It’s funny how it works. While the little everyday weavings of our lives are quietly going on, we have little idea of how the final tapestry is taking shape. The other evening, we had supper with Marc at Il Leone, a fine, friendly, family restaurant. A guy by the name of Judd came over to Karen and apologetically announced he had noticed her shoes. Yeah, right! She had purchased them in a newly opened boutique, next to our adopted coffee shop, La Fonteril in Plettenberg Bay. It so happens they were hand made by Judd’s flatmate Grandt. Erm! Indeed his girlfriend duly lifted a leg to reveal a similar pair in a different colour and pattern. They are only sold in two shops eight hours drive apart. Judd is a master coffee roaster and his new place, “Deluxe Coffeeworks” opened today on Church Street. We went there and sampled the coffee. It was very good!
We were given a master class in coffee from picking the cherry-like fruit to removing the pulp to drying the green beans, all the different sizes depending on which part of the branch they come from, and then the roasting process itself. We learned that all the coffee that Africa produces is bought up by international dealers, shipped to Antwerp, London and New York, where it is processed and packaged. Then some of it ends up back in African coffee houses! Apparently Grandt the shoemaker is designing a coffee themed version of his new creation. Can smell it already!
The blended themes of coffee and shoes and the significance of places.
Il Leone, you blogfollowers will recall, is the place where we met the elegant Emma working on her PhD. She did indeed visit the Institute the following day to offer some of her free time. Margaret, one of the teachers – also featured in an earlier blog – described Emma as “a Godsend”. Her skills were exactly what they had been needing. She is now registering as a volunteer.
The first time I saw Desmond Tutu was in the newly opened Bradford City Stadium in 1986. Today he visited the Institute. Only a little less sprightly, he carried that same blend of charm and loving attention for everyone around him. He went first to the kids in the workshops and lingered with them. He spoke with all who came near him. He recalled his talk in Bradford and had his picture taken with Marc.
Finally, there was the birthday celebration yesterday of another man whose time is given generously to everyone around him. Bro. Peter Simmonds sdb, now 82, was the original creator of the projects on Somerset Road. Though he is a good deal less sprightly than he was, he can still be seen wearing his workshop apron just as he did when he was a young engineer. The first weavings of the tapestry that grew to be the Institute Youth Projects began with this man’s vision.
Among so many other things, he fixes shoes!
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