Stone hunters and carvers of Tabaka-Kisii,they cry

A Bedrock of soapstone lays asleep and stretching over 25 Km in Gucha district, Kenya. It has been known as Tabaka soapstone since time immemorial .In 1985 the mining of the soapstone began. The residents of Tabaka hills were eager that the mine would pull them out of abject poverty but that would never be the case thanks to lack of technology, market and leeching middlemen.The stone hunters and carvers of Kisii cry.

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A matatu leaves Kisii town, moans over many a hill, leaving it its wake a vortex of dust.An hour agony through a terrible road full of ditches finally brings me to Tabaka.

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A cry of steel tools welcome me to a broken and undulating ashen bedrock. I falter over its cliffs to a gorge where a cluster of about fifty men are blasting the rock.The sun’s never ending rays beat down their backs unrelenting. Their faces are coated in a fur of dust, sweat makes inroads of rivulets which down to their chins faces, and through lips that are chapped and dry.

Meanwhile their hoes, picks, axes, shovels, saws, iron rods and machetes continue working hard on reluctant rocks. Different mines have different hues and densities of stones.

Fatigue gains an upper hand over an elderly man named Mosoti. Old veins bulge on his face. He rest under the roof of rock tree to chase away fumes of tiredness. He talks of pain staking labor and selling the blasted rocks at throw way price of only to the family’s body and soul together.

‘I sell pieces of stones tones from sh 200- sh 400 depending on the amount’ Mosoti says.

In the homestead of Nyambane two men are manually cutting slabs from conglomerate of rock using a long pointed saw? Nyambane says the ‘hustle is unkind’

‘Our fathers faced the same hardships, same history’ Nyambane laments.

‘We troop into hot quarries each morning hoping to blast the unyielding surface earth for a day meal.The market has been mean .We sell the slabs through greedy middlemen. We have nothing to save, and this has been our cycle over years’

Lack of government support such as provision of technology to make extraction easier, and market for the carvings is major challenge the miners of Tabaka face. Most of the carvers also are not professionals and  that limits their rate and quality of production.

At Tabaka shopping centre, women are scratching and chopping the slabs. I watch beguiled as they expertly carve out shapes from the slabs. The resultant wok is beautiful carvings. The carvers have created some of the most beautiful carvings in the world.

One of the notable sculptors from Kisii Mr Elkana Ong’esa has exhibited his works around the world. One of his outstanding works is the, Bird of Peace, which beautifies the entrance of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization building in Paris, France.

Kerubo is the proprietor of Pamoja Arts Galley. She has employed twenty women. A certain melancholy is slashed on their faces despite their efforts to wear a smile.They are however courageous and determined that their energies will pay-off someday,for now they scrap harder.

Stone hunters and carvers of Tabaka,Kisii cry

Kerubo says that fatigue overpowers them so much that they are forced to rest for a day or two after making one or two carvings.

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Stella Kerubo is the proprietor of Pamoja Arts Gallery. She has employed twenty women. A certain melancholy is slashed on their faces despite their efforts to wear a smile.

They are courageous and pursuit of dreams despite fogginess they are investing all their energy into the sculpting enterprise.

She invites me to take a seat in her office. Her office is actually a store of mute, nude community of carvings.

‘Products made from it were mainly sold in the local markets but it is a slow enterprise. Kenyans are not good buyers of artistic works. She strengthens herself with thoughts that someday soon Kenyans will start appreciating art and buy her effigies.’ she explains.

Stella further adds that the mining highlands are potentially tourist attractive but yet to be harnessed.

 Recently, the Kisii County Government revealed plans to regulate the Kingdom-rich soapstone industry but that remains a lip service.

‘We hope that either the County Government of Kisii or the national government will think of building a centralized museum for the artifacts’ she says.

Stella further adds that the mining highlands are potentially tourist attractive but yet to be harnessed.

 Recently, the Kisii County Government revealed plans to regulate the Kingdom-rich soapstone industry but that remains a lip service.

‘We hope that either the County Government of Kisii or the national government will think of building a centralized museum for the artifacts’ she says.