One of our host gifts to Margi, our wonderful home host, was a quilted cloth holder for small bowls used in the microwave. The Sacramento Friendship Force craft group makes these bowl holders and sells them as a fund raiser. They have become one of my favorite gifts because I love mine and use it all of the time. The four corners make a great grip to pull out a hot bowl from the microwave and set it directly on a table. It's great for cooking oatmeal, soup, and scrambled eggs, and if there is a spill over, the bowl holder is easily washed in the kitchen sink.
Margi had never made scrambled eggs in the microwave. We planned this morning to cook breakfast together so that I could demonstrate.
We scrambled three eggs with a little milk, salt pepper, pat of butter, and shredded cheese in a small bowl, placed the bowl in holder, and popped it in the microwave. In my microwave at home, it takes two minutes. Margi's took about five minutes. There's a big difference for busy women between two minutes and five minutes. The eggs were delicious, but Margi thought that frying them would be faster for her than using her microwave. It was a great shared experience.
After breakfast it was time to hit the trail.
Our trip to Robben Island on the previous Sunday was rescheduled for today, Tuesday. When we reached the bus pickup at Norm and Liz’s house on Tuesday morning, we were informed that the Robben Island Ferry had been canceled because of high winds. Foiled again!
We reverted to the original schedule for Tuesday which was a tour of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, a visit to a Tea Bag factory, and lunch at Mariner’s Wharf. Several of us were disappointed not to go to Robben Island, and curious about visiting a Tea Bag factory???. What was that all about. Didn't sound very interesting, but as it turned out, we were delighted with the change of plans.
KIRSTENBOSCH GARDEN
Kirstenbosch Garden was beautiful and is considered one of the top seven gardens in the world. The scenery
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| Dinosaur Sculptures |
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and specialized vegetation were of African native plants, most of which are drought resistant. The one most interesting plant was the “Elephant Bush” , a relative of the Jade Plant, ground cover.
The succulent, unlike most vegetation that absorbs CO2 only during the day this plant absorbs CO2 24 hours a day. There is much promise for this ground cover to combat climate change. I want to get some for our similar climate in California. Our only regret in this garden, was the time allocated for our visit was too short.
We boarded our bus and moved on to the TEA BAG “factory”. None of us knew what to expect, but it turned out that we weren’t going to watch tea being stuffed into bags. Turns out this is a repurposed Tea Bag Design and Art Studio, not a factory, located near one of the immigrant shanty towns in Cape Town.
The studio was started about years back by a
Jill Heyes who wanted to provide a business opportunity for the shanty town women to earn a living. She assisted a band of women working as domestics, the only job poor educated women could hold, to make crafts to sell.
Her own housekeeper was enlisted to help. Nothing seemed unqiue enough to compete on the market. While drinking a cup of tea one day with a friend they were discussing the problem, when she said it was too bad they couldn’t just do something with all the old tea bags every one dumped. Well, turns out they did!
By drying old tea bags and emptying out the dried contents, the tea stained papers which
https://tbagdesigns.co.za/ are very strong and durable became the canvas for all sorts of repurposed tea bag arts and crafts.
Making Christmas Ornaments. T-Bag Angel Wings.
The Studio Director explains how people from around the world donate their dried, empty tea bags to the design studio and become a part of a solution to help these shanty town families.
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| The studio started with greeting cards |
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| and progressed to numerous other artistic products |
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| Tea light candle holders |
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| Table Center Piece |
The business has become so successful, that one of the women has purchased her own home by painting designs on the little squares in the evening after work and selling them to the T-Bag studio for craft production (where she also works during the day). Another young woman is now selling her designer bags with T-Bag art in a Paris design studio. There are 17 full time employees working at the production studio, while others at home artistically paint designs on the papers from home. The quality of the work is first rate.
This was an exceptionally wonderful and inspirational success story.
I now know what to do with all of my discarded tea bags and am going to encourage our Friendship Force Club to start drying, emptying, and contributing to this cause in South Africa.
After our visit to the studio, we went to Mariners’ Cove on Hout Bay. Where we ate fish and chips by the bay on a beautiful afternoon and walked the wharf looking at fishing trawlers, derelict sailboats, and power boats and cruising boats.
We returned back at Margi’s around 5:15 and had about 1/2 an hour to start packing and another 15 minutes to dress before our farewell dinner. It is hard to believe we leave tomorrow. what a wonderful week this has been. Friendship Force of the Cape of Good Hope has shown us so much of their beautiful city and surrounding area and extended their hospitality in so many generous and kind ways, that we are sad to say goodbye to our new friends.
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Russ, Helen (Day Host), Roz, Margi (Home Host)
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The farewell dinner is in a community hall that has been beautifully decorated and catered for the occasion. Margi’s friend Roderick is the DJ and entertains us with his rich voice singing Frank Sinatra classics and plays music for us to dance.
There is food to eat, wine to drink, stories to tell, magic tricks, speeches made, presentations given, photos to take, songs to sing, feet to dance, and finally many hugs of gratitude, thanks and farewell.
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| Verna (Host Coordinator), Mary (Ambassador Coordinator), Margi (Club President) |
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| A week ago we were strangers - tonight we are friends! |
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| Farewell Dance! |
We return home to finish packing. Our bags are now definitely overweight with gifts we have been given and a few purchases. We bundle about 10 lbs (22 kilos) up of clothing (heavier jackets, pants, shoes), to send to our hotel in Johannesburg where we will pick them up when we return from Madagascar in a few weeks. Our home host Margi will oversee the shipment of treasures to Johannesburg. Goodbyes said, bags, packed, seven us will depart in the morning for the next leg of our adventure...a safari in Botswana!
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