African Crafts Market

Behind the National Theatre is a permanent market for African crafts.  Today it was overrun with Irish tourists and it was quite a tourist trap; most of the carved wooden animals come from Kenya and the large round faced primitive masks and malachite beads and carvings actually come from Congo.  The batiks and beads were not up to the same quality that I've found in other places like the LaBa craft fair and the IDI clinic art stall.

I did find a few treasures that I am fairly confident are genuine Ugandan, and that I haven't seen anywhere else.  The Ndere Dance troupe wear cowrie shells in their headdresses and belts (in pre-colonial times cowries were used as currency here) and I found this cowrie shell belt which will come in handy in cinching in my trousers and shorts as I've lost some weight here with all the walking and the healthy diet. The beads are from the IDI clinic.

These pots are handmade at the Mukisa Mpewo Clay Works, a women's project.  The pots are fired twice, once to biscuit and then re-fired to black using a wood-fired kiln.  They are slightly porous; the one shaped like a calabash is a traditional beer-drinking vessel, and the porosity keeps the content cool through evaporation.  The mug has a lovely patina from the firing process.