This last weekend a couple of friends and I visited the local food market. It’s held in our neighbouring town, Sedgefield, every Saturday morning. There’s also a lovely market in Plett, which I’ve mentioned before, it’s just that this one is a little bigger. There’s a wonderful array of stalls selling fresh fruit and veggies (all from local farms), cheeses, breads, jams, fudge, fresh fruit juice and so much more.
What my friends and I have decided is to try to shop for food only at this market. It’s got all the essentials that we need, and we know how important it is to support local trade. It’s also our way of doing our bit for the environment, by not encouraging shopping at huge chains which transport products from all around the world, and sell things covered in plastic packaging. If you’ve got a local farmers market near to you, I encourage you to do the same.
I think Monday is the perfect day to hear some good news, to feel positive and inspired for the week. I’ve been doing my usual trawling over “Good News” articles and have found 3 that I’d like to share. Two are from my usual source, SA Good News, and one (surprise, surprise) is from the Sunday Times!
To begin with, the government have agreed to launch the first national literacy campaign. Their aim is raise awareness of the dangers of literacy, focusing mainly on primary school children and adult learners in home and industry. With more than 9 million South Africans being illiterate, this campaign is more than needed. I feel positive that the steps being taken are in the right direction, and feel pleased that the government is focusing on one of the fundamental reasons for a lack of learning, growth and pride in our country.
One issue I often hear South Africans complain about is our water, and so was very happy to read that the government have agreed to invest over the next 8 years in conserving and diversifying our water systems. They acknowledge that there is mismanagement of these systems, and so are putting measures in place to limit this. They also plan to look into different sources of supply, such as desalination of the sea, to make sure that we don’t end up with a permanent water shortage.
Lastly, I read an article in the Sunday Times explaining how many South Africans abroad are wanting to come home. They put it down to the economic times, missing families, the great weather, the feeling of Africa. Hear, hear, hear! They also mention that the number of those wanting to leave has decreased (although sadly this is owing to financial reasons more than love of the country). I’ve had quite a few friends come back from London in the last few months, and so was really excited to see the stats reveal that even more expat South Africans are missing home and do intend coming back.
My very talented sister-in-law, Catherine, took the most beautiful photo’s of the kids at the creche up in Nekkies. It’s the same creche that’s across the road from my veggie project, and next door to my sewing group. I see these little kids every week and just love how Cath’s managed to capture such real expressions on each of their faces.
Aren’t they beautiful? Both the children and Catherine’s portrayal of them. All of these and more are available for sale online at Red Bubble - go take a look.
That’s it for today. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, filled with relaxation and fun!
Scott sent me the link to a wonderful concept called an Arivi Stove. It has been designed for use by marginalised South Africans, and one of its main purposes is to reduce the amount of people who are killed or injured in fires caused by unsafe paraffin appliances. It won’t ignite or explode if knocked over and the flame self-extinguishes if the stove is moved.
It’s not only safer to use, but is much more cost-efficient too. They claim “it could save an average household around 32% of the money they usually spend on paraffin”. They’re also better for air pollution, producing less than half the amount of carbon monoxide required by law, and hardly any particles or smoke. Great for those using the stove, and great for the environment too.
The Arivi’s don’t seem to be available yet, but can be pre-ordered here for R500. I’d say it’s a great way to help a family who’s less fortunate than yours.
Just wanted to show you this beautiful shoot styled by Kim Gray for the latest Oprah Magazine. It features things made by a whole bunch of amazing South African designers (like Skinny Laminx, Jezze, Shine Shine) and also some things from Babazeka!
I was sent the link to a wonderfully South African website called Phutu. It’s all about encouraging people to feel positive about the country. One of the things that I love about it the most is their colourful, vibrant header image. Just such a fun design!
Phutu is similar to other sites, like SA Rocks and The Homecoming Revolution, where a number of different articles are posted each day with topics relating to the country - most of which focus on the good. I really like the fact that they also include some great typically South African recipes - Lamb Potjiekos and Vetkoek - yum!
Anyway, just wanted to let you all know about it, and give a shout-out to Phutu. More and more South Africans are doing their bit… I’d say the love is spreading!
Two weeks ago, I spoke about Jason’s Garden and also me wanting to start growing vegetables with Knysna’s local community in need. That very morning I went up to my sewing lady’s, and after chatting to them about it, one of them told me that her church group are desperate to start a vegetable patch so that they can give the veggies to the poor - isn’t that beautiful? They have so little themselves, but still want to help those less fortunate than themselves. They have a piece of land waiting, and many hands to help, but just don’t know where to begin.
So, just like that, I found myself my very first project. Because this isn’t the best time of year for planting, I’ve got them all collecting twigs, leaves, vegetable peelings, etc which we can use for compost. It’ll take us a while to get the soil ready and to build a fence, so we have just enough time to get planting in August, and of course, be prepared for Planting Season Day in September.
I took a photo yesterday of the piece of land that we’ll be using (not the whole area for now!)
And this is the Soup Kitchen next door to it, who I discovered already grow their own veggies.
Across the road is a creche who would like to start growing their own veggies too. I might be rather busy with this all in the future!
Hope you have a wonderfully relaxing weekend. Bye!
I’ve been looking for traditional African designs that I can embroider and possibly use on a range of bags. I didn’t want anything too ethnic, if you know what I mean, and so was really excited when I re-discovered some books I’d bought a few years ago. They’re filled with traditional African designs, to be used for purposes exactly like mine, and I managed to find some which I think could work pretty well.
Here’s my latest attempt at embroidery, using some of these designs.
I told you about this project a while back. They’re based in Swaziland, and sell hand-embroidered products, all with a distinctly African feel. We’ve just recently taken them on board, and their products are now available for sale in our shop. Go take a look.
Litsemba sent us the profile of a typical local Swazi woman who works for them. It demonstrates more than ever the need for projects such as these.
Maria lives in a semi-desert area of Swaziland. She’s 35 years, has been a widow since 2003 and is HIV positive. She has two sons whom she needs to support. One is 15, the other is 12 years old. The goverment will cover her children’s school fees, but only whilst they are in primary school. Her local hospital provides her with basic food each month: 1kg peanuts, 5kg maize meal, 1kg sugar, 500g salt. She can’t afford to buy fruit and vegetables so has tried to grow her own, but the local cattle keep eating them. She has no money to build a fence. For at least 4 days of every month, all her family eats are peanuts and water. The water needs to be collected twice a day by wheelbarrow, by the way. And each trip takes 2 hours. It is only through her embroidery and the money that she earns from Litsemba, that Maria has hope of improving her the living conditions for herself and her sons.
When I read stories like this, my heart can break. And this is only one of millions and millions of people who live the same life. Day after day. By using a skill such as embroidery, they are doing what they can to change their circumstances. But, they need all the love and support that they can get along the way.
I recently bumped into a guy I knew from varisty who was telling me about the amazing organisation that he is involved with. Max Pichulik is his name, and the organisation is Heart - Social Investments for Life. In short, they act as the link between social enterprises and social investors in South Africa.
Their focus is on finding solutions to social and environmental problems which, as we all know, are growing at a rapid rate. I’ve been taking a look at the different projects that they’ve been involved with and am more than impressed. For example, Food Tents have been developed as mini hothouses to help grow vegetables for food schemes. They can grow enough produce to feed 50 people. Heart were involved in developing and now marketing and selling these ingenious products.
Love To Africa is another one of Heart’s projects. This group “develops and markets voluntourism packages to local and international tourists through tour operators, hotels, B&Bs and backpackers”. Tourists visiting our country, can volunteer to plant trees, build a Foodtent, etc and so, can interact with local South African communities. It’s a way for them to give back to the country while they visit. I love this!
There are a number of other projects which the organisation is busy with. One of them is Charity Wines which I spoke about recently, without realising the connection to Heart. If you’re interested in the others, you can read about them here.
What I’d like to say to Max and his team, is that it is incredibly inspiring to see more and more young South Africans who are not succumbing to fear, but instead are taking the future of our country into their own hands. The work you are doing is beautiful, meaningful and courageous. Keep it up and all the best :)
