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- An embroidered artwork from community members in Hamburg, Eastern Cape, is on display at COP28.
- Veronica Betani, one of the artists, says hotter temperatures and heavier rainfall are changing the way of life in Hamburg.
- The artwork is titled Umlibo, which is an isiXhosa word for a pumpkin vine and is symbolic of the importance of unity in combatting climate change.
- For climate change news and analysis, go to News24 Climate Future.
"When I left home, I left a basin on the bed. [So] if it is raining, my bed won't be ruined," Veronica Betani, a resident from Hamburg, Eastern Cape, tells delegates at the world's most prominent climate summit, COP28.
Betani is one of 43 people from the Hamburg community who spent six months completing an embroidered artwork, which is now displayed at the South African pavilion at COP28. The United Nations Climate Change Conference is underway in Dubai, UAE, from 30 November to 12 December.
While the conference involves multilateral negotiations on the way forward to combat climate change so that the world can limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or risk even worse extreme weather events – a number of exhibitions by different organisations and countries also have a voice.
One such is the Keiskamma Art Project in the Eastern Cape, of which Betani is part.
"I am the granny of six grandchildren. I am the mother of three," Betani tells News24 in an interview.
She first met the founder of Keiskamma, Carol Hofmeyr, in 1998. Subsequently, Keiskamma was established, and Betani joined the community-based project which supports vulnerable women and their families. Prior to that, she was a domestic worker for people who had holiday homes in the area.
"This is my 23rd year being part of the project," she says proudly.
"At first, we were doing plastic crochet, making mats, placemats and bags and hats." Soon after, the group started working on embroidery, after being trained by fine art embroiderers from Oxford, she recalls.
"I found out embroidery was not a new thing. We did it at school, but it was just for school … to produce it for a living is something else."
Betani says that women have learnt many skills through Keiskamma, such as working with clay, painting and embroidery. She is now the seamstress supervisor and sews together everyone's handiwork into impressive tapestries, like the newest, which reflects the impact of climate change on their way of life.
The artwork, Umlibo, is significant in giving the community a voice on a global platform at COP28. It is displayed at the South African pavilion.
"For a change, it's not how the scientists see it. But they are telling the stories in their own eyes. They are narrating what they have been experiencing in their community and around them," says Nangamso Thole, a community liaison officer of WWF South Africa.
WWF South Africa, a conservation organisation, had commissioned the artwork, which was funded by the government of Flanders – a region in Belgium. Umlibo will be auctioned after COP28, and funding raised will go toward Keiskamma and other projects by WWF South Africa.
Umlibo, a Xhosa word, refers to a sprawling pumpkin vine. "The leaves will grow and spread and spread, and you cannot stop it," says Thole.
Betani further explains that the pumpkin vine not only grows far, but it can also be seen to bring women together.
"Before, our foremothers used to cook some veggies and put Umlibo in the dish. And they would sit around, as women, and they would share the dish together and talk about the ups and downs and the problems."
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The embroidery, which is 6m in length and 2m in height, gives a glimpse of the ups and downs that climate change brings for Hamburg residents.
Climate change is further exacerbating poverty in the area, says Thole, who lived within the community and engaged with them on their challenges while the art project was being completed. Hamburg is a small coastal town, situated between Port Alfred and East London, on South Africa's east coast.
She explains that the community has had to deal with catching fewer fish, which means they have not been able to sell enough to tourists in the area.
They are not able to grow vegetables the way they used to either – the land is less productive.
"Now because [weather] patterns are unpredictable and changing, it is difficult to know [when to plant]…"
It's proven a worry for the women-led households that rely on agriculture for their livelihoods and to send their children to school, some even to tertiary learning institutions.
"The weather patterns are extreme. You don't find anything in between. When it is hot, it is too hot. When it rains, it rains a lot," says Thole. People have had their homes damaged by frequent storms.
Betani has also prepared for potential heavy rainfall at home while she is at COP28. I put some basins on the bed because if it rains and no one is at the house - it (the rain) won't be spilled on the bed," she says.
Betani has been checking in with her neighbours to find out whether it has rained. "As I am sitting here, I am holding my thumbs, 'it won't rain, it won't rain'," she says.
The artwork tells the story of the challenge the community is facing because of climate change.
"It (climate change) is the thing that is happening to us. Some people don't have [shelter]. The structure has vanished. My one (home) has got cracks," she says.
At first, people in the community were not aware of the links between climate change and how it was impacting their fishing catches, crops and the excessive rain. But, the initiative by WWF South Africa involved workshops to develop an understanding of climate change. Climate scientists were brought from Cape Town to explain why the weather has become so "exaggerated", explains Betani.
"If it is hot, it is very hot. If it is cold, it is very cold," she says.
Betani has also seen how hotter temperatures have negatively impacted her health. "I am a person living with HIV, epilepsy and hypertension. If it is hot, I can't survive," she says. The heat impacts her epilepsy.
She has had to adapt by working early in the morning when temperatures are cooler. She also stays indoors when it is hot.
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Healing through art
"I have seen how they narrate their vulnerability, what they think and how they feel - through art. Looking at the situation in terms of a lack of job opportunities, poverty in the area and then finding solace in just expressing themselves and their feelings through art," Thole says.
"I have seen how it heals them as well."
Zaheer Sooliman, a youth delegate for South Africa who has relied on art in his own climate advocacy, believes that art provides different entry points for people to engage in climate action.
"Anyone can engage in climate action in whatever form they want to, and art opens that avenue up," he says.
Sooliman was quite impressed with Umlibo, which sheds light on individual experiences, and when you step back and look at the piece as a whole, you see a butterfly embedded in it. It's been successful in engaging the community in the conversation about climate change – the artwork essentially bridges the gap climate jargon creates at forums like COP28.
"It's bringing their story and experience here. It is allowing them to engage in climate action here and portray the needs of the community. And at the same time, the decision-makers from South Africa and others visiting the SA pavilion get to see that and experience that," says Sooliman.
Umlibo, which is made of wool and other recyclables like plastics, also maps out solutions so that the world can achieve the 1.50C goal of the Paris Agreement.
The embroidery shows electric vehicles being charged up, homes equipped with solar panels, wind turbines that also produce clean energy, and storage tanks outside homes to capture water, a scarce resource.
Betani believes the artwork has created awareness within her community about climate change and believes education on the crisis should be taught to children at an early stage, like preschool.
She is hopeful that the 1.50C target can be reached by the end of this decade. "To reach 1.5 degrees Celsius, we have to work together. We have to hold hands. We have to follow the name 'Umlibo'. We have to be the vine going through the world."
This article was produced with support from MESHA and IDRC Eastern and Southern Africa office.
