Global Grace II from South Africa

writing by Maura Rehfuss, on her visit to South Africa...
link to photos from the field: http://picasaweb.google.com/NovalisUbuntu/SobonfuCapeTownVisitJuly2009?feat=email#

I am learning to ‘save’ this file after every couple of sentences since power surges are the norm and I have spent some minutes typing the same sentence multiple times. Ha.
We are also not finding online opportunities as easily as hoped. I will write this and leave it in a Word Doc until I can send it off.

We are spending 9 days in Reviersonderend (RSE) population 5500, a rural community 160km (2hours) outside of Capetown. It is here that we will be gifting a group of grandmothers with our beautiful quilting supplies knitting and crocheting needles and yarn…

The matriarch of this community is named Leitie. She is a strong grandmother and it is clear why she is a force for good in these parts. She is another one of my heroes.

We are sitting on Leitie’s porch. Each of us is working our ‘knitting sticks’ to produce leg warmers for the sick and elderly. Because there is no way to warm the homes everyone wears winter attire (coats and hats) inside and these leg warmers (worn between the ankle and knee) will provide another layer of warmth. Everyone who passes by says, “Good Mora”, or “Kyweir Mora” which means, “Good Morning” in Afrikan. They speak it with a beautiful lilt and I think they are saying “Good Maura” to me. J

Our needles are clicking and we are listening to the details of the incredibly hard lives these grandmothers (GoGo’s) are living. Leitie’s husband of 45 years died last month and tears well up as she remembers how much he did for her and how much she loved him, loves him still. She shows me a photo taken during happier times.

They raised 9 grown children and she has a houseful of children now who call her ‘Oma’. They stay because they do not have parents who can care for them anymore due to HIV/AIDS, alcohol or other drug addictions. 52% of the adult population is unemployed and the entire community experiences depression and desperation.

Leitie’s son, John, has returned to his hometown to build a community center. He has received all of the permits necessary (it has taken years) and is now meeting with the architect and others who will play pivotal roles in the construction (sandbag) and vision for a center including a theatre, restaurant and cooking school. He wants this project to be a model in green building for the area and has found people at the University, two hours away, who have some wonderful ideas and are excited to assist. He is hoping that people will come great distances to see what he has done in RSE. He is interviewing folks proficient in fundraising. John is very well respected in the area and when we are with him in the street people come to say how much they love him. Many volunteers will be required to finance, build, and maintain the vision and Robin is hoping we will send special ones from America to assist. The Light Center is committed to helping in any way we can.

Leitie’s neighbor, across the street, is named Sari and she is very old now but was an avid gardener much of her life. She can no longer garden but has offered her yard to Leitie to be used as a garden for the neighborhood. Robin and I spent yesterday with several of the young (ages7-10) neighborhood kids clearing a small space in the left corner behind Sari’s house so she can have a raised bed to plant her own seeds and harvest her own vegetables. It will be a surprise for her. We are mindful to gingerly remove barbed wire remnants, the preferred fencing material around the houses in the neighborhood. John will need to fence in Sari’s yard to keep the dogs out of the garden. We are also removing trash as we go. The weeds which cover her entire yard are actually shamrocks (oxalis) so I am working in a sea of clover, with beautiful yellow blossoms, as we make way for the garden. We crafted the raised bed in a U shape and purchased a plastic garden chair Sari can sit on. From the chair she can reach all the way around…The soil is rich river bottom soil but it contains hundreds of rocks. The rocks hold their own beauty and we pile them as the border of the U shape with the children excited to see what they are accomplishing.

We have had John tell them in Afrikan that the larger garden area will be for the neighborhood and he will need their help to maintain it. They are learning English in school and speak it to us when they can. We ask them what they would hope to plant in the garden. They say the first thing they want to plant is a tree that will provide shade for Sari. Then they want to plant…cucumbers, carrots, chard, radishes, melons and tomatoes…They are all speaking at once and their faces light up as they can already taste their fresh produce. Children here never turn down anything to eat. They have their favorite foods, mostly sweet of course, but since many of them can not be sure where they will find their next meal they are happy to clean any plate set before them.

When they speak to each other they use their Afrikan dialect but as we work we are hearing Michael Jackson’s voice, coming from a radio, wafting through the open window from one of the adjacent houses. And the boys begin to sing in English with Michael, “Billy Jean that’s my lover” and “It doesn’t matter if your black or white”. The sun beats down now and Robin and I are shedding the layers of sweaters that have been leant to us by friends in Capetown to keep us warm during the frigid morning temps experienced since climate change.

One of the small boys, Clayton, age 7, suddenly is next to me. Leitie has sent him to the garden with oranges, rolled in the hem of his t-shirt, for the volunteers. He offers me the biggest one. He notices that my borrowed, oversized gardening gloves have pulled away from my wrists and he pulls them back up to keep my $5 watch out of harm’s way. My time here is filled with hundreds of similarly sweet moments and I cannot adequately describe the loving spirit that is so evident in everyone I meet.

The hours pass quickly. Robin bought, cooked and cut into pieces, a large butternut squash from an organic farmer’s market in Capetown and brought it with us to Leitie’s house. One of Leities’s sisters prepares a wonderful soup for lunch.

On July 18th the country celebrated the 91st birthday of Nelson Mandela. The citizens were asked to spend 67 minutes doing something to honor the 67 years he has been politically involved in the struggle for equality (freedom) for all people. John has organized a day of celebration with us. We gather the neighborhood kids and head over to the overgrown path the children use everyday to walk to school. We spent the day clearing the path. We stack the cuttings high and as we do the children begin to climb under the large leafy branches to hide. I will never forget the sound of their laughter as they piled branch upon branch and then dove under the pile only to pop their heads out, to surprise me, as I came past with more cuttings.

We have been told that the older children use this same area to drink alcohol, smoke pot or sniff glue and I am wanting to surround the space with a loving intention that all who use this path will find comfort, support and courage that allows them to know the gifts they have been given to bless this community and the world.

John brought a large cast iron three-legged pot with lid and filled it with potatoes, carrots, onions, peppers and chicken. The children brought dry wood and kept the fire burning as the delicious stew cooked. After many hours the path was clear and we feasted in the open air. It was the perfect way to honor former President Mandela (TaTa Mandiba) and to mirror the point of love he is in the world.

My time here continues to be ‘blessing upon blessing’ for me. Know how keenly your presence is felt. There is only ONE of us here.

Love and Light to all,
Maura