Teresa Nabukobwa started making baskets out of found materials in her native country of Burundi when she was 10 years old.
“My mom taught me to do them because she had experience with them. She made the baskets and sold them, and she could buy some goods or she could buy some produce,” says Nabukobwa.
Since coming to Newfoundland three years ago, Nabukobwa has learned to make the baskets from different materials than some of those available to her in Burundi.
The baskets are made from a combination of sun-dried long grasses Nabukobwa finds near her home. To add colour to the baskets, she uses bags from sweet potatoes, avocados, onions or oranges.
Nabukobwa sews the baskets by hand, separating the grasses and breaking up the bags into a sort of string, which she twists together for sewing. Each basket can take up to two months to create, depending on the time available to make it.
“It’s hard work, because to spend time sitting is hard work,” says Nabukobwa.
She explained that making the baskets requires a lot of focus. The creations vary in size and colour, based on the materials available.
Nabukobwa sold her first basket in Canada at a farmer’s market where the buyer asked her to make a hole in the top so it could be used to store yarn for knitting without it getting tangled.
She has made seven baskets for friends, and has now decided to sell them by request so they can be customized for the buyer.
In addition to making her baskets, Nabukobwa is the mother of six children. Before coming to Canada, she had begun teaching her children to make the baskets, but has since stopped.
