May 28

I have internet as the eveing progresses at Afro Vibe, Myoli Beach, Sedgefield, ZA (South Africa).

I wanted to catch up the blog from the first day onward, but today was too important, so I am starting here.

We met Genevieve Keene from TSiBA Education, Eden Campus this morning. She and Clifford, a student from  TSiBA,  met us at a bus stop, and then we ventured into a township called Smutsville. At first, we were all a tad bit leary. Then, we picked up on the vibe of the place. It was welcoming, very much a community, and safe. We all felt at home.

We were invited to visit Clifford's home. His mother Sophie is a community activist and artist in her own right. From her home, she  sold scarves and jewelry.  I brought home a beautiful beaded necklace and matching bracelet. Other students bough scarves. She was thrilled.

Masathabane is an non-profit  (NGO--non-governmental organization) artist cooperative in Sedgefield. An amazing woman named Patricia heads up this enterprise to fund people too sick to re-enter the workplace due to TB or AIDS or other disabling diseases.

Each person expresses his or her own experience in art.

Patricia has a dream to make Sedgefield into Africa's Barcelona! The Mosaic capital of Africa, and it is fast becoming known as such. Check out some of the photos of this phenom on flicker.flickr page

This in itself would be enough emotional interaction with the universe, but that was only the beginning.

Then...we went to Sedgefield Primer School, where the students sang and danced for us (also see the flicker page), and fed us lunch. The harmony and tone these little kids attained move many of us to tears.

At the end of their program, they mobbed us after lunch. You can also see this on flickr. 
After that, we went to TSiBA Eden campus, where we had spent the dday before

THEN, we went back to TSiBA Eden Campus, the school Scott Fee helped found. Check Flickr for more pictures. The students and our students bonded so deeply that nobody wanted to part. We sang the Star Spangled Banner, which amazingly sound pretty good. Then the TSiBA students sang the South African national anthem, which of course, blew us out of the water. We are humbled and thrilled.