TSHAPASHA - While other elders of his age play around with their grandchildren, his greatest love is playing around with stones. For more than 30 years, 81-year-old Daniel Tshikunde has been collecting stones, which he used to make a fence around his yard.

He has also turned a big stone into a chair with a wooden cap, which, together with his stonewalls, serve as a tourist attraction at his home in Dzimauli-Tshapasha village, north of Thohoyandou. Amazingly, the old man has a special skill as he constructs his stonewalls without using any tape measure or spirit level. His home can easily be mistaken for a chief’s palace because of the beautiful stone walls but he still continues to pick more stones despite his advanced age.

“I fell in love with stones when I was still young. I think picking up stones keeps me healthy and strong instead of sitting at home and doing nothing. I pick them up with my hands from the local mountain because I do not have a vehicle. If the stone is too heavy for me to lift, I request my children to assist me. Some people do not un-derstand my love for stones and they also think that I’m out of my mind. People are not used to the art of stone and my aim is to show them that we can use stones to decorate our environment and to make some extra cash.”

Tshikunde says he receives requests from local community members to make decorative stonewalls at their homes.

“I tell them that I am not doing this for money. I decline many orders because I am old and I can no longer work as fast as a young man. But if I have enough time, I accept some small orders just to put some food on the table.”

Tshikunde said he started playing around with stones in 1974. “My father taught me the art of making stone walls and since then, the love of stones has always been in my blood.”

However, Tshikunde admitted that working with stones has never been an easy task as he sometimes gets injured.

“One has to be very careful when working with stones. I sustained many injuries since I started working with stones, but I never gave up because it is the job I enjoy most.”

Tshikunde says it needs creativity and special skills to do his work to avoid disaster as the wall can fall if it is not well constructed.

“The fact that there is no cement needed makes me very careful when I do my job. I have to lay the stones on top of each other carefully so that the wall can last for lifetime. I would like to pass my skills on to the youth but they seem not interested as they do not want to do heavy jobs,” he said in conclusion.