Vondeling Optel Craft

About Vondeling Optel Craft

Vondeling settlement consists of an isolated scatter of homesteads, made up of only 29 families, on public and private land close to the now disused Vondeling railway siding. It is located 47 km west of Willowmore in the Eastern Cape, close to the boundary with the Western Cape Province.

The infrastructure at the settlement consists of a primary school and a church hall. There is no electricity supply. The town use to be connected to the outside world by train, but they have long since stopped running.

Vondeling Optel Craft is a wholly community owned social enterprise that has contributed to the visible regeneration of our community, and assisted us to connect our village and our people, on our own terms, with the outside world. With our newly acquired skills comes the satisfaction of being the empowered owners of our own business/enterprise, which is run by 13 remarkable women and 2 men. Vondeling Optel Craft is recognized as a reliable supplier to the top craft retail stores, and niche Christmas decoration stores in South Africa, and is also exporting successfully.

With each angel we tell the story of our Vondeling people and as each product is sold, our isolation from the world recedes as we start to find our place and purpose on this earth. “We once felt isolated and excluded from possible participation in any economic activity in the country, but through the creation of beautiful handmade objects and the running of our own business we now have hope, vigour and growing empowerment of our people.”