Walls rising, next.

The walls of the new studio are miraculously rising and I can envision one day walking in the front door to see the weavers and their looms by their south facing windows. I tingle with the new studio becoming a three dimensional reality  but I also feel a new horizon looming. I have done lots of designing in my life. I have designed tapestries, rugs, yoga classes, workshops and South African tours  but lying awake in the middle of the night, I begin to try to envision the design of this community complex. Once the studio is complete Mapusha will relocate but what more is needed to nourish the whole, to create a vital community hub?  Granted, my role is to simply find a vision and hold it. I can’t make it happen, only the community members can do that but still the vision of the whole design feels important at this formative moment in Roiboklaagte. 

It was the grannies of rural South Africa who captured my heart ten years ago and it is Gertrude, Regina, Lindy and the three Anna's who have modeled for me both a new level of faith and how to put one foot in front of the other no matter what the circumstances. They have shown me over and over their great ability to sing, pray, dance or laugh on a dime but, sitting on the steps with Emerencia, Regina's very successful and delightful thirty-four year old daughter, when I asked her opinion of what we needed at the New Dawn Center, she shocked me.  She said bluntly, "The Mapusha women are too old. They grew up under Apartheid and it is the younger generation who must make a difference now."  

Her comment made everything stand still for a moment but, as I mulled it over I felt my vision broaden.  Now my puzzle is how to bring in that next generation. We have the creche with the small children and the art class for the medium children and the Mapusha grannies to ground it all but how to bring on that middle range, the twenty and thirty somethings who haven't moved from the village but have a passion to make something of their lives.
It helps to understand what note, what flavor is needed for the whole design to really sing but once again I am faced with a new realm, new words and tasks. Vision as I may, try as I might it will only succeed if many from the community join us and share the vision. The motto of the New Dawn Center is "Working together we have power" but how to move that forward is my current question.
 

The drilling rig will lumber up next week to dig our borehole and I will be adding 'building renovation and refurbishment' to my portfolio as we finally begin to spiff up the Peanut Building/Community Development Center. The pieces of the physical design are coming into place but creating a vital community hub means finding a way to mix, match and merge many energies. The goal is  to form a smoothly functioning whole and we aren’t there yet. I am  holding thumbs and asking for help, ideas, inspiration from all quarters!