The tourist center and guesthouse

Tourist centre Swopa has built a tourist center consisting of an art gallery, a workshop for pottery and paining, a museum compound, a guesthouse and restaurant. It has good water facilities thanks to a rainwater harvesting system and borehole. The compound is built with modern materials but maintains the traditional style of architecture and wall decoration. The way SWOPA women work The workshop is used by the members to make pots and to paint. Their craftswomanship and artistic skills is continuously improved by intensive training by national and international artists. Development of quality has a higher priority than quantity. Also the social aspect of working together is maintained. Sales, training and quality control is organized by SWOPA and individual artists get a fair share of the sales. The Swopa members are all illiterate and therefore they have employed a qualified staff for the management of the center, the quality development and sales. Art Gallery The central hall is an art gallery. The building has beautiful wall decorations inside. It demonstrates how the traditional arts can be applied with modern materials and how traditional motifs and designs can be refined and developed. Tourists guides are available to explain the cultural significance of the the symbols and figures used. High quality pottery and paintings are for sale for moderate prices. Guesthouse The guesthouse has been built inside the SWOPA compound. It offers clean and quiet housing for tourists built in a unique style. It consists of five round rooms, decorated in the traditional style, with beautiful frescos in relief inside. Each room is fully mosquito proof and has double beds with good quality mattresses. One of the rooms is self-contained; the others have a shared bathroom and toilet. The dining hall can be used to enjoy typical Sirigu food, but with its flat roof, can also be used to sleep outside, in line with the local custom during the hot season. Workshops for tourists With proper preparation tourists can work with Swopa artists and learn the techniques of pottery, basket weaving and wall designs or take part in music and dance.