March 7. 2007…My Mother’s First Quilt

As I embarked on our weekly journey to Soshanguve I packed something very special for our trip. Since moving to South Dakota my mom has found new hobbies such as quilting, going to rodeo’s, hiking, etc. I guess that is what you do in South Dakota. When my mother completed her first quilt she decided to give it to a family that I would meet in South Africa. I knew today was the day to give away this beautiful brightly colored quilt with orange, pink, green, and yellow, perfect African colors. I told Constance that I had a blanket for an orphan family, so if she could think of a family that would greatly benefit from this especially as it is getting colder outside.

As we walked into the yard of the family there were baby chicks running around and an older woman sitting under a tree on a milk crate. When the magogo’s (grandma) neither eyes nor head moved when we approached her I knew she was blind and could only hear us approaching. She called out asking who was there; in a soft gentle voice Constance introduced us to magogo. As we pulled up stools around the magogo to converse with her the five orphan children that live with her started coming home from school. The older girls recognized me right away from my previous trip in May and came running with huge smiles. An aunt who had also joined us told us that it is rare for the girls to be able to go to school because they are soo poor they can’t afford the proper school uniforms, so they made their own. One of the school officials if he sees them will chase them out of the school, but today he wasn’t there so the girls were able to stay at school. We talked for awhile and then gave the family some food for the week and Constance started translating for me that the blanket came from America and that my mother had made it especially for them. The magogo said that first before anyone touched it she wanted to feel it. She pulled it out of the bag and said, “Oh this is nice it belongs as a decoration.” After folding it back up the children quickly grabbed it to get a better look at it as well as throw it over their shoulders as a cape of some sort. For them this was a way to know that God is looking after them and a prayer answered.