01 Jun 2021

Although she had a thorny childhood experience, Tapologo Baikwadi is content that she managed to collect herself to beat up the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) acts she was faced with.

Along her healing process, she engaged in a self-initiated pottery project to keep busy and to keep her mind off the ordeal.

She designs flower pots, sculptures and other different ornamental items customers might call for.

Most of her flower pots are 40-50cm tall while their openings (mouth) are 40cm wide.

Since then, Baikwadi said she never looked back while her work in pottery has not gone unnoticed too.

She said from 2014 to 2016 she participated in the President’s Day Competitions and managed to get position one in 2015 with a cash prize while in 2014 and 2016 she got position three that also came with a cash prize.

She said the idea to have a pottery project had also become handy as it had strengthened her financial arm and positioned her better to make ends meet for herself and her three kids.

Sharing the agony she went through as she grew up, she said she was subjected to physical and sexual abuse by those who were close to her, who she always thought she would look up to for protection as she grew up.

Baikwadi said she was always trapped in fear and never opened up about what she endured.

She said in the long run, all the misery brought her a mental relapse, which led her to be hospitalised at Sabrina Psychiatric Hospital for mental health condition.

“I used to bottle up all the challenges I encountered. I had no one to talk to because the people I should have opened up to are the ones who inflicted all the misery I went through. Despite it all, I am happy that the counselling I received helped me heal and to forgive those who had hurt me,” she said.

Baikwadi said to bounce back to life after such an ordeal was never an easy task. She said although she went through professional counselling several times whenever something triggered her emotions, she would relapse again.

She said in the long run she introspected and found out that although she received professional help, she was not doing enough on her own in efforts to heal.

“I started to administer self-counselling tactics on myself and this instilled a strong belief in my mind that as long as I am alive, giving up was not an option. I slowly gained back the strength and confidence to bounce back and face life again,” she said.

Baikwadi who is also a member of Thapong Arts Centre said starting her pottery project was not an easy walk in the park as she had to sacrifice most of her time to engage in short term jobs to raise some start-up capital.

And as fate would have it, Baikwadi stood well equipped with the practical aspect she gained at junior and secondary school during art lessons.

She added that credit should also be given to Emmanuel Senamolela in Kopong as he played a role in efforts to further hone her skills up to satisfaction.

The budding potter said designing her artefacts entails crushing out lumps of clay and grinding them out until it is soft powdered soil, which is mixed with water and stirred until it becomes easy to mould. She uses clay she buys from retail shops or that she digs from the anthill to design her eye-catching items.

“Once I finish off moulding items I dry them in the self-made oven that I designed by digging a deep hole, this is so to improve the quality and enable them to dry off quickly,” she said.

She said once they were dry, some were glazed for a shiny look while others were left with their natural colour, which blended well with the burns from the oven.

Baikwadi said she paid attention to details and she took a maximum of two days to design and execute a final project and all her items were handmade.

Although she has managed to remain in the league ever since she started, she said she had not been spared from the challenges of lack of professional equipment, high prices of clay soil while currently, she is struggling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am forced to sell for survival. I now negotiate prices from between P200 to P300 for items that I used to sell for P500,” she said.

 Baikwadi said to beat up the COVID-19 pandemic blues, she now offers some primary school learners lessons on moulding and pottery. Currently, she has six children under her belt and each pays up to P250 for tutorials monthly.

She encouraged gender-based violence survivors not to sit and whine about their challenges, saying along their healing process, they should strive to embark on engaging projects. ENDS