Making a Difference

Teatrick Lavender Estate has long been involved in supporting women's craft businesses in Ingwavuma, Zululand, South Africa through connections formed during Liz Ballinger's participation in international rural women's networks.

These relationships grew through gatherings such as the World Congress of Rural Women, where women from farming and regional communities share knowledge, skills and opportunities across countries and cultures. Liz's involvement in these networks has taken her around the world - from winning a bursary to travel to Spain for the World Congress for Rural Women, to studying horticulture across Europe and England - always with a belief in broadening horizons and building global connections.

A particularly meaningful chapter began at the 5th World Congress in Durban, South Africa, where Liz volunteered in a women's business centre in Ingwavuma. She used her marketing knowledge to help local Zulu artists sell their beautiful hand-embroidered cards and dollies to the world - pieces so valued that a single card could sell for enough to buy a week's food for an artist's family.

Through these connections, Teatrick Lavender Estate has supported community-based women's enterprises by offering a range of handmade pieces to visitors and customers here in Australia. Over time, this work has helped sell ten thousand weeks' worth of food through these incredible partnerships.

The handmade items include embroidered cards and textile pieces, painted ceramics, woven baskets and other traditional craftwork. Each piece is individually created and reflects the skills, creativity and cultural traditions of the women who make them.

Purchasing one of these pieces helps support the artist directly and contributes to sustaining creative income opportunities for women and their families in rural Zululand.

Offering these handmade items through Teatrick Lavender Estate is one small but meaningful way of maintaining long-standing connections between rural communities in South Australia and southern Africa, built on shared experience, creativity and mutual respect. Because we believe that business is about more than just what you grow - it's about the global community you build.