Dear Friends of Mapusha,
I wanted to share with you the latest really good news for the women of the Mapusha Weaving Cooperative. It has been ten years since we began supporting these women and I know this latest report will make you smile.
When I was in South Africa last November-January they were having a terrible time with the new head priest at the mission. Despite the peaceful and collaborative relationship between the cooperative and the mission for the past 36 years, this Father wanted them to pay a high rent and, really, he wanted their studio.
It was difficult to watch but the women stood up for themselves, put up a good fight. They applied to the executive committee but word eventually came down from on high that they must pay an unfairly high rent. Regina told me they wanted to move, they were hurt and disillusioned by the actions of this Father (have to say, it felt like my own small version of the 'nuns versus the Vatican.')
Two weeks later, without my doing anything other than resolve to help them, a donor came to a friend of Mapusha’s, Jodi Miller in Alaska. She wanted to make a substantial donation to one of Jodi’s African projects. and when she heard of the problems with the mission, she chose to help Mapusha.
I called Regina with the news. Her response was,"Alleluhia, Alleluhia! My heart is soooooo big with happiness."
They will build a new studio with this generous donation in the nearby compound where the local nursery school and the new Seeds of Light art center are housed. They will become part of a community hub with participants ranging from toddlers to school age artists to young mothers and old grannies. We hope to sink a borehole and begin a multigenerational gardening project. The women of Mapusha will be the elders, the trustees of this "New Dawn" project.
Somehow, becoming the elders in a vital community center feels the perfect next step in the process of claiming their rightful place and power. Anyone who has met these women will know what I mean and immediately understand the value these very solid women will bring to a community enterprise.
I am leaving in a couple of weeks to spend a month with them. We will do a day of visioning the future, experiment with eco-printing with Acacia leaves/pods/bark on fine cotton scarves, get the designs for the new studio in place - move forwards!
I'm still working on the book about my time with Mapusha, first draft done, second begun. I have an inkling that this next trip may hold the core of the last chapter, not to give anything away.
Below is a picture of Gertrude with Zanile, Ambrocia's youngest daughter, sitting atop the small rugs she has recently been weaving. Also, a picture of the whole coop greeting their distant friends in front of the new mural on the New Dawn Center.
Thank you so much for your support. I will keep you informed on how our exciting new project is going.
with love,
Judy
P.S. If you were thinking of someday ordering a Mapusha rug this would be a good time as I will be there to precisely interpret your wishes.
