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Kundai Marunya Arts Correspondent
Enveloped in the middle of Harare’s Kopje area is the National Handicraft Centre, which is referred to by many as the charm of Africa.

The Centre provides not only tasty cuisine from around the continent, but language and art lessons while housing different artefacts from around Zimbabwe.

Tucked away in the not so fancy part of the city, at the corner of Grant and Chinhoyi Street, one would dismiss any possibility of a transformation of the centre into a Pan African Centre it is now.

Yes, the good building structures that were erected in 1989 still stand, but the space had fallen into a white elephant, with the yard not getting any attention.

Thanks to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the centre and Ndyelo Restaurant, an establishment owned by Celia Rukato, the place now has a feel of elegance and art.

Murals and basket woven chandeliers courtesy of rising self-taught visual artiste Sean “Xwixwi” Mbidzo bring colour and class to the place.

Handmade furniture and an outstanding dining table with amazing design and genuine leather seats gives the restaurant a touch of luxury.

Ndyelo started serving Africa cuisines since October last year.
“We are offering local dishes from different parts of the country,” said Rukato.
“On our menu, we have Nigerian dishes and we will include Ethiopian and other African dishes.”

Though different, which may be a bit scary for the not so experimental, the dishes are well prepared and good on the palate. The jollof rice, egusi soup (grinded pumpkin leaves cooked with fish and a bit of meat), goat pepper soup, ponded yam and plantain (fried bananas), leave an explosion of flavour and taste.

A chilled glass of maheu or baobab juice gives one an authentic African experience.
“We want to serve food people don’t normally eat at home,” said Rukato.

“We have been on a test run since opening, learning from customer experience and developing from that.”
Rukato said serving African food was in line with her vision of celebrating African cultures.
Besides food, Rukato has been a huge defender of local heritage through textiles.

She designed President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s famous scarf which is sold at the Handicraft Centre.
You will not miss the beautiful fabrics printed with local monuments and symbolic crafts including the Zimbabwe bird.
Hand printed T-shirts with a bit of liberation history and some with various animals found in the country make some of the best gifts, as they give a piece of Zimbabwe.

Part of Rukato’s advocacy work towards the preservation of culture include, encouraging her customers to have a tour of the handicraft centre and buying local art and crafts.

“We don’t tell our own stories and other people tell them for us,” she said.
“Something we buy for US$10 locally is sold in Dubai for over US$5 000. It is then that we see its value.”
Apart from art and craft, Rukato has engaged language experts to teach different local dialects.

“We have 15 official languages but many people can speak not more than two of them.
“Our lessons will be conducted in a fun educative way, giving a bit of experience of the cultural origination,” she said.
“We will teach Swahili in line with SADC’s policy which adopted it as an official language for the region.”

In a ploy to embrace all forms of art, Ndyelo has started hosting live music performances every Saturday.
“We have different performers every week as well as mic performers.”
Many locals have adopted western lifestyles, from dressing, food and how they behave. Though every human being is free to choose how they want to live their lives, it is important to preserve culture and tradition, lest it becomes extinct.

This is why it’s important to support visionaries in preserving tradition, be it in buying art, clothing designs or a meal at a traditional restaurant every now and again.