Tonga baskets

The Tonga women of the Southern Province of Zambia are famous for their basket weaving. Tonga baskets have a distinctive design with a square bottom forming the foundation of the basket.

It takes approximately 2 weeks to complete a basket that's about 35 cm in diameter. The baskets are made from the ilala palm ("mapokwe" in Tonga), which, although growing freely, is also planted by Tonga women for the purpose of basket making. This re-planting became standard practice in the late 1980's with the opening of the Tonga Craft Center in Binga (Zimbabwe), a center funded by the Danish government, which exports thousands of baskets a year. This craft center not only keeps the traditional crafts alive (basket-making, drum-making, carving, pottery, and beading), but keeps the women who are involved alive. The Tonga live in an area prone to drought and poverty, and the basket making helps the women feed their families.

Traditionally the baskets were (and still are) used for carrying maize or sorghum from the fields and then winnowing the grain. Traditional designs includes stripes, a spider web type pattern and a lightning pattern.