I relaxed this morning and didn’t leave the hotel until 10.00. The quilting groups have been incredibly hospitable and organized adventures for me once again. I was taken to the Kim Sacks Gallery where I found beautiful African Artifacts. It was run by the most interesting woman an artisan herself. Her choices of goods for sale were second to none. Take for instance the piece of appliqué below know as Kuba cloth they are made in very long strips and appliquéd by hand. I won't go into great detail about the cloth because I will put up a page in the web site about the different techniques of making these art pieces.
I was itching to photograph, finally my companion asked for me and I snapped like a woman possessed.
A trip to the Korso Gallery was interesting as well, once again that will be featured on the web page. I have been accompanied constantly on this trip and I really appreciate the friendship offered to me by the quilting group in Johannesburg. Lunch with a friend I met in Pt Elizabeth. In fact we had an Indian adventure together when we visited my students house for an Indian meal....She laughingly re-counted the incident where we got lost on the way home, and found ourselves on the wrong side of the tracks at about10.00 pm at night. We asked directions of a man and his wife at the stop lights.... “Follow me” he said and drove ahead of us for almost 20 minutes until we were on the right track. We thought he was actually coming home with us until we drove up aside him and motioned that we were OK. We were so surprised, but it was a wonderful act of kindness. In the afternoon we visited a share and care program where African women come every second Saturday to learn quilting. Some came from long distances in a “taxi” the mini busses that run between the townships and are crammed to the limit.
The local quilt group sponsors the women and some women have been attending quite a long time.
design some patterns for them and send them as a gift.
The next few hours were very special. We visited the house of Ina Le Roux. Ina has done a Doctorate on the oral traditions of the Venda people. I was entranced as she talked with such passion about her project. The Venda (and other groups I imagine) has always told stories and they have been handed down from one person to another verbally because there is no written word. In the cooking room every evening the women and children gather, The sun is setting, the fire glowing and I can picture that it is a wonderful setting for stories. The story teller calls out "Salungalu" and the gathering replies "Salungalu (We are listening) “are you listening she says” "We are listening” they all say again. She begins to tell the story one line at a time and almost in a “hallelujah” frame of mind the audience sings an acknowledgement. The story is sung monotone from the storyteller but her one tone blends in with the archipela replies of her audience. I would love to be there.... Ina says. "You must visit next time" and yes, I will.
I will put these stories and Ina's web page on my web page in the next few days.
