Airhead II

Towards the end of my South African visa my focus seemed to improve. By then it was too late. Much earlier I should have made more effort to find a seamstress to whom I can outsource a lot of sewing. I was too much an airhead to realize it was one of the first things I had to do. The search appears not an easy one.

Because I’ll be about 5855 miles away from where I need a job done I need a seamstress with whom I can communicate easily via the internet. You know … someone who for instance gives adequate answers to questions via e-mail. It’s no use setting up a meeting with someone who is incapable of that. In all my first contacts with seamstresses I tried to make that very clear.

When a friend had given me the phone number of a woman who makes clothing for the brand of a friend of his, I texted her, asking for her e-mail address. She immediately called me to ask when and where we could meet. I got her to text me her e-mail address. Shortly after receiving it I got another call from her – she seemed very eager – and explained I would send her an e-mail in the evening because then I would have access to internet. Of course that is no reason to assume she was expecting a message from me. More time than an airhead can measure, had passed without a reply when I texted her again. Again she called me. This time I explained she didn’t need to give me her e-mail address again because my message was already send. Though I frequently checked my inbox the idea of looking for another seamstress probably kept floating in the air for too long.

Posting a request on Facebook led to one other phone number. It didn’t give me much hope because it came with the story that the seamstress must be very poor; her little boy tries to earn some money by selling stickers on the beachfront. But asking never hurt anyone so I texted that I was looking for a seamstress with whom I can easily communicate from overseas and asked for an e-mail address. Instead of answering my question or arranging a way in which I could reach her via the internet she just asked for a meeting, twice. After the third time I’d let her know what I wanted the contact stopped.

Surely a better way to go about it would be to look on the worldwide web for a seamstress who advertises herself there. Gumtree gave me two. Both got the same message wherein my situation and details about the clothing I need made were described. It also contained a link to pictures of all the clothes in my collection and two questions, one of  which for an indication of their prices for making them. The one who, judging by her writing, probably spoke very poor English just replied that she was very happy with the opportunity. If she really was that, then why didn’t she answer any of my questions? The other wrote an answer and that she needed twenty-four hours to come up with a quote. She also asked me a lot of questions. The answers to them she could have already read. I wrote her to please read my message so I wouldn’t have to repeat myself. A few days later she let me know that her price is R55 per garment. I gave her my phone number and asked if she really wanted the same amount for a catsuit as for a simple skirt. Her reply that she asks R55 for a circle skirt led to my impression she still hadn’t read my initial message properly. After all, there is no circle skirt among the things I need made. In the meantime a chance to have her do a trial assignment before my departure shrank and died.

The tiny bit of energy I had, should have gone to going to places where I could find people doing something that is similar or related to Making It Super Simple. Instead of staying at home most of the time I should have broadened my network with people in the same branch who have lots of knowledge of the market in the Durban area. ‘Should have’ doesn’t count for anything, I know. Or does it count as a lesson for my next time around?

Airhead I

An airhead! Such an airhead is what I am! As I told you it’s high time for me to work hard; a lot of progress needs to be made soon … should have been made already; that was the plan for my time in Durban. The only steps made are the fact that I now have a big pile of fabric, a properly functioning sewing machine and the beginning of a stock of clothes to sell in my other hometown. A friend is so kind to store them. Oh, and I sold a dress to a friend who looks absolutely stunning in it. Okay, I was only there for three months and, as I also told you, I had some bad luck but the most progress I made is that I now know what a huge airhead I am.

Last year I mainly did vokol. – I watched a lot of crime series. – If I gave that fact some thought I came up with excuses like working different nights and thus not having a rhythm must make me tired, maybe my age is chipping in too, and some sort of depression. I thought going to a sunny place where I can have a daily routine could pull me out of the trap I had caught myself in. I was looking forward to coming into serious action. But I didn’t.

What I did do was feel tired, still, or even more. In March it finally became very evident to me. Every morning when waking up I felt my heart pounding. During the days an urge to cry often joined that feeling. This wasn’t just a negative mentality but a strong physical fatigue. I needed help.

Hoping for a simple solution to a simple problem I went to a doctor. “It’s probably a lack of B12 or iron or something”, I thought. My blood was tested on several things. They were all healthy. Because I didn’t know what the financial consequences of a visit to a specialist, as the doctor suggested, would be I decided to first give the supplements recommended to me a try. Ever since I seem to be doing just slightly better. Those supplements seem to help me a little and I suspect what I got to know more about my problem by knowing what it’s not does too. Still an urge to cry often wells up in me, for instance when I get extra tired on a short walk to the supermarket.

In conclusion I wasn’t as focussed as I should have been and I am ashamed of that. If you think it’s stupid of me to not fill this blog with only copy about how wonderful Making It Super Simple is, just blame it on the fact that I’m an airhead. Hopefully the wonderfulness of the clothing collection speaks for itself. It speaks to me, saying I should work harder. That’s right!

Fashion in thought

A favourite pastime of mine to numb my mind is watching crime series. Often the protagonist seems to have a strong belief in his or her own self-righteousness that annoys me but the simplistic divide of good and bad is mind-numbing enough to keep watching. After all I’m used to stories that aim to provide a catharsis by letting the bad guy get caught to be punished. The reality I grew up in tries to do the same. I’ve heard a lot of discussions in which the size of a punishment was being questioned but the premise of the necessity of one never seemed to be.

A few years ago I saw Klaartje Quirijns’ documentary about the search for Joseph Kony. It showed efforts of white men in offices who were trying to get Kony in front of the international court in The Hague. It also showed the Ugandan society Kony came from. The people on the Ugandan streets shared a point of view that struck me. They just wanted him to come back so they could forgive him and everybody could get on with their lives.

A few weeks ago a friend reminded me of an African custom to deal with someone who has acted harmfully by telling that person about all the good he or she had done. As much as I hate Ubuntu for its lack of creativity and gratitude I love it for its lack of revenge.

A few days ago I read what Max du Preez wrote in his autobiography Pale native: “I remember being upset when the black youths who had killed the young American exchange student Amy Biehl, like a dog in the street, just because she had a pale skin, received amnesty. But I was wrong. Amy’s parents came to South Africa and engaged with those angry youngsters. Today those same killers, Ntobeko Peni and Easy Nofemela, are doing wonderful work in the community in the name of the Amy Biehl Foundation. That’s what forgiveness and reconciliation are really about.”

Obviously, when it comes to the treatment of criminals, cultures differ enormously. It is just one example of many differences. “But what is this line of thinking doing in a blog about a clothing brand?” you may ask. The answer is as simple as Making It Super Simple. By combining African prints and western shapes with each other the brand wants to symbolize how the two cultures can strengthen one and other in unification.