here.



We also believe in investing in the incredibly talented artists we meet here. Few artists have formal training in Zimbabwe and the majority end up making curio items for the tourist market to sustain themselves. We have identified some truly gifted young artists in our community, who we feel are worthy of international recognition and in an effort to give them a hand up, have set up the Ruoko Project. In this community based initiative, we aim to elevate these artists through the Ndau platform.




The Ruoko Project


The Ruoko Project is a community based incentive set up by The Ndau Collection. Ruoko means hand in the local Shona language and we chose the name as a group, as all of the items created are by the skilled hands of the artists.



The core concept of the project is to identify talented local artists and crafters and give them the chance to work with studio grade materials and in our studio to enhance their natural skills. We design jewellery and accessories that incorporate work by the artists to produce collaboration pieces for sale under the Ndau brand. We also assist in design direction on the artists’ stand-alone work to ensure that each piece is able to hold its’ own in the world market place. With this input, we aim to elevate their work to international standards and to promote them as artisans on an international scale, using the Ndau company platform. Each artist is not employed by Ndau, but rather runs their own business that we contract to do work for us, in this way ensuring that this project is not about a hand-out but rather a development of self-sustaining businesses with highly skilled artists.



The Ruoko Project artists have no formal training background, but are striving to be the best in their field and to gain international recognition against the odds. All of us at Ndau firmly support these visions and we're working to make dreams reality.





Wildlife Conservation Range


The Ndau Collection is actively involved in supporting local wildlife conservation in the Victoria Falls region, as it is part of our credo to be environmentally responsible with all products we use. We believe it is a community responsibility to protect our wildlife and increase educational awareness. To help in this cause, we are working with Charles Brightman, a local safari operator and conservationist, who, together with The Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, established the Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit in January 1999. Starting off with three initial scouts, the aim of the unit has been to fight the alarming levels of destruction that are taking place, working closely with National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and the Zimbabwean Republic Police. There are now 18 full time scouts patrolling an area approximately fifty square kilometres surrounding Victoria Falls, working with the local authorities to combat poaching in all its various forms.



In such a mission, there is never enough when it comes to funding and public awareness and we have chosen to donate to this very worthy cause through sales of our pieces. This has led to the development of a sterling silver range based on the concept of wildlife conservation, the brainchild of designer / owner Christie Halsted. The design of the range has been a collaboration with Justice Ncube, one the talented local carvers Ndau promotes as part of our community project. Justice, under the guidance of Christie H, has painstakingly carved miniature rhino and kudu horns, a lion’s claw, pangolin scale and elephant tusk in two sizes. These have then been cast in sterling silver and from there made into a unique range of jewellery. For every piece that The Ndau Collection sells from this range, 20% will be given to VFAPU to aid them in their anti-poaching efforts.



For more information, please visit the Victoria Falls Anti Poaching Unit (VFAPU)