This morning M and I spoke to the Clairwood Senior Citizens Group - a group of South African Indian seniors who meet every other Wednesday from 10-2 at the Clairwood Tamil Insitute. The group started twenty-three years ago and has always met in Clairwood even though it attracts many of its members from Chatsworth, a nearby township originally designated for Indians during Apartheid. The community of Clairwood has been challenged over the last forty years - it is situated close to Durban Harbor and is one of the only large areas of flat land nearby, so the city council has repeatedly tried to edge out residents to expand shipping container storage space for the Harbor. We met in a large hall and had some black tea (with lots of cream and sugar) and a sweet cake before E, who coordinates the group, started with announcements. He introduced M and me and then we took turns speaking to the group about Create Africa South and its Amazwi cloth project. After speaking for a while, we went around the room and showed them four examples of finished cloths with their accompanying narratives and the photographs of the women who had sewn them. When I was going around the room I was trying to get a sense if anyone in the group sewed and what sort of sewing they did. There is one woman in the group who has been giving hand sewing lessons to some of the other women - they were working on aprons later that day. When M and I returned to the front, we emphasized that many participants in the Amazwi project have never embroidered before, but they are still able to produce cloths depicting events and history they have experienced. I also mentioned the project currently has no cloths made by South African Indian women (or men for that matter) and encouraged them to contact E or me if they would be interested in participating in a workshop in April. While we were there I met S, who coordinates a related group for seniors in the suburb of Phoenix - he invited us to speak to them on April 3 (since we will be away in the Mpumulanga and possibly Limpopo provinces in the next couple of weeks) and told me that many of the women in that group have an interest in sewing.
Between these two groups, I genuinely hope I can organize a workshop to make cloths before I leave at the end of April. The history of ethnic Indians in the Durban area is so important, and to have their contributions to the archive - if they are interested in participating - could be so amazing. Ghandi spent twenty-one years in Durban and it was in Pietermaritzburg that his ejection from a first-class train compartment (even though he held a ticket) inspired his activism and sarvodoya (service to the community). One of the Clairwood senior group's mottoes is "care, share, and serve" emphasizing their commitment to each other and their community. E told me today how the democracy of 1994 did not mark unqualified progress for Indians in the area. Under Apartheid they were not-White, so they were subjected to similar oppression and segregation as Blacks and Coloureds. However, the post-1994 reforms, under the banner of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) has not benefited South African Indian citizens. They were never considered White, but will never be considered Black in terms of benefiting from a program like BEE, which attempts to rescind past discriminatory hiring practices, amongst other objectives. I hope to write more about BEE when I read more about its history, function, and efficacy.
Dear Senior Citizens,
I am trying to find e-mails of as many as 'Senior Citizens Groups'as possible.Being a Senior Citizen myself I realise that the buying power of a senior Citizen is continually depreciating.In my retirement I have opened a three star guest lodge in the drakensberg.www.thehomestead.co.za We do accommodation from R250 pppns,dinner,bed and breakfast.Should it be low season when a group of +/-40 people wish to come eg Nov then this rate could be reduced on enquiry.We can sleep 62 people.We have 31 rooms.Bedrooms en-suite Standard and delux rooms,one executive suite with spa bath and family rooms(two bedrooms with one bathroom).We also catered for special eating requirements but request that this is stipulated before hand, when booking.If you could help with a list of e-mail addresses I would appreciate it.I know we are one of the lowest priced places in the Central and Northern Drakenberg, for dinner,bed and breakfast,and would like to pass on our available accommodation to Senior Citizens should they not know about us.
Regards
Bernice
Posted by: Bernice | July 23, 2008 at 05:43 AM