BACK IN NAMIBIA

I was in the USA for almost 6 months recently, helping with a new grand baby, enjoying the holiday season with children and grand children , and doing shows to support and promote the Namibian women in our project. 

Thanks to many of you, who purchased beads and jewelry, we were able to raise over $10,000 USA dollars to keep our project solvent!  There was a time when we could make enough sales in Namibia alone, but most of our sales in country are to tourists, and fewer and fewer tourists are coming to Namibia these days. We sell in country, only about 1/3 as much now, as we did in the pre-2011 days.

My beautiful model here is Asteria Shilongo. She is facilities manager at our community training center. She is as beautiful inside as out!

When I first realized I would be training Namibian women in hand craft, I must have thought there were 20 of me. I had so many ideas! And I brought tons of supplies to Namibia for all those hundreds of ideas. Back in 2003 and for a few years after, we were allowed two 70 lb. bags of luggage.
Weren't those the days!

Now that both my husband an I are in our 60's, we are looking at a bit slower pace and to spending more time in the USA with our grandkids, while still promoting the hand work of Namibian women.

 We are thinking 9 months in the USA and only 3 months per year in Namibia.( For  the past 13 years it has usually been 9 months in Namibia and 3 in the USA).

All that to say, I recently began going through all those supplies I brought years ago, and passing them on to other organizations who could put them to good use.

When I came to the ribbon box though, I had a hard time giving up all my never used plans for the ribbon.  I also still have lots of fabric I had thought to use for making hand bags.  My most dear friend here has just been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer, so I have been thinking head covers anyway. Over the weekend head bands just kept pouring out of my little garage work room.

Here's one with a crocheted band and silk ribbon flower

I got my crochet patterns here. I love her patterns !

Head bands are such instant gratification! A new one can be whipped out in a little over an hour. And they will be much less complicated to teach than hand bags.

Now the question is..........Is there a market?  Please give me some feed back.  Do you like wide or narrow? Is there a market?

I am also working on some children and baby sizes.

Here's the week end stash

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

It's winter here in the Southern hemisphere, so for those of us who grew up in the Northern one, it's as Christmas feeling as it's gonna get ! 

No snow, but a little frost now and then. Sweaters and hot drinks are in order. It reminds me of a Florida winter with lots of sunshine but a definite nip in the air.

Snow man candy jar

I am also going State side early this year to help with a new grand baby, so we are in the Christmas making mood in the studio.

 Angels we have heard on high..........

 Some wheel thrown ornaments I have been experimenting with

 ornaments

and more ornaments

Christmas bells

even an African patterned bell

And as always, the OKAWA beads are rolling out with a couple of firings a week. We have lots of stock, and I will soon have to slow the ladies down  in order to be able to handle pay day.

We are all praying for a break through in finding some kind of wholesale outlet in the USA or Europe. 

(And here I thought if we built a fabulous " mouse trap they would come" :))

TRAINING DAY

I've been working on some new designs, and we have some new ladies working now, so Friday was training day.  The ladies are proficient at rolling and painting beads, but sometimes it's good to try something new !

I am also flying back to the U.S.A. early this year for the birth of a new grand baby, so I thought we had better get cracking on Christmas ornaments.

Here is Vicky working on star ornaments

Otillie ( in the foreground) is woking on small flowers. Any B.T.W. ever wonder where those Lyon's club glasses go? We we were happy to receive a bag of them because anyone over 40 needs them !

Wonky star pendants

Lodie is working on the star pendants

Bracelet bars

 I got busy and forgot to get a photo of everyone, but we had a productive and fun day.

FIVE RAND SQUATTER'S CAMP- a tour

The community of Five Rand got it's name when the farmer who owned the land charged people five rand ( U.S. 50 cents) a month to live there and use his water. (At the time Namibia was part of South Africa)

The land now belongs to the city of Okahandja, and plots can be purchased for $700 to $900 U.S. dollars. Most people however never achieve ownership and just set up their tin home on whatever plot is available.

There are a handful of cement block houses in the camp. I was curious why this one was empty, and was told that it is haunted by a dead child crying in the walls.

Five Rand is not just a place where people have their homes, but there are also many business, churches, a few preschools, and one primary school .

Here is a very nice preschool ( here we say kindergarden) and it doubles as a church on Sunday. I think they used pallets for the wood part.

Here's another church

Butcher

Here's hubby at the take out.

The most frequent business in the camp unfortunately, is that of having a bar as part of your home (called a shebeen)

The reason this is such a problem, is that many, many of the camps residents drink away their small pay checks within the first few days of getting them, and their children go hungry.They sometimes even give children alcohol because it makes them stop crying.  

 There are often bar fights, and I especially pity the children who have this going on right in their home.

  Each bar tries to get customers by playing  louder and louder music and so it's a constant "battle of the bands" especially in the evenings when kids are needing to do homework.
One reason we built the community/youth center is so kids will have a safe place to be, and where they can participate in sports, games, and learning as an alternative to following in their parents foot steps of drinking as the only form of entertainment.
TO BE CONTINUED.......