When it comes time to name the Beaded Hope jewelry, we like to maintain the authenticity by having the artists themselves christen each piece. But the last workshop we had, in April, was so busy with instructing and creating, that the naming process was buried.

But thankfully, we did ask original beading artist Betty to name one of her bracelets. She toyed with its beads for a moment, and said she’d think about it.

The next workshop, Betty held up the piece: “Izimbasa.” The word rolled off her native South African tongue like a precious-kept secret. “In Zulu, it means star.”

Back in the states, Jennifer and I sat down and realized we had a ton of jewelry, but only one name. As we tinkered with the individual pieces and shot out possibilities, pieces of nature we’d seen in South Africa kept floating to our minds: the sunset, the dirt, the colors. And then we had Izimbasa. Why not make it a theme? The external beauty of South Africa, represented by jewelry crafted out of the internal beauty of its people.

Betty didn’t mean to inspire the names of the whole line, but that’s just what she did. As Jennifer and I sat and drank our South African Five Roses tea and tossed around our mental images of Africa, we remembered Betty’s laugh and nestled in the nostalgia.

It all begins here. This simple strand of beads began as a tradition in South Africa. Mothers would string these beads together and give them to their teething children to chew on to ease their discomfort. Those old necklaces were the teething rings of tribal Africa. And when the ladies of Beaded Hope told us about this tradition, the vision for a whole new line of Beaded Hope products was born.

The beads are called Tandkraal, which literally means “tooth compound” in Afrikaans. When the native South Africans tried the word out, they couldn’t quite get it and opted for calling the beads Karakatana instead. The beads have been smoothed and finished to enhance their natural beauty and come in colors of grays, creams and browns.

Finding the beads, proved another challenge. We navigated our way through the local market, without running around in too many circles thanks to our guide, Mighty, and eventually found the strands in a shop selling vuvuzelas, scarves and dish towels. Those basic strands already proved to be versatile and beautiful. We had no idea what would happen when the Beaded Hope ladies got their hands and creativity on the Karakatana.

Once they started working on the Karakatana designs, individual quirks and stories spilled out and into the jewelry itself. But it all began here, with one simple strand.

Today we did a 3^rd workshop. While the ladies did beadwork I walked around the VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing centre) with Paul, one of the orphans, and while we were walking he told me his story about his life.

It started when I asked if he was mad/sad. He answered that he gets teased at school.

I asked why. Paul said “it’s because I have white parents.” (Paul’s adopted).

After that we walked in silence for about 10 minutes. Then Paul gave me a tour of all of the VCT and told me a story about wood working and welding at his high school.

He is 14 years old and smaller than me. He is also positive.

Best part of the day: listening to Paul’s story.

Today we did home visits to 5 people. We gave them food parcels with maize, tea, powdered milk, soap bars, clothes cleaning soap, peanut butter, sugar, vegetable oil and toilet paper. We also prayed over them.

It was a different experience than what we would have at home, but it was a good experience. The first and most memorable house was Bongani’s house. His mom died of AIDS and he is also positive. He has been getting strokes, so the doctors put him in a wheel chair. He is 14 years old, but because of AIDS and strokes he only looks like he is 9 years old. We had a very long prayer over him. What we are hoping is that he gets back in school before May 1^st, and that he gets out of the wheel chair very soon.

Best part of the day: delivering food parcels.

Today we had a second workshop with the ladies of Beaded Hope.

I think that we are going to have a Beaded Hope release called “The Tandkraal Release.” Tandkraal means “tooth bead” because babies used to chew on them when they were teething.

Once we got back to the hotel we went on another safari, but it was only 1 hour long. We saw: giraffes, Bengal tigers, springbok, impala, white tigers, lions, spotted hyenas, and striped hyenas. It was awesome.

Fact of the day: did you know that striped hyenas have a bite force of 2.5 tons?!?

4/20/11

A couple days ago, Jennifer went with Mama Peggy to pick up a bunch of food and supplies: mince, corn maize meal, tea, powdered milk, cooking oil, toilet paper and soap were some of the items.

Yesterday, Connor and I sorted all of that stuff into ten bags: food in one bag, supplies in another.  Each food/supply pair made one parcel. Five parcels in all.

This morning, we drove around the township to deliver those five parcels to five different homes.

It began with Bongani:

This is Bongani a couple months ago. Quite the stud. That picture dates late 2010-2011. Things change.

Bongani’s mum had HIV, and passed on, as they say in Africa. So he now lives with his grandmother–a strong-jawed, red-eyed little woman. Determined and beautiful. Bongani is the smiliest kid, sweet in every mannerism. And his favorite thing is playing football (soccer). He’s 14 now. But as an HIV-positive kid, he looks barely 8.

We only got to see Bongani because he hasn’t been able to go to school for a while. He has had strokes–the 14-year-old child has had strokes–because of the HIV. These strokes have left him in a wheelchair… for now. Patricia, who runs the hospice, was with us, daring him to be walking around next week. He just smiled and said ok. And before we left, we all circled up around the table of food and supplies. Patricia lead us in an African hymn and we began to pray. I held onto his tiny hand so tightly. and as his hand curled around mine, I just knew that I would never completely leave that grasp; that some bit of me paused, separated and wrapped itself around that moment.

It began with Bongani. But that was my Africa moment. Everything is different from here on out.

4/19/11

We have had an interesting contrast in cultures here. On the one hand, we’ve been staying at the Farm Inn, a pretty classy place, and eating at some of the nicer restaurants. And on the other hand we’ve been spending most of our time at the VCT in the rather impoverished township. So here’s the cultural contrast through food:

Breakfast:

First morning at the Farm Inn. There's fruit, and omelettes, and breads, and BRIE CHEESE, and the most delicious mango juice you've ever had.

And then there's the South African donut: found randomly on the side of the road. Mighty says: "They're fat cakes. We call them babies. Because they are fat like babies." Yeahh, I don't know what these dough balls are cooked in... but I don't really care after trying one.

Lunchtime!

Roman's pizza. De-lic-ious. But seriously. Connor and I had five slices each.

Do I even need to say anything?

And then there’s dinner:

I had this at the Cape Town Fish Market.. a totally classy, and here, classic, place.

Or there's THIS. These places are everywhere. Like McDonalds, but... with fresh fish. We had a place similar to this the first night, and it was a winner.

And hey, dessert! Well, I really only have shots for the nicer restaurants. Turns out dessert isn’t the most common thing otherwise.

Fried chocolate with nut ganesh. The cook gave me the recipe I was so unabashedly in love. The waiter told us each one was like a little present. Truth.

and lastly, the unifying factor: Five Roses Tea.

Everyone drinks it. With loads of sugar and cream and an out-of-this-world biscuit.

4/18/11

And now a minute to introduce you to the animals we’ve encountered! Some are not so local, some are just here for the breeding program at the farm inn, and some are just totally everywhere.

This is just my best friend Anthony the Cheetah

Anthony is at the Farm Inn, and here’s what else they have.

Chickens are EVERYWHERE, here. and apparently, they sleep in trees.

Blue Wildebeeast ... all over Africa.

These giraffes are the smallest kind... but they really just look like they're on stilts when they walk. So awkwardly graceful.

Yeah check out the carnage. The tigers here are part of the breeding program, but this one is unfortunately infertile

There's two of these tigers, and they're still growing. But they are completely playful.

 Tiger fact: Tigers rely on stealth so they only go after prey that has turned its back. In some places, people have started wearing masks on the backs of their heads to confuse the tigers. Tiger-deaths dropped drastically in these places!

This white lion is basically the redhead of lions. It's a recessive gene. Mothers reject white lions :/

Besides the Farm Inn, we also visited Pilanesberg, which is a huge natural setting for animals. We saw ostriches, rhinos, lions (mating!), and springbok… but my favourite is actually the impala:

You can tell the male from the female by the M on the male's butt

seriously!

And then around the township, you sometimes see this:

and then:

Yeah. My brother got me one of those hats from China. Viva la Africa!

Today we went to Pilanesberg Game Park for a safari. It took 2 hours to get there, and it was like traveling through never ending farm land.

Once we got there, it reminded me Las Vegas. “Sun City”, the Las Vegas of South Africa because it has hotels, game drives, entertainment, restaurants, and attractions.

The safari that we took was 3 hours long. Our driver told us that if a composition book was all of the land for safari, we only covered about a 1 inch square, AND IT WAS BIG!

We saw: Lions, Blue Wildebeests, Gray Go-Away Birds, White Rhinos, Elephants, Springbok, Ostriches and Impala.

Did you know that rhinos can only move forward?

Once the safari was over, we took the 2 hour drive home. It was a pretty good day.

Best part of the day: going on safari.

Today we did 3 things: church, cheetahs, and a party at Mama Peggy’s house.

Church was 3 ½ hours long! It is nothing like at home. Church is only 45 minutes at home and way less vocal. The pastor was literally screaming into the microphone!

After church we took picture with Anthony the cheetah that stared in the movie “Duma”. It was really cool because I was taking pictures with a cheetah and he was almost laying on me at on time!

After that we went to Mama Peggy’s house for a dinner party. I ate a chocolate cake from Cakes of Africa, and it was good. We played football (soccer) with Jabulile’s son, Jabulane. It was fun.

Best part of the day: taking pictures with the cheetah.