6 Days Left

Instead of writing in a crazy paragraphical format, this update is gonna go down bullet point style.

• A small line of five shirts with an old-school camera printed on them has been distributed to a re-seller store called Hello Again. The owner is also interested in some of our other “funky-fun” designs. (We did not tell her that these particular designs fell under said category)

• We made another contact for re-selling in a very touristy area in Cape Town called The Green Market Square where haggling is highly encouraged and people from all over the world go to buy souvenirs.

• Many of you heard us tell the story of a girl named Zimkhitha before we came. We are quite proud to announce that she is officially part of paid Township Tees Staff.

• Hopefully, you caught the word “paid” in the previous bullet. Exciting news that this Friday closes our third week of paying our employees.

• The shop is now open four days a week!

• Yesterday, we took the day off and Julian and Gerald ran the shop themselves and it went very well! The two men taking over are quite capable and vision-driven.

• There have been no more messy encounters with mammals of the primate persuasion.

• Drew’s baking skills are improving!

• Photos have been taken of the employees in the shop’s shirts. These photos will be used to update the website as well as develop a marketing presentation.

• The logistics of international shipping are difficult. We still have to figure out the following: getting internet at the shop (it’s quite complicated in South Africa), finding a method for paying online, and a fluid way to process shirt orders and communicate back with customers overseas. Hopefully international orders will also extend into Europe as well, as Gerald is German.

• The marketing brochure has been completed and is waiting to be printed so as to distribute.

• Matthew is making tremendous progress on the Justice Acts promotional video. It looks sweet, and Tonya is ecstatic about being able to use it.

• MOST IMPORTANTLY, none of this would have been possible without your love, prayers, support and sacrifice. You are so much a part of all that has been accomplished here this summer. Much of your prayer and support is the only reason we have come as far as we have in such a short amount of time. Thank you so much for being Christ to, caring about and loving people you may never meet. Lives are being changed. You all are beautiful.

When Baboons Attack: Real Life Events at 38 Mountain Rd; Kommetjie

So.

I’ve been lamenting, well, not really lamenting, more like secretly hoping to see baboons. You know, to have the experience of seeing baboons and finding out for sure whether or not their rumps are red or blue, which was a point of debate one day at the t-shirt shop. Then, last week, we saw a troop of them walking down the sidewalk. They were led by the alpha male who was the size of a small pony and had no problem strutting his stuff. With their bright eyes and huge fangs, not to mention the strength of a bull with opposable thumbs… Needless to say, I immediately took back my wish.

Then, last Friday, baboons invaded our house. First four came in the upstairs window, swung down to the kitchen and went straight for the bananas. They left, leaving one as a post in the kitchen. They must have spread the word because the rest of the troupe, all 20, came barreling in. They were very experienced in house trashing because they knew exactly what things make the best toys: dishes and eggs. Sticky explosion. Coconut was sprinkled about the whole house and in our closet because one claimed it for its personal lounge and shook the bag all over the room.

They also stole a box of Reese’s Pieces from the far back corner of the pantry and must have been excited by the foreign candy because they left most of our food alone, thankfully. They left Caitlin’s cup of coffee alone on the counter, which is ironic considering their penchant for throwing breakable things. It’s kind of like that scene in the Disney movie, Tarzan, where the gorillas are trashing the camp. You know, the part where the fun song that Phil Collins wrote and N’Sync covered, come on. It’s totally realistic.

You can’t close off the way the baboons came in, because then they can’t find their way out. The neighbors came over along with the security guards to help break up the party. Baboons don’t generally fear women, and it took big men with loud voices to get their attention. You could tell the baboons weren’t very happy about getting kicked out of their new playground, because they went for a dip in the pool before the security guards finally broke out the garden hose and chase them up the mountain. They left us a nice mess to clean up because, being animals, when nature calls, they just let it go. I guess on the upside, our house is very clean and now we have a fun story about baboons to tell. Unfortunately, Drew didn’t get his chance to wrestle with them, but maybe another time.

* Yesterday, while playing “National Geographer,” Caitlin had a close call with a baboon. So close, in fact, she has a paw print on her back to show for it. Drew is definitely jealous.

When Handing Over a Business

Well, time has flown and we have come to the final two weeks until we leave. We have started the process of making sure everything we want to have done before we leave is done…and done well. We are doing more and more to get everyone well-prepared to run the shop. This involves more equipment and design knowledge as well as getting our name out and available for churches, organizations, and resellers. More designs are being made to have a range available to market for the tourist, world cup, justice ACTs, and – we’ll call it the “funky fun” – categories. So many people and businesses are really excited about this project and seem like good leads as potential resellers.

Another part of the “handing over” process is the actual handing over. This will happen slowly over the next two weeks. The two men from All Nations who will be overseeing the shop when we leave are Gerald and Julian – perhaps we’ve mentioned them before. They have been spending a lot of their summers preparing for taking on the business. For instance, Gerald has been slowly leaving other projects in order to be more devoted to the shop come August. They have had so much encouragement and fantastic cultural advice for us throughout this summer. We have been quite blessed to be under their leadership.

Justice ACTs

Production for the promotional video we’re working on happened Thursday and it went phenomenally well! We found a model who was really excited to help us out and be a part of the video making process. It has been a lot of work getting set-up to do just this much. But, we are incredibly excited for the concept and the potential the video has to bless the work Justice ACTs is doing.

We do have great news on the parliamentary side of things. The suggestion of legalizing prostitution in time for the World Cup next year has brought about such a polarized response it is likely that South Africa will not push for legalization or decriminalization before the World Cup. There are so many involved in the issue and people really want to make the right choice for South Africa as it is also a model for much of the rest of Africa. Hopefully, and prayerfully, that decision alone will save many lives.

Please be praying for the following:

• Getting things arranged and organized for the shop; i.e. Figuring out international orders, organizing managerial needs, getting more designs, marketing packages, setting in place a quality flow of work

• Extra energy to do the rest of the work well

• The transition of leadership would be smooth

• More orders will come in to continue sustaining the business

• The justice ACTs promo video

Coming soon: Baboons Attack: A Story Based on Real Life Events at 38 Mountain Rd; Kommetjie.

Bloopers

bloop-er [blōō'pər]:  an embarrassing mistake; a clumsy mistake, especially one made in  public; a faux pas.

In honor of doing stupid things in foreign countries, the following bloopers and quotes are true real life happenings, in no particular order.

- Getting lost while castle searching when all along it’s two blocks away and then stumbling upon a magical kingdom of fairy muffins and pink frosting known as Charlie’s Bakery. Google it. It’s real.

- Running into glass sliding doors at the business, and knocking them off the track. (Caitlin, Emma, Matthew, Alecia)

- “You can’t call something that cute a man.” (Stephanie)

- Driving into a mountain. Twice. (Caitlin, Emma, Matthew, Stephanie)

- Running out of internet a week and a half before the end of the month.

- “It’s too early for near-death experiences.” (Emma)

- Cooking polony. I mean, mashing it, adding cheese, and then baking it for 30 minutes. It’s like bologna, only chicken, so you’re supposed to eat it sliced cold on bread. (Alecia)

- “On the Sabbath, pants are optional because putting on pants is work.” (Matthew)

- Getting into someone else’s car and fixing your hair in the mirror without realizing you’re in the driver’s seat. (Matthew)

- Leaving skin marks on the pavement while ripsticking. (Drew, Stephanie)

- “That’s where it starts. Next thing you know, you’ll be fat in a corner with some cat lickin’ ya.” (Emma)

28 June, 2009

Family, friends, those who are generally interested:

Greetings! Well, we had another sunny week followed by a rather rainy, dreary, and cold week. Winter has officially started and we have felt it. We started fires this past week and they have made a tremendous difference! But I suppose you all want the news, not the weather, hey?

The vinyl cutter works!  So many were in prayer all over the world around Tuesday evening praying for our precious vinyl cutter and for our team and God answered by lifting our spirits and rising a vinyl cutter from the grave on Wednesday…how amazing our God is!

Many trips to Cape Town have taken a toll on the beloved Rambi (old white VW beetle). After the mountain fiasco we will be parting with Rambi, as safety is going to be a priority over sentimental attachment. We will miss Rambi, but we will enjoy added room and safety.

Because our vinyl cutter (who we have yet to name) has been on holiday resting its weary electronic mechanisms, we have had many successful training days. Four of the girls from the Ocean View township decided to leave. So, we have two from Masi (Vuyani and Lona), a couple from Red Hill (Bantu and Nono), and one from Ocean View (Ricardo). Now, to say “Ricardo” correctly you must roll your “r”’s. Try it out…………………Good job! They have been learning Photo Shop and Illustrator very well and are getting quite comfortable on the computers. We had a brainstorming session the other day for World Cup shirt ideas and got a whole whiteboard full of solid ideas that would sell.

So much has been accomplished since we have been here and we never realized just how special of a mission we were on. It is nearly unheard of for people to gather a team together, raise support and be this far in the business process in Africa this soon. It has been quite encouraging to know that God has given us such favor in allowing us to accomplish so much so quickly.

Accomplishments (that I can think of) for the past week:

• Business cards (printed with vinyl on fabric – very economic as paper is quite expensive here)
• website (www.townshiptees.com – sorry no international orders can be taken at this time, but we’ll let you know when that happens)
• Work schedule for the current employees (Monday, Wednesday and Friday are the work days – Tuesday and Thursday have become days where we can focus on marketing, updates, designs, and the other projects we have)
• This week’s shirt order (official) 40 shirts for Justice ACTs (justiceacts.org)

Projects we are working on (also that I can think of at this point):

• Drew volunteering at Masi clinic
• Promotional video for Justice ACTs
• Updating Justice ACTs website
• Touristy places pinpointed for marketing

More updates to come! (we’re working on the picture thing…)

TIA

TIA: This is Africa

That small acronym above has probably been one of the biggest bones of contention for us. People told us it would take longer to get things done than it does in the States and that what we’ve already accomplished has been more than most people manage in a whole summer. One of the hardest things has been the fact that Africa is so much more relational than America. We’re all about business, setting goals, and getting things done. Here, they like to talk to each other face to face. No one is ever on time and when things come up, you roll with it.

Our vinyl cutter is broken, so getting that fixed pronto has been extra challenging due to above mentioned fact. The team of 5 we have, though, are extraordinarily creative and have caught on very quickly to photoshop. We are learning just as much from them as they are from us. Ramby, our beloved beetle, is also starting to show his age and we will be getting rid of him soon

But thank you all for your love, support, and prayers. We couldn’t have come here without you and we couldn’t continue to be here without you.

Day 12: Update on the homefront

Hello friends and family!

We appreciate all your worry, concern, prayers and continued support! It has been twelve days since the first half of print:relief (Caitlin, Emma, and Matthew) arrived in beautiful Cape Town. It is day four for the rest of us (Alecia, Drew, and Stephanie). Jet lag hasn’t been too much of an issue for the last of us as we have dived right in with our sleeves rolled up, ready to work. We have been helping literally in every area we possibly could help. We have so much to update on, so I’ll go by subject.

Township Tees

Progress is coming quickly for this God-ordained t-shirt shop! We have met with five people from two different townships (Masiphumelele, and Ocean View) who are interested in being employed in the t-shirt business. Masiphumelele is a black township and Ocean View is a colored township. We plan to begin training the employee on the different software tomorrow (Monday, June 1^st).

Praise God that we have nearly locked in one large t-shirt order already, and it is only day 12! This order is from the person in charge of the upcoming Confederation Cup who needs 400 shirts. The Confederation Cup is a smaller international soccer tournament which serves as a “testing ground” to prove that South Africa is ready for the FIFA World Cup next year. The person in charge, Gabriel Mwamba is currently working with YWAM at the Muizenberg base. He originally intended this to be a small event, but decided to see if the government would help him and it turns out they are doing more than that. The event, which Gabriel has arranged to be a Christian event (with Christian semi-pro teams, and plans to share the gospel widely), has become quite large! There will be five professional teams coming: Hungary, North Korea, and a few teams from Africa will be flooding in this June to participate in the tournament. I am so excited to see what God does with this event, and even more excited that Gabriel, being quite impressed with Emma’s design abilities is very excited to give the job to us! The only thing holding us back from that is a heat press. We will need to secure one in the next two days to do this job well. This is quite urgent because the tournament starts June 11^th and Gabriel needs 400 shirts in 10 days! We are having faith that we can do so, as it will serve to be a great training project for the incoming employees and business start.

We have not yet heard back about the bid we placed for a building to operate out of. It is located in the Fish Hoek (Fish Hook) area and is within walking distance from the two townships where our potential employees reside. Please be praying for God’s favor with this building and with this business.

Human Trafficking

We have a correction to make in this field…haha! So, we have put out a statistic that was given to us as very reliable that there will likely be around 100,000 trafficked into Africa for the demand that the World Cup will bring in the Sex Tourism aspect. Tonya, one of the human trafficking front runners working with All Nations, has done much research and shown this to be false. That statistic was based off of a not-well-founded statistic from Germany’s World Cup just a few years ago. The absolute truth is that we truly have no idea. It very well could be tens of thousands or less than ten thousand. Many people refuse to discuss the issue of human trafficking and it is very difficult to research. Namely, FIFA will not address the issue at all.

Traffick proof is one of Tonya’s projects. She and her team have trained about 50 teachers to take “traffick proofing” material out to different townships, villages, and cities. This is to educate the people in these areas about being aware of human trafficking, what it looks like to be preyed upon, and what to do if you suspect a person or organziation of trafficking. Luckily, there is a hotline people can call for all of these things. The people this hotline reaches will investigate the people, possible scams, and organizations suspected.

Dannon’s South Africa branch has a product called Yogi Sips. They are doing a contest where people create Yogi Sips commercials and those commercials are voted on for a certain amount of time. The winner of the contest gets 100,000 Rand. Justice Acts, an All Nations anti-human trafficking campain, has made a commercial and plan on using the funds to get more word out about human trafficking. Last updated, they were in second place, behind by only about 20 votes. After three days of blind voting (where standings will not be shown), the results will be calculated and a winner announced. The blind voting starts very soon. Please be praying for their favor in that commercial so they can use the funds to continue working hard.

Another thing to pray about on the human trafficking front is the fact that the South Africa government has promised to pass legislation to de-criminalize prostitution. This is actually a step further than merely legalizing it. If you legalize it, you create a red-light district, much like Amsterdam has. However, de-criminalize it, there are no controls, it can happen anywhere, and trafficking cases will be much more difficult to prosecute. The government has promised this before and nothing has happened, but they are experiecing much more pressure from many different organizations, people, and political parties to actually make it happen since the World Cup will be here in just a year’s time.

We have spoken with Tonya about creating t-shirts for her efforts as well as possibly doing a video to promote the hotline. Please be praying for our possible help with that.

Our House, In the Middle of Our Street

We live at 38 Mountain Road, Kommetjie (pronounced Kommikee). It is beautiful and about three or four blocks from the beach. We have been quite blessed. The view from the girls’ room is fantastic! We are also a block away from a Monastery and we get to hear their bells ring everyday. It is great (and not loud)!

Having only been here for a week and a half, we have discovered that we have under-budgeted for our living expenses. With the dollar losing value, we are spending more than we expected to on groceries. We wanted a great portion of the funds we raised to go towards starting the business and all the details required for that. However, we have come up quite crunched in our budget for the supplies we need mixed with our living expenses. Currently, the supplies list includes a heat press, vinyl to print, and t-shirts to print on. We have found many leads on all of these needs in and around the Cape Town area, praise God. Our living expenses include electricity, water, groceries, internet, international phone minutes, gas, and car rental. God has definitely shown His divine favor for us, though, in bringing this t-shirt order!

 And with all that said, we bid you, adieu!

en route

South Africa is a lot like Kansas.  Just kidding.  Our trip was both relaxing and insane – Chicago love, London hospitality, and dashing through the underground tunnels of Heathrow with a desktop computer at full speed before going into cardiac arrest.

32 hrs, 3 countries, and 16 gallons of coffee later, we arrived safely in Cape Town, and made our way to our home in Kommetjie.  Can’t sleep?  Try jet lag.  The following morning, we attended a large trade convention called Sign Africa in search of supplies and equipment.  Several leads.

Many of our startup costs have been covered, including a vinyl cutter and “Fritz,” our digital design workstation (both donated).  We have also secured a space for our new social business (details coming soon, completely mad how this happened).  Our largest upcoming expense will be a T-Shirt press, an expense we were not anticipating.

We also have a car!  We call it “The Rattler,” mainly because it’s an ancient, bleached, duel-exhaust VW bug that essentially bounces down the left-handed highway.  Stick shift.  Left side of the road.  Crazy traffic.  Aneurisms.  No gas gage, and we believe that the odometer says 600k miles.

Additional updates soon.  Gooday.

minds and hearts blown

Thank you all so much for your overwhelming support!

We received about 1300 dollars last night, mostly from our friends at theWELL + RLC. That is unbelievable. The fact that we (6 ridiculous students, a computer, and God) are going to fly to Africa to attempt something of this magnitude is extraordinary. The fact that we are being sent by a small, young faith community of “poor college students” is crazy, ridiculous, incredible. I am astonished at the faithfulness of God shown through the heart of theWELL community.

- Caitlin

2 weeks…

Hey everyone!  Everything is humming – vaccinations are complete, living arrangements are in order, and They Only Come Out At Night was a nuclear explosion of awesomeness.

Of the $18,000 we need to travel, live, and launch print:relief, we have received $9,000.  We’re halfway there!  We have 2 weeks to close the gap, if you would like to help out, please mail donations to:

print:relief
theWELL
PO Box 1942
Manhattan, KS 66502

Please write “print:relief” in the memo line, and our church will make sure it gets to us!  Thank you so much for your incredible support!  We’ll keep you updated!