Sat.Night Day 3

I had to give it one more try! Aha! By George, I think I got it this time! Whoops, I have two of the same picture! Oh well, Wendy and the Cape Town waterfront with the end of Table Rock are worth a second look. Besides, I have no idea of how to remove the duplicate picture.
From top, left to right:
Looking from the back of the "flat" (apartment)
Wendy at the Cape Town harbor
One of the teachers with sewing project purses (when I learn to spell her name, you will know it!)
Kumi (seated on right) inspecting Sylvia's purses
Wendy (right) and Kumi issuing pay
Front window view. The bay is to the right
Moving to the left of last picture
Uh, oh! Duplicate of first two shots.
OK, there is really no doubt now. With this picture deal, I'm flying by the seat of my pants!! Hope you enjoy, mistakes and all.
Today has been anything but lazy. Joe came by at 2:00 for our drive around the bay to see the whales and African Jackass penguins. No, I did not make that up and it is just too good not to include. They are so named because they make a braying noise very similar to a donkey. No one told them we were coming and so they rudely were elsewhere except for one lazy whale snoozing along the way and four penguins who were too enthralled with their courtship rituals to be bothered. Then it was back for tea at the waterfront and getting to know each other. Back to the apartment at 5:00 to freshen up for the evening. Joe and Etane fetched (I love that term) me to the banquet at KOK and Margee returned me home tonight.
I could write on and on. There is so much to take in and I want to share it all with whoever is reading. Thanks, Diane and Ann, for letting me know that someone truly is.
The English here has been much influenced by the British and there are all sorts of wonderful terms. Most will know that a "boot" is the trunk of the car and "flat" is apartment, but do you know what a "robot" is? Can you guess what "organogram" means? Maybe we will have a small contest with a South African trinket to the first person with the correct answer! Are you game? No fair entering if you have travelled here, but newcomers, give it a try.
Good night from the Cape Town Seamstress
PS I just checked the blog to see if the pictures are there and I can't get them up. If you can't either, I'm sorry. Will keep trying!

Sat. morning, Day 3

It is another beautiful, warm day in Fish Hoek! The wind died down during the night and the sky is crystal clear.
I went to bed around 10:00 last evening, which is early for me and slept well. I seem to have adjusted well to the time change and I'm sure the lazy day yesterday helped immensely.
Joe, a white South African lady of Zimbabwe birth, came to "fetch me around" this morning for the Mission Celebration breakfast at King of Kings (FBC Fish Hoek). It was very interesting to visit the displays of the ministries support by the church and the Union.
The speaker was from Zimbabwe and heads a children's health education ministry in several districts. Since May 2006, it has grown from 6 volunteers in 1 church, reaching some 250 children to 250 volunteers in 48 churches, reaching 23,335 children as of Sept. There are 43 mid week programs and 37 Sun. programs which have resulted in 5,447 profession of faith.
The number of lives saved from HIV/Aids will only be known in the future. In an article in the Cape Times Oct. 8, it was stated that the odds are 50/50 that a 15 yr. old South African girl will contract HIV, usually within the next 4-5 yrs.! The numbers may be even higher in other African countries so it is more than important, it is imperative that the children be educated about the disease and how it is spread and prevented.
Joe will be back around to fetch me for a drive around 2:00. We are going to see the whales and the penguins. Then back to the church for its banquet this evening. Tomorrow will be church at KOKs, lunch with Susie, an American missionary from Colorado who works at Living Hope and then children's church in one of the settlements (I won't even attempt to spell the name) called Massie for short.
I may, in this blog, begin to use terms that we would consider offensive in the US. You must remember that they are used only to distinguish people groups as they are defined in the S. African culture. First, there are the Whites. This generally refers to descendants (White Africans) of the original colonial (Dutch, German, Brits, etc.) settlers and those foreign born Caucasian emigrants and persons who live and work in S. Africa (non African). Second are the Coloured. This refers to those descendants of settlers who inter married with people of color other than the indigenous African. It also includes people of color from India, etc (non African). Then, there are the Blacks. These are the indigenous tribal people.
The Africanes language used by many of the White and Coloured is a mix of the settler's mother tongue and the indigenous languages. English is spoken by most as a second language. And then there are the tribal dialects. There are Wkosi(sp), Zulu, Mende, and many more. These are interesting and strange languages which include many clicks and other noises made with the tongue. How any western person can learn to speak and interpret these dialects is nothing short of the gift of tongues!
Cape Town is the crown of South African tourism. With the mountains and the sea, people from all over are drawn here for holiday. Once it was the home of wealthy Whites only. When the restrictions were lifted, Blacks from the Eastern Cape flooded into the area seeking employment. Does this sound familiar, circa mid 60's USA? Today, the population is 80% Black. There are more people than jobs and the more educated and cultured are given preference. You begin to understand the tensions that are part of everyday life. Throw in the epidemic explosion of HIV/Aids among all the people and you begin to understand the enormity of the task facing our brothers and sisters working here to advance God's kingdom through ministries such as Wendy's Evageline and Fish Hoek's Living Hope.
Cape Town Seamstress

Just pictures

From Wendy's front window.

OK! I need to figure out how to get more than one picture at a time. Remember this is all new to me. Hope this gives you some idea of how the mountain literally runs into the bay. I took this yesterday (Thurs) morning. Today the clouds have been kissing the peak but the sun has shone in the valley. It is about 70 and a little windy, but a relief from the 90's when I left DC.

Today has been just plain lazy. I still am not quite adjusted to the time. It feels much earlier than it really is. I am well rested and not having trouble sleeping at night. It just seems like mid day instead of 5:30 in the afternoon. I'll eat an early dinner of Quiche and fruit (just as in Tanzania, the fruit is wonderful) and get to bed early tonight. More later if I figure it out!

Cape Town Seamstress

Day one in the Cape

It is 11:30 am Friday morning in Fish Hoek, Cape Town. The traffic is whizzing by on the street below. There is a breeze from the Atlantic billowing the drapery in the window. I've just finished a bowl of strawberries and a second cup of coffee. Today is my down day during the trip. Wendy and I were up late last night, in fact, she never slept as she had an early flight this morning to Durban. She is speaking at a women's meeting this weekend and will return late Sun. So, I slept late and am "cooling it" today. Tomorrow I will attend the missions meeting at Fish Hoek Baptist church.
Yesterday, the day began with morning devotions and then we were off to the Fish Hoek waterfront for breakfast and hopefully whales! Yes! There are a couple in the bay!
Then we went to the health center which is near by. We found the ladies in the morning computer class sitting with No computers! Everything was gone except the printers. Something was very wrong. The young teacher's first words were, "I have no job, the computers are gone!" It was the end of a dream for her as she has no other chance for employment because she has HIV.
Wendy immediately set off to discover what had happened. It seems that last week a volunteer team from Brentwood BC in TN had renovated the classroom and in the process of putting everything back, the class had done some housecleaning. Which meant, all nonworking /obsolete equipment was to be removed. Good computers were plugged in and hooked up properly and non working or obsolete ones were placed on the floor. Instructions were left for those to be taken away. Well, communications are not always what they can be and the person who passed the information on to the person who actually did the work did not specify the parts on the floor only, so everything was disconnected and taken away. The good news is that people in the center had taken them for personal use and once the situation was explained, all but one computer was returned by the end of the day.
In the meantime, we began the sewing class by looking at the master pattern. I had ascertained by looking at a number of the bags, there might be a problem with the pattern. I saw the same inconsistency in all the bags. Straps were uneven in length and side panels tended to be wider at the top in all the bags which created the problem of linings not fitting well. Sure enough, the pattern, probably through much use and duplication, has been trimmed away in places and was no longer straight and squared. Easy fix, no problem.
We next moved to teaching each woman how to cut. At present, all cutting is done by one lady which does not allow the faster seamstress to go at her pace. We will also work on pattern placement on the fabric to be more conservative with waste. Placement is "willy, nilly" now and does not make the best use of limited resources. This will also allow multiple cuttings rather than one piece, one bag at a time as it is now.
It was payday. In spite of pattern problems, the bags are well done and lovely. They are big and roomy and full of pockets for everything. They are well designed. Each bag is inspected, students congratulated on a job well done, some things that need to be fixed are pointed out and explained, and then they are paid for each bag that passed inspection. Class was dismissed with pray. Teachers were paid and after a quick meeting with them, Wendy and I were off to shop for supplies. It was 3:00 pm.
Around 5:00, we headed to the Cape Town harbor and waterfront about a 45 minute drive over the mountain, for fish and chips. It is a spectacular drive! Definitely not the Blue Ridge! Cape Town is very cosmopolitan and every language heard. There are shops run by Muslim, Germans, Brits, Russian, and on and on. The waterfront is much like a world bazaar, only very upscale. It is almost more than you can take in. But, prices are much steeper than in other places, so no shopping yet! Around 7:30 we head for home, the long way round. You don't drive over the mountain at night!
On a much more personal note, please hold my family in pray. Joe emailed yesterday that his mom, in her mid eighties, fell and broke her hip early in the morning. She had surgery around 5:30 your time yesterday and had the whole ball replaced. She came through well and was talking last evening. It is difficult to be so far away knowing this and wishing I could be there for him. I know that friends will gather round him for support and trust you all will lift us up in your prayers. Thank you!!
Capetown Seamstress

I,m Here!

God morning from beautiful Cape Town! The sun is shining on the ocean and kissing the mountains, all seen from the window of Wendy's apartment.
Boy was it an eventful trip including a full 5k run! The flight from DC was delayed after boarding for more than an hour. My layover in J'burg was scheduled for 21/2 hours. The plane was an hr and 1/2 late arriving. Immigration had to be cleared and baggage claimed before going through customs. By then, SAA was announcing that connecting passengers to Cape Town would be boarding a flight scheduled for 5:30. It was only a half hour later than the original so that was good. Wendy would not thave to sit a long time at the airport wondering where I was. But, I had to leave the international terminal and run (!) to the domestic terminal. Thank the Lord for a porter to pull my bags and take me directly to the right place! It was well worth the tip. Oh, did I mention we had to run! And this was after a long brisk walk from the plane to immigration, baggage claim, and customs at the opposite end of the terminal from the arrival gate!
Travel tip #1 Train for at least a 5K run before travel!
From there, it was a short 2 hr flight into Cape Town. Just after sunset, we dropped below the clouds to see the sity below. It was breathtaking. Table mountain stood out over the city lights. It really was beautiful!
Wendy is a gracious host and she has a wonderful apartment. I slept well and am ready to hit the road on a run. We will go to the center this morning and I will have achance to observe the class. Then we head out to purchase supplies. So hold onto your seats!
God is good all the time, but especially this morning in Cape Town!
Family, I love you!
Cape Town Seamstress

Time to Fly!

I'm packed! If it isn't in the bag, it is not going to be. I talked to all the kids, grandchildren, my sisters, and close friends. Told them I love them. I just hope they have a clue how very much I do love them. Joe is taking me to the airport. He took vacation to get me out of the country, but not to get me back in. Hmmm, is there a message here? I think I have a ride home though. He can't get rid of me that easily!
I've got my passport, tickets, boarding pass and I can't think of anything else, so......it is off to the airport! The next posting will be from Cape Town!
Thank you all for following my journey and most of all, thank you for your prayers.
Cape Town Seamstress