I can't believe my last blog was dated Oct. 17th! Ok, the following are my excuses: Oct. 19-23 the ANSA group from the US was here. ANSA stands for Association of Nutrition Services Agencies, it is an umbrella organization based in Washington D.C. that does advocacy work for HIV/AIDS and nutrition programs for member agencies like Open Arms of MN. As I mentioned in my email to all of you when I was returning to Cape Town I was going be taking on the position of the interim director of ANSA's International Program. ANSA partnered with a non-profit organization in Cape Town, Ikamva Labantu in 2007. The group was here doing a site visit and working on the program for 2010. Oct. 23-31 I was in Paris with John. Ok, that was not work, that was a vacation. We met in Paris and spent the week taking in all the beautiful sites of Paris. The weather was cool and sunny, perfect walking weather. Nov. 1-6 I was in Windhoek, Namibia with the second group from ANSA visiting Hope Initiatives, the other non-profit organization that ANSA partnered with in 2007. Nov. 8-19th my sister Mary and her husband Ray came to Cape Town to visit me. We spent a few days in the townships and other days doing the touristy thing. Unfortunately for Mary and Ray the weather precluded them from visiting the major tourist attractions of Cape Town. We did go on a 3 day safari in Sabi Sand near Kruger. It was the perfect ending to their vacation. We were able to see the big 5, the only animal we didn't see was the zebra. I will be expounding on both ANSA programs in my next blogs. My main objective for this blog was to let you know I was still in Cape Town!
While I was in Namibia I received a call that my friend Teach had passed away. I mentioned him in my blog last year and also this year. Right before I left for Paris I stopped by to visit Teach and to bring him some food. As I left him I started to cry, I had this horrible feeling that I might not see him again, I was right. I was able to go to his memorial service. Being that the service was in Xhosa I had my friend Ben translate for me. A neighbor of Teach got up to talk about Teach and how she and her son took care of him by making sure he had food each day. She also made a plea to the congregation to please not leave electrical wires on the floor of their homes. Teach had just moved in with his niece and in the middle of the night he got up to use the bathroom and on his way back to bed he tripped on the electrical wire on the floor, fell down and hit his head, he never woke up. If the wire had not been on the floor Teach would still be with us today. I miss him, I drive by the Senior Centre everyday and think of him. In honor of Teach, Open Arms will be doing food parcels for the Senior Centre for Christmas this year.
I forgot to mention that I had a very interesting experience. On Friday, Oct. 16th my friend Richard invited me to attend a mass at St. George's Cathedral where Archbishop Desmond Tutu was officiating. The mass was to start at 7:15 AM. I wrote in my datebook 7:15 but in my mind I kept thinking 7:45. I left my flat at 7:15, got to St. George's, found a parking spot and started walking into the vestibule where the mass was. As I am walking in I notice how quiet it is (my shoes were making that awful click-clack sound) and to my horror I realize that I am walking in during the middle of the mass, they were just getting ready to give the sign of peace. I quickly walk in, find a seat and sit down. I see Richard and he smiles at me and motions to me to come and sit by him. Everyone starts to get up and give the sign of peace. Archbishop Tutu gives the sign of peace to each member and comes to me and says welcome. When he returns to the altar he says "Richard, please introduce us to your friend." Ok, I could just die, I am so embarrassed. Richard gets up, introduces me, says that I am from the US working with a non-profit, Open Arms of MN at the JL Zwane Centre in Guguleu. Seriously, this is so excruciatingly painful for me. After the mass we all line up to greet the Archbishop. It comes to my turn, he shakes my hand and says, "Thank you for joining us today Jane, nice meeting you." He remembered my name! I have this feeling he remembers everyones name. I was invited to have coffee with the group after mass so I did join them. I wasn't able to sit next to him but I met some very interesting people that morning. He is a small man but his persona is huge.
I was able to return to the centre on Friday, everyone kept asking me who I was, it was very funny. My next blogs will be about Ikamva Labantu and Hope Initiatives so you can meet the ANSA International partners.
Bye for now...
Photos: In honor of Teach and the animals from safari.
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