Monkeybiz and Siyaya

Once again I am behind in blogging. John was here for almost two weeks and just left. We had a great time together, did many things even though I went to work everyday. He has the routine down now so I don't feel guilty about leaving him, but remember it is Cape Town, so don't feel that sorry for him. It was his last visit for my six month stay, I have one month left to go and I will be home. It will be a very bittersweet day for me!

Many of you have received gifts from me over the years of colorful beaded artwork from a non-profit here in Cape Town called Monkeybiz. Monkeybiz was created in 2000 by Barbara Jackson, Shirley Fintz and Mathaps Ngaka. Monkeybiz is an income generating program that supplies glass beads to 450 women living in the township of Khayelitsha, about 40 minutes outside Cape Town. Many of these women are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. These women are able to work from their homes and are now able to take care of their children and avoid the high cost of transport to the city each day to find work. Once a month the women bring their creations to the home of Mathaps' mother, who has trained most of these women to bead, for market day.

The last market day was February 18th and Monkeybiz and the JL Zwane Centre collaborated with Siyaya to have a market day celebration. The market runs from 9:00 AM until 12:00 PM. Siyaya was there to perform while the women stood in line, well, I should say danced in line! The celebration of the women was a wonderful event. Siyaya kept them entertained and dancing for over an hour. We were also fortunate to have a group from Minneapolis come to the celebration. Arm in Arm in Africa are funders to the JL Zwane Centre, I believe this was their 10th trip to Cape Town and they are frequent visitors to Monkeybiz!

Open Arms has been promoting Monkeybiz products for the last 4 years selling them at their annual World AIDS Day event. All the proceeds from the sale of Monkeybiz products go back to the programs that Open Arms supports in South Africa. Open Arms supports a soup kitchen every market day which provides a meal for the women and their children, this day there was soup, sandwiches and fruit.

This was Monkeybiz's first market day after the December/January holiday shutdown. Many of the beaders go back to the rural areas to be with their families so the day was a reunion for many of them. The day marked the beginning of a new year and a new friendship between the JL Zwane Centre and Monkeybiz.

I want to introduce you to the Monkeybiz family. In the first photo: front row: Joan, sales and administrative assistant, Elizabeth, bookkeeper, Barbara, co-director and founder, Mathaps, co-director and founder. Back row: Zaki and Siya, both ordering and packing assistants.

The second photo is of Siyaya performing. Third photo is of the children and adults enjoying the music of Siyaya. Forth picture is of Mathaps doing quality control on the beaded artwork. Every women has a bank account and once market day is completed the money is put into their accounts so they don't have the stress of having to go to the bank or to be a victim of theft walking home with money in their pockets after market day. Fifth photo is of the beaders in line to receive their meal from the soup kitchen that Open Arms supports through the generous donations made by you!

I hope you enjoyed meeting the Monkeybiz family!

Bye for now...