I had the most amazing birthday yesterday, and it even included bits of shwe shwe .
Josephina came to my door the night before with one of her beautiful bags - she had made this one especially for me - choosing some of the shwe shwe patterns I had admired in her other bags and some of the Nelson Mandela shwe shwe that I had given her. I love the bag and was thrilled to get such a generous present from her. Her bags are very much in demand. I saw her with about 15 the other day and was worried that she would not sell them, and for two weeks she did not have any sales, then a shop asked for some and she had none left when I asked again.
Apparently she chose all the patterns deliberately from ones she thought I would like.
On my Birthday I got to spend the day with so many amazing people - I was at a lecture from Professor Yunus ( founder of the Grameen Bank who we have been studying in my Social Entrepreneur Certificate Course), Lillian, who I met through Fusion last year was up in Jo burg to attend the Yunus lecture so I got to spend the day with her, then I came home and found my neighbour Zee had given the kids in my street chalk and they wrote birthday messages all over the pavement . After sharing cake and an awesome Fulham Road sunset with these young people who have all become such good friends of mine, I went to a book launch of an amazing compilation of SA Authors titled Touch where one of my favourite authors was reading an excerpt from his short story. I ended my evening with a lovely supper with one of my favourite people, great phone call to my brother and a quick email of my days adventures to my marvelous husband who was in Japan at the time.
At the workshop with Prof Yunus - that was hosted by The Nelson Mandela Foundation I also met Mapitso , wearing a shwe shwe skirt. She was attending the workshop, but was also exhibiting her work. Herself the recipient of a micro loan, that got her business A for Art started, she sews all her won clothes and had made the skirt herself. She commented at lunch that she had seem me watching her earlier and wondered why, so when I asked her about her skirt she understood my previous stares.
The last picture is from possibly the happiest part of my day - although in a day with so many amazing moments it was difficult to judge. 
