Mapusha's splendiferous arches!

It took over a week to complete the three arches in the central support wall at the new studio and each day I found myself rushing to the building site to see the next step. I was fascinated, took numerous pictures and marveled at the inspirational effect these structural curves had on me.  

I drove home with images of rainbows, Chartres Cathedral and the Arc de Triumph floating through my head. I was trying to feel my way into an understanding of why these simple structural curves seem to have the power to make my heart expand.  

I googled from many angles, read about the first arches in Mesopotamia and Persia in the 2nd millennium BC, perused pictures of the solid Roman arches of military triumph and the soaring Gothic arches of European churches. I came to understand the variety of arches and the structural significance of their efficient weight bearing capacity but it was a brief illusion to the Greco-Roman sky gods, Zeus and Jupiter, that caught my attention. Of course, arches were the turf of the sky; the daily path of the sun the moon, and the planets.This seemed a big clue for me.  

When Regina, the chairperson of the weaving cooperative, saw the first brick curve under construction, she said, with a wide smile, “It is like a church.” This felt like another clue. 

Then, on Friday afternoon, just as I was about to leave the site, Regina and Gertrude came over to the building site to see the weeks progress. As I watched them walk through the front door and marvel at the arches it all fell into place for me.They were looking up at the arches and the sky. I flashed on Gertrude one day long ago when I told her I’d found a job for her daughter. She spontaneously raised both arms, looked up and thanked God for this miracle. That was it! When the women of Mapusha look up they are in communication with their God. Their solace and  support comes from above and the arches inspire them to look up. The simple action of raising our head, our eyes up, moves all of us from the earth to the skies, from the dense physical to the numinous realms.

Someday soon these arches will have a roof over them and their majesty will be diminished without the backdrop of a bright African sky. Two of them will be fitted with frame looms for large rugs and the weavers will be weaving within the curved spaces. But, I must thank Kevin Mitchell, the architect, for having the prescience to grace this building with three arches. The very fact of a new studio is proof of miracles and limitless possibility for the women of Mapusha. And, since the bedrock of their strong faith is their connection and communion with above I am happy that the arches will be there to remind them to look up, often! I only hope I remember as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G3qC3nYqiY

Ubuntu in Rooiboklaagte

"One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu – the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness.”  Tutu 

The front door being bricked in place and (below) the Mapusha women admiring their new studio.

Ubuntu is a an ethical concept of South Africa that was spoken of often in the early days of Mandela and now is the name of a new Linux-based computer operating system and a new soft drink. The concept is one that appeals greatly to my idealistic nature. The notion that when one is humiliated, all are humiliated, when one is oppressed all are oppressed sounds like both a deep spiritual principal and a gentle humanist philosophy. 

In the last few weeks I have had the opportunity to understand the essence of this practice in a visceral way. What I now see is that this is practiced daily in the studio of Mapusha. When little Zanile falls down, all of the women within sight will shake their heads with a worried frown and say, “Sorry, sorry, Zanile!” They are expressing their pain at her pain. It used to make me laugh when I would clumsily trip and Gertrude would say, “Sorry, sorry, Judy,” but I have come to appreciate the sense of connection this practice holds within it. 

Over the last month, as I came to the studio with my swollen arm either bandaged or in a sling I could feel all the women looking first at my arm when I entered the door. It was a collective “sorry, sorry” that hit me like a wave of warmth each day. 

Then, yesterday I had the unpleasant experience of an angry American expressing his low opinion of my project management skills loudly, publicly at the building site. The workers went on working, wheeling their full barrels of bricks to the base of the scaffolding, mixing cement and placing bricks up near the top of the walls but, again, I could feel the collective caring surrounding me. When I left the confrontation and walked over to stand with Desmond at the cement mixing pile, sure enough, he looked up at me with great concern in his eyes, shook his head slightly and said, Sorry, sorry Judy.” I glanced up at the women with the bricks and they, too with a slight shake of their heads communicated their support to me. 

I feel graced to understand more deeply the experience of Ubuntu here in Rooiboklaagte. It would seem to me that the gun slinging individualism so prized in the states would benefit from the teaching of this rural South African community. They know how to live together with a great sense of interconnectedness and a great deal of heart. 

At the building project it was time for a birthday celebration with Mapusha and the building crew! Gertrude’s 71st birthday and my 62nd were honored with cake, apple slices, cool drinks and, of course, a double dose of all singing “heppy berthdey to you.”

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