First thing Wednesday morning we went to town to meet Theresa and Nellie, one of our tailors, to select the materials for the Living Compassion uniforms. The team in Kantolomba has unanimously decided on black slacks and purple shirts. It's easy to imagine how sharp they will look!
Theresa and Nellie
At the fabric store
We bought enough material to make a prototype, then dashed off to another shop to pick up some chitenge, the brightly-colored fabric that is traditional in Zambia. We had promised to bring back 25 meters for the sewing group in San Diego that makes placemats out of chitenge as a fundraiser for our work in Africa. We also have planned to bring some of the fabric back to the Monastery to use for curtains for our guest hermitages.
See any you like?
Making the selection
As soon as we were finished, we loaded up the car and drove off to Kantolomba. Right away Nellie began to cut out the new fabric for the uniforms.
Cutting the patterns
We spent the rest of the day in meetings, performing the sorts of administrative tasks that are an essential part of running a project like ours, but not terribly interesting to document. In his spare moments, though, Alex created a photo tour of the Community Center. An excerpt follows.
Charles teaching a class
The pupils
Lunchtime!
Baby Marian
Christopher and Baby Cheri
Big sister takes baby home
Violet watches herself in the concert recorded the other day
Random acts of cuteness
Violet's new bag to collect money for the water
Georgina creating the slacks
The people in Kantolomba have a lot to be proud of.