Teddy Bear Central, South Africa - 19th June 2008
By: Threadbear
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Posted Jun 18, 2008, 11:32 pm Last edited Jun 20, 2008, 8:52 pm by Threadbear
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Teddy Bear Central, South Africa - 19th June 2008
By: Threadbear
Children should be seen and not heard...
Well who ever came up with that little gem, surely didn't know children.
It was far too quiet this morning in this house, a sure sign that someone was up to mischief... I decided to investigate because I had a feeling it involved bears...
Oh boy, a new bear arrived late yesterday afternoon. I'll tell you her story in a moment... she is quite a fair size, perfect apparently for dressing up..in roller blading gear! Well, I suppose she would have been safe with all the elbow & knee pads had they managed to get her outside.
Once she had been rescued and given a large pink bow, she sat down and read to the others...they were enthralled....
Now do you remember the 'three for one rule' that MrsC has in this house? Her friend, MrsF has been collecting bears on her behalf. In amongst the bears she collected was a Hello Kitty plush toy. Now MrsF has a young daughter (7) who knows that MrsC's daughter is besotted with Hello Kitty. She decided to donate three of her own bears so that Natalie could have the Hello Kitty! Isn't that lovely? MrsF you have really done an amazing job of raising your child. (The other two bears arrived a while ago but this large bear had a wash and took longer to dry.)
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Posted Jun 19, 2008, 1:50 pm
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Teddy Bear Central, South Africa - 20th June 2008
By: Threadbear
Teddy Bears are like keys . . . They're always in the first place you think they'd be, and the last place you look.
- Garfield
Just as well we had a bit of a break this week...look what happened...
Could these two look more tragic if they tried? They have had bears up to their eyeballs and are desperate for the company of another ToyVoyager so they can compare travels. I of course have never travelled, so I don't know what all the excitement is about...
MrsC went off to the Post Office to post her great big stack of postcards as usual. When she came back she told us there was a bit of a surprise in her car... hmmm...curious...
They could tell straight away these were bears, and were not very enthusiastic...
Oh, what's this then? MORE boxes? Goodness, what a lot... still they looked dejected... the other bears in the room where delighted, look at the ripple of excitement running through them!
Good grief!
Eloise and I were thrilled to bits. Pinky Bear and Fiona were amazed at the amount of parcels but they said it wasn't fair that there were STILL no other TVs.
So we started opening the parcels and out came five bears..
And another five bears...
And yet another five bears...
Well I guess Isobel and Neil can count to five then!
Oh the next parcel contained more...they managed to count to 25 this time!
50 bears from Toyvoyagers Central! WOW! (and thanks for the card!)
Then we packed those bears away... and opened the next parcel...hmm they seemed a little familiar!
75 bears from Isobel and Neil! You had 75 bears lurking around your house? Oh my goodness, you must have big empty gaps now...
Carlissa also sent bears... and a manatee!
...and some more bears, a postcard (MrsC loved that!) and the softest sweetest toys.
The Teddy bear Clinic only takes bears, so these soft toys will be going to the Abandoned Baby Clinic - we have a huge problem of unwanted babies in this country. Sometimes they are simply thrown in bins, or left in the veld. We have a place called 'the hole in the wall' where mothers can place their babies and walk away without being seen. A sensor goes off to notify the staff that a baby has been placed there. Often the mothers are no more than children themselves.
The Abandoned Baby Clinic also issues all police vehicles with an emergency baby kit, as the police are often the first to find them. They have cord clamps (the babies usually still have the placenta attached), nappies, vests, baby grows, jerseys, knitted hats and booties as well as a bottle with sterile water and a serving of formula. Once stabilised the babies are placed in children's homes which is where they need the soft toys.
So thanks Carlissa, they will indeed bring joy to someone.
Next I opened a large box, very carefully I might add, I could see it had lots of confetti in it!
Oooh... and another postcard for MrsC (I guess you all know about her ahem...problem! )
Steve /+/ Helly sent over HRH Queen Elizabear...
…followed by her entourage.
All of a sudden I noticed that 'The Girls', who had slunk off in a huff earlier, had returned.
The second last box held a very colourful surprise... Cassiopeia, a celebrity in our midst! Welcome, welcome! Look at 'The Girls' smiling now, my how their luck has changed.
Once all the squealing had died down we heard a grumpy little voice coming from the very last box. The little voice said, in a very British accent: "would you please keep the noise down, I am trying to sleep in here. I am on a very long journey to South Africa and I really don't want to wake up till I get there!"
I opened the box to let him out and tell him he had arrived at last. He blinked and blinked in the bright light. He couldn't really see us, but he said he was really happy to see us, if you know what I mean! Welcome to South Africa Moley!
My my, such excitement. Ninety one new bears and two new ToyVoyagers all at once.
Well we can't sit around chatting all day, we have bows to put on. Get cracking!
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Posted Jun 20, 2008, 6:38 pm Last edited Jun 20, 2008, 8:56 pm by Threadbear
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Teddy Bear Central, South Africa - 23rd June 2008
By: Threadbear
Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.
-Newt Gingrich
Somedays I feel like I have a never ending task. I no sooner finish washing and sorting bears, than another load arrives!
I am not complaining at all, just a little tired. Meet our latest arrivals... a good wash, a few stitches here and there, and they'll be as good as new!
We had almost run out of ribbon when a friend came to our rescue with a bag of mixed colours and sizes! Thanks to lovely Lara we can carry on with tying bows on all the little bears that arrived last week...
I am afraid it has been impossible to count the bears as there is no where else to put them! MrsC says she will try find some boxes to store everybody in. The Bears are tired, it is winter and they should have a little hibernating session. It will do them all the world of good. Hopefully she will find some boxes tommorrow.
We also need boxes for all the other toys that have arrived. It is time for them to move on to their new homes. They are taking up vital space as we are expecting another wave of bears soon. I'll ask MrsC to take a photo of all of them so you can see what I mean! I predict a few HUNDRED happy children somewhere along the line. Most especially those who have always yearned for a dog! WATCH THIS SPACE.
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Posted Jun 23, 2008, 8:10 pm
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Teddy Bear Central, South Africa - 24th June 2008
By: Threadbear
Many hands make light work.
How true that saying is.
Tonight we all decided to knuckle down and get to work putting bows on the last lot of bears. MrsC has found boxes so we can do a count tomorrow and start packing everyone away for hibernation.
Meet the team: myself, the lovely Eloise, Buttons, Cassiopeia, Pinky Bear, Moley and Fiona
This is our work load, a basket of bears...
The work was divided amongst all of us...
Fiona removed the tags...and Pinky the plastic barbs.
That was quite a job, thanks girls!
Buttons removed all the labels; MrsC seems to have a severe aversion to them.
Oh dear, one of the foreign bears had a postal related back injury. Luckily Eloise is a trained ortho-bearic surgeon... she operated on him and he says he has never felt better!
Moley, bless his little heart, has stopped being such a grouch now that he can see, and was the most eager of the toys to work. And work he did. I showed him just once how to tie a bow and away he went: full steam ahead...
and before long...
What a fantastic job old boy!
Poor Cassiopeia, not having paws, was unable to cut or tie bows. She really wanted to help. Eloise suggested we turn off the music and Cassiopeia could read to us. She was delighted with this and read us a book of traditional South African tales.
We were so enthralled that we didn't want to stop listening even once we were done... so we all sat and listened to the end.
Even the little bears, who had been boisetrous all evening sat in silence and listened.
If you would like to read the tales, visit the travelog of each of the TV's that helped tonight.
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Posted Jun 24, 2008, 11:07 pm
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In Love, South Africa - 28th June 2008
By: Threadbear
The most precious possession that ever comes to a man in this world is a woman's heart.
- Josiah G. Holland
In between washing and sewing and sorting, Eloise and I managed to share a few quiet moments... we talked about anything and everything and nothing. We laughed and laughed... we sat in quiet contemplation...
I can't imagine my life before her; I can't imagine my life without her.
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Posted Jun 30, 2008, 10:29 pm
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The kitchen shelf, South Africa - 30th June 2008
By: Threadbear
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Posted Jun 30, 2008, 10:50 pm Last edited Jun 30, 2008, 10:57 pm by Threadbear
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Makapanstad, South Africa - 9th July 2008
By: Threadbear
Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by.
Life is like that - one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes
MrsC, her friend Lara and Lara's Mom, Stephanie, as well as myself and a few Toy Voyagers took a road trip to a little town called Makapanstad, in the North West Province (or Limpopo as it is now called). We went to visit this house.
Now before I tell you the story of what goes on in this house and why it was so important for us to visit, I’d like you to read this:
This is our heartfelt story. It has a sad beginning but because of it the lives of others will be changed forever. Martha Letsoalo started the heartfelt project with Julie Masureik after her son Emanuel died in prison wrongly accused and sadly abused at the age of 25. His files to this day have never been found.
After stealing what little money Martha had and promising to get Emanuel out of prison, the corrupt lawyer left her broken hearted and disheartened by the legal system in the country. With no husband to depend on, no job opportunities and three grandchildren to feed - Martha did what came naturally to her – she found a way to survive. The heartfelt project is her story. It’s about who she is. It’s about her children. It’s about the lives of the women and families in her community. It’s about the sadness that happens on a daily basis in a little place called Makapanstad. And the big difference one small heart can make to the happiness of others. Together, Martha and Julie started creating and designing the heartfelt products using traditional handcraft skills, felt and beads. Today they are sold within South Africa and the UK.
There are now ten women employed by the heartfelt project. Each day they come to work full of pride and hope. Creating each heartfelt design out of love and strongly believing that they can make a difference - not only to their own lives but to the lives of the community in which they live.
Each heart sold by the heartfelt project helps to feed and clothe the ladies and their families. It also gives back to the community by donating a small portion to a local charity to help fight TB, HIV/AIDS and look after children and old aged men and woman within Makapanstad. Its aim is to heal the hearts of people who don't have the opportunities we have on a daily basis. And to fill not only the ladies hearts but many others with hope.
Ke a go leboga
One day, MrsC was playing on the internet, as she does, and somehow, somewhere, she found the link to a website about The Heartfelt Project. Before she had even finished looking at the website, she had e-mailed Julie and asked if she could help by sending bits and pieces that she had lying around her house (trust me on this one – LOTS of crafty stuff around here!)
Juliee e-mailed back almost immediately and said ‘yes please!’ and so a box (full of felt scraps, buttons, beads, floss and other bits and pieces) was despatched to Makapanstad.
Then, one Saturday morning, MrsC and a group of friends were sitting at their monthly scrapbook class and one of the ‘girls’ was leaving and going back to the USA. She had a few items that she could not take with her and left them to be distributed amongst the rest. MrsC picked up a packet of embroidery floss and said ‘this can go to the Heartfelt ladies… Then Lara asked who they were. The story touched her heart and made her do this ….
So, to cut a long story short, today was the day we were delivering the ‘collection’ and getting to meet these absolutely awesome ladies and to see up close their beautiful work.
We were literally welcomed with open arms. And I am talking about US the ToyVoyagers!
The ladies are presently working in a dining room, with no lighting, but still their work is just amazing, such bright colours and tiny little stitches...
We left them to get on with their work and had a wander round, while we waited for Martha to get back from the Post Ofiice (she was almost in tears because she thought she would miss us)
And then she arrived...oh, it was love at first sight ... for both of us...
Don't worry Eloise, you will never be replaced!
Martha and I chatted and chatted and she took me for a walk...
When we got back I had made up my mind. Once I have reached my target of 500 bears, my next project will be the Heartfelt ladies. So start gathering up needles, buttons, key rings, ribbons, beads, embroidery floss, brooch pins, etc now! I'll let you know when I begin...
Martha let me choose a little something as a thank you, so I picked a little brooch out for my lovely Eloise...
Please go to the travelogs of either Cassiopeia, Fiona or Moley to see and read about the entire visit, including all the scenery, goats and other interesting sights along the way!
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Posted Jul 18, 2008, 6:04 pm
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MrsC's desk, South Africa - 18th July 2008
By: Threadbear
There are no traffic jams when you go the extra mile.
- Dr. Kenneth McFarland
MrsC was in an EXTREMELY good mood today, who knows why! But with a happy heart and a spring in her step, she went off to the Post Office, ignoring the idiot drivers on the road even... Hmmm...and her good mood was reciprocated with happy mail: tons of postcards and two parcels!
She opened the first one, which she thought was an unexpected TV. But no, it was her matchbox from the random acts challenge... and she BOUNCED around the room! Good grief...
She was so excited that Puny/+/Bumblebee had sent a little bear for me too! Thank you for thinking of me, how kind you are...
The next box, beautifully wrapped, but completely SQUASHED, was from Mosuha. Oh, now that brought even more excitement... silly MrsC, was almost dancing around the room, firstly because the contents of the box were not missing as she had feared; and secondly because there was a POSTCARD in the box! Have you ever?
Not just any postcard, she tells me...but one of somewhere she hopes to lose her breath one day, the Himalayas! Pinky Bear is correct, MrsC is very odd sometimes!
The box also contained a very excited TV, Jubilee Bunny, some Indian Tea (MrsC doesn't drink tea - but it smells so heavenly, she is determined to try it!...Trouble is, what if she likes it?), and... a whole host of bears! One had flat fur, poor thing. But after a bit of fluffing up he returned to normal.
Thank you so much Mona & Uli, for all the bears and little extras!
That was not the end of the excitement. Today was the birthday of South Africa's 'living legend', Nelson Mandela... so we had a little party to celebrate.
We will do a count of all the bears some time next week. The good news is that MrsC's son's school is collecting bears for me too. So hopefully we will hit the 500 mark soon!
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Posted Jul 18, 2008, 11:22 pm
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