Adventures in Africa: Part V

First, apologies are in order for the length of time it has taken to write this blog. Many of you have been asking about it and I appreciate your patience. This has not been easy to write for a couple of reasons. First, although it seems silly, writing the final blog on Africa closes the door a little bit on the trip and I wasn’t quite ready to do that. Also, to try to sum up the experience is difficult; I hope I have done it justice. It stirs up many mixed emotions.

And so I ended my trip to South Africa the same way I began it – with my face pressed up against the window of the small, white Thanda pickup truck – trying to absorb everything I was seeing. The people and the land, these are things I want to hang on to. I don’t know what the future holds for South Africa – it is difficult to figure out. It is perhaps the only place I have traveled that I can’t quite wrap my mind around, can’t quite figure out. They are making progress and things seem to be headed in the right direction, but there is still tension and crime, byproducts of Apartheid and the fact that so many people were denied an education and the ability to learn skilled labor. Now, legally at least, everyone is entitled to an education and better jobs. So in time with an educated and skilled population, as people are able to support themselves and their families, well, the hope is that things will improve.

I say that people are legally entitled to an education but some are still denied due to social reasons. Sometimes in rural areas the children will sit in the classroom all day and wait for teachers to show up, many of whom were just too sick to come to work that day. HIV/AIDS has had a devastating impact on South Africa. Other children, with their parents gone, may have to provide for younger siblings and work instead of going to school. So, for some the sad cycle will continue. This is where programs like Thanda Zulu come in. By providing support to those in need in the form of education, skills, and guidance – and they are making great progress.

As I said in a previous blog, I am not an expert on South Africa and what I have written is based on my personal experience but I would like to leave you with some random thoughts about what I saw and experienced. So here goes: beautiful beaches, sugar cane fields, people and more people everywhere – even walking along the highway, dust, rolling green hills, outdoor markets, poverty, wealth, warm and welcoming people, spectacular sunrises, big cities, small towns, rural villages, wildlife reserves, smiling children, well, you get the picture. This is a very beautiful and diverse country with a lot to offer.

I went to Africa thinking that I was going to be the one who was giving, but in the end I received a lot more than I gave. I met beautiful, warm people, was inspired to see how much of a difference people can make in the lives of others, and came away with a lifetime of beautiful memories and experiences.

Adventure in Africa: Part IV

For this blog I want to continue the theme of “hope” in South Africa and talk about the workshop I gave to some of the students in the Grade 12 class. It was towards the end of my stay there and it was such a positive way to end an amazing experience. Who better to illustrate hope than the children of a country?

So there I was giving a workshop on how to start a business. I went into the class not knowing what to expect. The students where I had been earlier in the week were mostly younger kids who were thrilled to have a visitor. But would high school students? Further, did they want to hear about starting a business or anything else I had to say for that matter? I had prepared some notes that hit on certain points I did not want to forget and so I started speaking. WOW! They were paying attention – I mean really paying attention and taking notes. I invited questions throughout and boy did I get asked questions. Really good questions. Questions like: Where to get the money to start a business, what type of business to open, what to do if a customer is not happy with a product or service, what are ways to grow and expand a business, how many hours a week usually go into owning a business, what are ways to give back to the community…

I want to touch upon this last question briefly. These kids who have not even started a business yet were already asking ways that they could help and give back to their community. I was, to put it simply, blown away. As a business owner myself, one of the most fun, rewarding things I get to do is to give back. Of course, anyone can do this whether they own a business or not! But as a business owner, I do get asked for assistance a lot more than in my personal life and through my business I have been led to some great opportunities to give both time and money. A prime example is this incredible trip to South Africa.

A few days before I gave the workshop I read through the various applications the students had filled out for either the grant or scholarship or, in the case of a couple of students, both. Hey, you can’t blame someone for trying! As I read through the applications a couple of things stood out. One, these kids grew up very differently than I did. Their lives have not been easy. Most have experienced the loss of one or both their parents to AIDS. In fact, they have probably lost many relatives to AIDS. Some grew up in the orphanage. Their financial situation is perilous. Yet in every application, and this is the second thing that really stood out, the students’ wanted to go on to university or start a business to make their community better.

I have to admit that when I first went to work as a teenager it was not to make my community better. It wasn’t until years later that I thought about giving back. Not these kids, giving back is their goal – to both their families and community. Many want to be nurses so they can care for the people there in their village, one wants to be an agricultural engineer, again, to make things better for everyone, and one wants to be a Math teacher to come back to the village and teach. Some want to start businesses so they can fulfill a need in the community, employ people, and also, in turn, someday give someone else the opportunity to start a business.

No one in the village has gone to university yet, but they will soon and the Thanda After-School project has recently started an Entrepreneurship Training Program for recent graduates who wish to start a business. I saw firsthand how Thanda has given these children hope for their future and that they in turn will give South Africa hope for its future.

And from what I saw there is a lot of hope. I am by no means an expert on the subject and I was there for such a short time but it sure felt like change was in the air. More on this in my next blog…

Adventure in Africa: Part III

It has taken me a little longer to sit down and write the next installment on my Africa trip. My emotions are still a jumble and I have so many thoughts going through my mind, I am having a difficult time putting them down on paper. Oh, even in person it is hard to describe. Customers will come in and ask me how my trip was and I just look at them for a minute, then I start to say something and stop, and then I start to say something different and stop again. Then the words just spill out and I hope I am making some sense. But that is how Africa was to me – a mix of emotions. I never knew I could experience so many different ones at the same time - joy and sadness in the same moment, hope and despair together in another moment. But out of all the emotions and feelings, for me HOPE for the future of South Africa is what I think about most and I experienced it and witnessed it myself the rest of the week I was there so that is what I will focus on in this installment.

The rest of the week passed much too quickly. My time was spent helping to cut and paste art projects for first and second graders and having sixth and seventh grade students welcome me to their class by performing traditional dances and songs and I even got to join in! The third and fourth graders also sang to me, their beautiful voices and smiles, well, I still cannot believe I was there.

Then one day, myself and a few others were privileged to spend a few hours walking around this very rural, impoverished village and I was able to see progress at its best. The Thanda organization had observed that, in an area of food insecurity and malnutrition, people were not growing any of their own food. Somewhere along the line, gardening had become a lost skill. Villagers, a very few with their own cars, would have to pay cab fare to the nearest town, about 30 minutes away and buy fruits and vegetables from the market. So Thanda, always adapting to the needs of the people, offered gardening classes to teach people how to grow their own food. Initially about a half dozen families took part and we were there to check up on their progress.

These individuals, who had only recently started with the smallest of gardens, proudly showed us the newer, expanded gardens they had made. They were growing everything – lettuce, scallions, corn, beets, beans, and everything else you could think of. I was simply floored. I mean, it was that easy. Just provide some seeds and show people some gardening skills. Period. People are growing their own food and to not only feed their families but they will also be able to sell to their neighbors at a lot less cost and minus the cab fare. When I said in the first sentence of this paragraph that I was privileged to walk around the village it is because of the people I met this day - these half dozen or so individuals and their families. These people live under the harshest circumstances. Illness – HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Polio, Hepatitis- and death are found in astounding, heart breaking numbers.

These people have lost sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, grandchildren to AIDS. Poverty is, well, you can just imagine. But here is the thing: Every man, women, and child that I came across that day whether just passing by or in the case of the new gardeners, a little longer encounter, took the time to smile, wave, and say hello. The men and women whose homes we visited to see their new gardens, stopped their tilling and weeding, shook hands with us and proudly, welcomed us to their homes. Africa made me question everything about myself and this was one of those times. Would I be as gracious and welcoming if someone, obviously from very, different circumstances, came into my village…I like to think I would, but would I really? And that is where the hope lies, with the beautiful, proud, and gracious people of South Africa. My next installment will continue with the hope for the future when I talk about the workshop I gave to the High School seniors about how to start a business.

Until next time...

Adventure in Africa: Part II

I was fortunate to see many sides of South Africa during my short visit there – rural villages, big cities, towns, beautiful beaches, and an amazing wildlife conservation park. But for now I will focus on my time working with and visiting the Thanda After-School project. This project, mostly funded with sales from Thanda Zulu jewelry, provides necessary resources, skills, and activities to help empower children and individuals in rural Umtwalume, Kwa Zulu-Natal where 1 in 3 adults have HIV/AIDS and a third of the population is unemployed.

Riding in the small, white Toyota pickup truck on my first day out to the village I had my face pressed so hard against the glass, as if by doing this I could permanently imprint everything I was seeing into my brain – rolling, green hills, purple blooming Jacaranda trees, dust, vervet monkeys, men in the sugar cane fields with their machetes, tuberculosis clinics – good and bad I wanted to take it all in.

But seeing is just the beginning; for me Africa was a feast for the senses. Besides what I saw, I tasted, smelled, heard, and touched. I tasted sweet tropical fruits, Rooibos Tea – a favorite at home, and pap – not at all unlike polenta, and my very favorite, Rusks. I smelled beautiful flowers and the sugar cane being burned at night is a smell I will never forget. I heard monkeys screeching, women speaking their native tongue of Zulu, where clicking sounds are interspersed with words, and I will never forget the sound of the children laughing and singing. I dipped my feet into the Indian Ocean and shook hands with the men and women that I met in the village.

On my first day, I was able to spend time at the new sewing income generation project and although the women were a little shy and nervous at first to have a visitor, they warmed up quickly and in spite of many of them not speaking English and myself not speaking Zulu, we got on quite well - they even gave me a sewing lesson! This new project gives skills and training to previously unemployed individuals so that they can sew products which can then be sold to support themselves. Later that day I got to sit in on an art class, one of many after-school programs Thanda offers to its more than 300 and growing students in its program. Valuable skills such as being able to think creatively, offer constructive criticism to their classmates, and receive constructive criticism about their work were being learned. With a full, first day behind me I fell asleep early that night, but I did so with many thoughts going through my mind as I tried, in vain, to make sense of everything I had seen and experienced.

To be continued...

Prayers for Haiti

35 seconds. That is how long the earthquake lasted in Haiti. That is how long it took for roads to crumble, buildings to collapse, and lives to end. What a tragic reminder as to how fragile and tenuous life can be.

But this tragedy, as with others, is also a reminder at how wonderful, caring, and resilient humans beings are. How many people are as moved as I am as we witness astounding acts of courage, unselfishness, and hope in the face of such tragedy? Neighbors, strangers, and family working tirelessly together to pull people from the rubble and Haitians singing songs of hope and faith in the streets, are just a couple of the images I am referring to.

Please keep all of the victims and volunteers in your thoughts and prayers, and let us try not to judge anyone as this situation unfolds and people become more desperate for help. With a tragedy like this, there are no borders, no them vs. us - we are all just humans.

Adventures in Africa: Part I

Life is funny sometimes. When I started Most Naturally nearly five years ago, I could not have imagined the direction it would take me. This past fall, I was led to Africa. It all started several years ago when I started selling the Thanda Zulu line. I started with just a few necklaces and bracelets, not sure how my customers would react to it. Well, people loved the jewelry and the story behind it, and now several years later it occupies a prominent space in the store, the table full of different styles and colors.

As the line grew, so did my friendship with the program founder, Angela Larken, as well as my interest in South Africa. I looked forward to Angela's visits, anxious to hear of the progress, or setbacks, Thanda was making. On one such day when Angela was visiting the store I uttered the words "I would love to come to South Africa someday and see the Thanda project in person". Well, Angela and I touched upon the subject often after that - when I should go, what skills could I offer while I was there, etc. - until one day last spring when I got an email that said "the first week of October is good, come then". I landed in South Africa on October 1, 2009 and I have not been the same since.