Anja's Blanket - a year on

Around a year ago, members of Ons Hekel shared in the grief member Katinka's daughter  Anja died. She underwent heart surgery during December, started her recovery and even posted on the group to thank everyone for their well wishes.  

Her sudden death was tragic, a shock to all.

The response at Ons Hekel was amazing. Someone suggested hooking a comforting blanket for Anja's parents, in purple, her favourite colour.  Katinka's sister put it together, and soon a blanket in all shades of purple was presented to Katinka and Tinus the first Anja blanket.

And then, as with a snowball, the Anja blanket got a life of it's own, and a movement grew out of this one blanket.  A whole new group was created on Facebook - Anja Blokkies Trooskombers - with the sole purpose of creating comfort blankets to those who lost a loved one after the date of Anja's death.

The group stands at around 1700 members today, who are all either knitting/crocheting squares, putting them together, or providing moral support. 

One hundred blankets have been delivered, with another 50 in production.

There have already been 230 requests. 

 After a year, this project has grown beyond belief and has brought healing and comfort to so many people - it is a blessing to Anja's family and all involved.

Katinka said: " The spirit of love and goodwill that we as a family have experienced and are still experiencing through this initiative of a lady called Sharon, is amazing. It is incredibly humbling to realize that somewhere, someone has take the time out of their busy lives to make a square in rememberence of somebody they don't even know. My sister has already received more than 50 blocks and still they keep coming. There are no words to express how this loving gesture is helping us through this difficult time. Thank you....Katinka and family."

And recently:  "...  since my Anja died exactly a year ago, the Anja Group that grew out of Ons Hekel determined my future...and put my mind and future on a positive and inspiring path."

--0--

Today, a baby was born, a grandchild to Katinka and Tinus, a baby that carries her late aunty's name. 

A whole group of crocheters waited for this little one, waited and counted the days and minutes until we saw the first photo of Heidi Anja. 

May she bring joy and even more healing to this family who has suffered such loss and has healed so much, and now is such a blessing to other.

Some blankets already delivered.  Look closely - each one has a purple "Anja Square" with a red heart.

This is a blanket production line!

God bless all involved.

A January Festival - Dias Festival in Mosselbaai

I've never been a big fan of festivals, be it music, culture, grape-harvesting or hunting.  However, I do find myself now in a town with festivals happening left, right and centre; so I thought - let's go with the flow then!

First up - the Dias Festival - Where Cultures Meet in Mosselbaai.

This festival celebrates the landing of Bartholomeu Dias's at what is now the town of Mosselbaai in February 1488.  Dias was a Portugese seafarer sent down south to hopefully find a route around the tip of Africa in order to find better spice (and other) trading route to India.

(Gavin Menzies also hold interesting, though highly controversial views about this).

So Dias continued a bit further east, to the mouth of the Boesmansrivier, before being forced to back by his crew, who might have been dead scared to continue.  On the return trip, he actually only "discovered" the Cape of Storms (later named the Cape of Good Hope). 

Off we went, with one eye on the gathering class and a Plan B at the back of our minds.

Plan B immediately turned into breakfast at The Blue Shed, while waiting for the rain to abate.

Then we ran out and saw...

…vintage tractors on the dune.

…a Morris like my mom used to have, right down to the colour!
(highly excited)

…remnants of the Portuguese parade
(the procession came past in …rain, so we watched from inside :-)

…something to eat.  Although well-known and wide-spread, it's the first time I've actually seen corn on the cob being sold at an event /bazaar like this.

But now the rain set in again, and no amount of promises of the Zheijing Wu Opera Arts Troupe, Indonesian dancers, more street parades or nothing was going to keep my men here.  

So we got a lovely takeaway lunch…

Lamb curry roti, anyone?

…and scrambled home.

Coming up…Harvest, Port Wine and Mampoer festivals, Literary, Klein Karoo Arts, Pink Loerie and Oysters, Speed, Forest Marathon and Rastafarian…I'll try it out!