Hand made for you in South Africa

From a history site: “Afrikaners traditionally celebrated 16 December as the Day of the Vow, remembering the day in 1838 when a group of Voortrekkers defeated a Zulu army at the Battle of Blood River, while ANC activists commemorated it as the day in 1961 when the ANC started to arm its soldiers to overthrow Apartheid. In the new South Africa's it's a day of reconciliation, a day to focus on overcoming the conflicts of the past and building a new nation.”

Commonly called “Builders Holiday”, everything is closed on 16 Dec, including the BEC. Taking advantage of everyone’s day off, the Mariannhill card making group turned it into a work day, to get all of the planned 800 cards ready to send off later in the week.

We mentioned the card making in an earlier post. Some of the sisters (and a few brothers), mostly young and mostly underemployed, are trying to get a business going, hand making African-themed cards for export. Sister Leah Egginton from Australia has helped them set up the business, and is training them on things like quality control. The first group of cards has now left with Bro Tom Ryder, a volunteer from the UK who spent 6 months here, and has now gone on to Australia. The cards will be sold (in groups of 5) at a Bible school there. We are hoping to bring a batch with us when we return to the States in May, to sell at the Great Lakes Bible School.

The cards are crafted from card stock, ink, colored pencil, and beads. There are five patterns in all, but each card is unique. The pictures of the African woman and the zebra, in particular, proved fertile ground for great variety. Each card is stamped on the back: “Hand made for you in South Africa”, with the group’s logo, a lion pawprint.

For the work day, a local brother and sister turned over their house to become a card factory. Jane had offered to do the lunch – so Paul dropped her & the food off about 10:00, while he attended to other things. Jane worked the whole rest of the day, and when Paul returned at 2:00 he pitched in as well. We were doing packaging and such – the actual card making was done by the sisters and brothers from Mariannhill.

By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted, but the 800 cards were done, quality checked, and packaged! We’ve heard that they arrived without incident in Australia. We hope that our friends back in the Midwest will get a chance to see, and buy, the next batch!