Rubbing off . . .

When I was a little girl, my grandmother’s house had white washed exterior walls and a courtyard with a fence that was also whitewashed. When my sister and I played in the courtyard the whitewash would rub off on our clothes. In fact, it seemed like just hanging out near the whitewash would cause it to rub off on us. We were pretty oblivious to the influence of the whitewash on our clothes while we were busy playing. It wasn’t until we came inside and were away from the courtyard that we noticed how the whitewash had affected us.

Isn’t how it is with things that rub off, good or bad? It’s not very often that we try to get something on us, it just happens. That is what happened to me last month in Swaziland.

Shelley, Patti and I just returned to Piet Retief and the home of our friends the van Wyngaards. We spent 5 days in the South African Cape teaching and talking about solar cooking and pasteurizing water using WAPI’s. The weather was cooperative and we actually cooked Mealie Pup perfectly, starting from cold water. Only an African woman knows what a big deal that is. Even though this area has sporadic sun in the summer, we determined that with just 100 days of sun per year (a very reasonable estimate), a family could save $1600 Rand by using solar instead of parafin or electricity, school fees for several children. Thanks to Grahamstown and Kirstenbosch Rotary clubs for hosting us and working to see that the introduction of this technology is helpful and sustainable.