Salty Print and Mark Stephenson – at last!

June 25, 2007 Monday

By the way, about current events in the country…
There is a public workers’ strike going on, which affects (at least) teachers and nurses. Students have missed at least three weeks of school, which they will need to make up during their break/vacation (“holiday”).

The restaurant near our hotel has a sign on the door that says there is a shortage of LPG gas due to a “full refinery shutdown”. I am not sure what that is about yet.

Arriving at Salty Print
“Transforming Paper, People and Places”

As we needed a bit of assistance to find this place in the city (not hard; we just lack orientation), Gavin ran out to wave us in. I was SO glad to see that man, now a familiar face on God’s good earth (even if we had just met him last week)!

And finally I met the Rev. Mark Stephenson, who leads the Salty Print ministry, a printing press-related operation described as a “non-profit, employment-creation project of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa”. There we met Tami, Vincent, Lindsay, and many others. Mark showed us some of the work there, and highlighted some city landmarks and loaned us his detailed Cape Town map book to help us navigate a bit more independently. He also took time to sit down together for conversation. A theme we heard from Mark, echoed in the Salty Print project-description booklet, is the need for

1) Inspired leadership;

2) Critical partnership; and

3) Passionate commitment.

We have Mark’s map-book, so we will have to see him again.

Rosebank Methodist Church & ”Rollers”

June 24, 2007 Sunday

Rosebank Methodist Church

We worshipped with a lovely congregation at Rosebank Methodist Church, with the Rev. Tim Attwell. They were completing a “Gifts & Ministries” series with the theme, “Making Wholeness- Celebrating the Church as God’s healing agent”. People we met included Ralph Wilcox, who works with the Emmaus program, related to the United Methodist Church through Nashville, TN. We also met the woman who wrote and narrated the morning’s excellent power-point presentation summarizing the church’s ministries. People were encouraged to consider and respond to their particular call to serve.

“…Speaking the truth in love….the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
Ephesians 4:15,16

We also met Magda Ball, sister of the woman who created the power-point program, retired long-time kindergarten teacher and teacher of teachers (including working with “coloured” teachers during apartheid), and “Mark Stephenson’s godmother” as she wrote in my notebook. However, to me, Magda shall remain Magda,, and Mark Stephenson may become “Magda’s godson”.

The "Rollers"

Over the phone, Mark urged John to drive to Sea Point to watch the great waves (“rollers”) coming in off the Atlantic, so that became our plan for the afternoon (which meant that we drove twice in one day. The waves were terrific, but I understand they were to be even bigger. “Something big is coming through.”