In order for you to SEE the bigger picture of our work at the Clover Mama Africa workshops, please read the articles about the last two year's workshop BEFORE you read about our experience at this year's workshop. [2009 workshop and 2010 workshop].

We've just came home from our third Clover Mamma Africa Smartiesweek, and once again it turned out to be a life changing experience. One just cannot be in the presence of 32 such amazing woman and not be changed!

Tuesday morning, we started off by giving each Mamma a white canvas and at the end of the day, we ended up with 32 beautiful works of art!

Because this was most of the Mamma's third artworkshop we decided to give each Mamma a specific picture that she had to use as reference point in order to created her painting.  Her painting had to be finished off with a frame made by using cultural patterns and art relief work.

This Mamma got a tree as a starting point.  For her THE TREE is a symbol of CHRIST,  The Tree of Life. Just look at the people giving Him praise... AND just look at her beautiful smile!

Goudine Spa was once again the venue for this event... It was HEAVEN!

At the gala evening we received our THIRD trophy.

Just look how beautiful these 3 Mammas looked in the dresses they made themselves!

Heilencia and Ezette with some of the Mammas.

The Mammas just before the gala evening.

FUN after the gala evening! For me 'dancing' was the theme of this year's Smarties Week!  That was also the reason for this painting done by Ezette, Heilencia and Prof Elain!

NOW for the two 'BIG' Mammas of Clover Mamma Africa 2011. Prof Elain, the founder and drive behind the Clover Mamma Africa project, and Mamma Mary of Upington, the winner of 2011!



Once again we just want to thank Prof Elain and her team for giving us this AMAZING opportunity to be a part of Clover Mamma Africa. As Dr Harold Robles from Holland said when he said his good-byes: "We are now all part of this wonderful FAMILY! See you next year!"

PS.  Just listen to these amazing story.  One Mamma used her 2010 painting as a fundraiser.  She made enough money to sink a borehole at her centre! Another Mamma is selling her artworks in Holland! Amazing!
 

The weekend started off with Maggie painting a magnificent landscape in yellow and red.  As she said, it reflects how trees can weather the storms of life and still impose a stunning picture.

Some misjudged the effort it takes to paint the detail of a picket fence ...  At least she can still smile!

Can you believe that I am actually painting this farm landscape?

And this sunset over a tropical island?  Well done Lehandi!

And unexpected guest arrived and was promptly charged with laziness.  A solution was to offer Divan an imprompto canvas and some paint. What a wonderfull effort it turned out to be!

We painted and painted ... and still had some time for smiles, or is that a grimace of pain I am detecting?

Silence settled down as everyone started concentrating ....

Not bad for a first time effort!  Yes, we did tell you that if you leave CreativeHeartz, you can paint! A rich and strong impression of a lonely tree against an African winter sunset.

Now who would guess that this lady absolutely refused any help!

And if you forget to sign your name, an admirer will be quick to dish out kisses when you do!

To all the others whose paintings are not here ... we simply ran out of space!  Your work were just as good!  To prove this have a look at all the art work in the gallery by clicking here.

Well done to all who attended!

What a blessed experience this workshop once again turned out to be. You just cannot spend 4 days in the presence of all these woman without being CHANGED FOREVER! They truly rub off on you! Just to hear all their stories are life changing. It felt like being at a family reunion.

 Most of these Mamma's we have met, and came to love, at last year's workshop.  

What a blessing to play a small part in the lives of these women... to impart to them what God has given us, and to see how their individual creativity has grown and developed in just one year! One women even brought a painting that she and two little boys made at home with ordinary Wax Crayons!

She went home and painted that after attending only ONE of our workshops! AMAZING!  She was the Mama who painted the beautiful tortoise last year.

Another Mama, Mama Esther, went home and started to teach her people how to paint. They are now selling their artworks locally. Now I just feel the overwhelming desire to go and teach her how to make the rustic wooden frames that God lead me to start making from ordinary used wooden crates. I came to realize that we just have to impart all the talent that God has given us into others! It is NOT given to us to enrich ourselves! TAKE NOTE: “Mama Esther Nkosi’s home is based on an old military ground. She looks after 94 children with an aim to house and care for homeless and poor children while providing a good education.”

To see how God work through those Mamma's, and how they TRUST IN HIM to provide in their daily needs is just amazing. All of them SAW THE DESPERATE NEED in their comunities and started to DO SOMETHING to help!

Listen to this amazing TRUE story of Mama Agnes:

One day one Mama was walking in her township, trying to sell some food in order to make some money to support her family. Suddenly 'her eyes were opened' and she saw all those small kids playing in the bushes while their parents were at work. Immediately she knew that she have to do something! She rushed to the counsellor, asking him to organize a meeting for the next day. At the meeting she told all those attending to bring all these children roaming around in the bushes all day long while their parents are working, to her. Well the next day 90 children arrived at her shack!!! She knew from experience that you cannot keep hungry children, that they will leave. So she told some friends to look after them while she went to the municipality to get the counsellor to come and look what happened after their meeting. He gave her the papers she needed to go to the local shops to ask for food donations!  “Agnes Mhlahlo is incredible and truly remarkable, at age 83 she is dedicated to her vision of keeping children off the streets. She feeds and nurtures 300 children aged from newborn to 6 years old. She also provides an all important basic education platform for the pre-school children.”

TAKE NOTE: At age 83 Mama Agnes is still willing to learn new skills. Here she's hard at 'work' creating her master piece.

Heilencia assisting Mama Dorah  “Mama Dorah Semenya started the Shalati (meaning patience) Drop in Centre in May 2006 when she noticed that many neighbours were dying, leaving the children unattended or in the care of abusive relatives and guardians. She could not bear to see these children hanging around doing nothing, avoiding going to school and not eating properly.”

Ezette helping a Mama painting some shacks WITH CHICKENS! Wow painting those 2 chickens were really challenging!

Just look at Mama Mary's painting! She was adamant to paint a donkey because they use donkey carts as fund-raisers in her ministry. What a huge success her painting turned out to be!

“Mama Mary Visage cares for 77 children and adults that are physically and mentally disabled. She provides daily activities and training for each of her members and produces beautiful items that are sold to tourists. Her projects include food plot, sewing, baking and craft work.”

Just look how TIRED but CONTENT they all look after another HARD DAY'S WORK!

Friend, this is just ONE story!!! There are 32 women with stories just as amazing as hers!  

Another Mamma's story that really spoke to me was Mama Daphne.  As a young women she was  left with her brother's children when he went to jail for RAPING THEM! Instead of 'running away' from this huge challenge, she was prepared to 'give up her life' when she took them all in! “Mama Daphne Oliphant has been running House of Mercy for over 8 years and cares for 53 children. Children uses the excuse of not have the necessary uniforms and stationery to stay away from school. For Mama Daphne this is not a good reason and she ensures that the children receive the bare necessaties to attend school. She also runs a soup kitchen, teaches sewing, hosts Sunday school classes and attends to HIV and TB patients.”

Mama Daphne at the Gala evening in a beautiful outfit she made herself!

OUR SECOND REWARD! Just like last year, we were blessed when Prof Elain awarded us with a 'reward' for the part that we've played in blessing/equipping these Mamma's at the Clover Mama-Africa Smarties week.

More photo's taken at the Gala evening.

WOW, it is just amazing how God has called them and equipped them to look after the poorest of the poor in their local communities! Once again Mamma's, WE SALUTE YOU! You are indeed an example to the rest of us!

These 2 paintings were done by Millie and Jo!  They were so busy ORGANIZING and helping that  there were just no time to take a photograph of them with their master pieces!  

Prof Elain of Clover and her Mama Africa team working behind the scenes. They truly did an amazing work in organizing this event!

Some beautiful photos taken at Goudini Spa. TAKE NOTE: It was NOT ALL WORK! It was a SPA after all!

Just look at the beautiful background! We stayed in those beautiful houses!

The Boland and it's fynbos turned out to be an inspiration behind 2 of the paintings. Dawn even went and pluck some proteas and fynbos, and Tina kept looking out of the window as she was painting.

More about Mama Dawn: “Mama Dawn Irons cares for 35 abused and orphaned children of all ages on a day-to-day basis and has 18 additional orphaned children who are permanently based at the centre. She also provides after care supervision to local school going children and assists them with their education as well as teaches and encourages them with extramural activities such as sports, arts and crafts. Over and above this she runs an outreach programme for 300 children and 7 households in the rural area of Ubombo.”

You can read more about the Clover Mama Africa project AND ALL THE MAMMAS on their website.

We thank Prof. Elain and her team for choosing such a beautiful venue for the 2010 Mama Africa Smarties week; AND for giving us the opportunity to make a small difference in the lives of these wonderful women AND... for making us feel SO SPECIAL! May all of you be BLESSED for the part that you are playing in these Mamma's lives!

To view all the beautiful paintings click here.

Picture the following: Four one hour sessions with 32 seven, eight and nine year olds!

Well that is a recipe for huge chaos and failure... but as so many times in the past, God once again came through for us. He gave us the STRENGTH, POWER and SANITY to press through... All glory to Him!

Believe you me, I wanted to take photos from the very beginning, but it turned out to be so hectic that there was just no time during the first two sessions! I could only remember to take photo's during our third session. What also made this workshop very tough was the fact that some of the kids did not turn up for every session... We therefore could only manage to finish 26 instead of the 32 paintings as planned.

Just look how serious this little Chappie looks. At first he wanted to paint a monster, but after a few tries we changed his mind! At the end he was very pleased with his butterfly. 

Heilencia surrounded by onlookers. They did not want to miss anything.

We had our hands full, because some kids got so excited they even started to help those sitting next to them!

Oh and how they love to pose!

We took all the paintings home to paint the frames and put in the rope.

Ezette with 2 very proud pupils!

Well what more can I say... just that this workshop really turned out to be such a blessing! And it will be impossible to forget these little angels!

The day started off with a basic lesson in how to put your idea onto canvas.  The faces do look a bit sceptical!

Painting proceeded with a lot of discussion to find a common colour theme and picture.  Then it was onto getting paint onto canvas!

Teamwork was required to make the picture come together, and in a family this is not always easy!

When the others took a break, the master continued putting paint to canvas!

Come on, where is my coffee ... ??

Wow mum, this is really fun!

The final results by the proud painters ... good stuff!!

To view all the beautiful canvases click here.

Our Mama Afrika workshop turned into a life-changing experience for us! We thought that we are going to teach them, but at the end they taught us what this life is all about!

To be in their presence, and to get to know, 28 of the woman that are making South Africa a better place, was such a honour!  Women who are willing to surrender their lives in order to provide homes and food for the poorest of the poor in their individual communities.  Woman who are willing to do whatever it takes to help their 'neighbours'!

What a privilege it was to bless them by giving them the key/the opportunity they needed in order to unlock their own creativity!  Afterwards one Mama came to us saying; “I am an artist...I AM AN ARTIST! You made me realise that I am an ARTIST!”

Another Mama was too scared to get out of bed the morning of the workshop, believing the lie that she cannot paint! Afterwards she even wrote 'master piese' on her painting!

Mama Daphne busy painting!

I just have to share this! The next day, as we were busy putting their paintings up for display, that same Mama could not find her 'master piese'!  The first thing that came to her mind was that it was stolen.
She ran up to us saying; “I cannot find my painting, and I do not know what to think! I was asking God;' 'God I do not know how I should feel?  Whether I should be PROUD or angry??? Proud that someone wanted to steal MY painting or SAD because I've lost my painting?! Should I pray and bless the person who stole it, or should I pray that they return it?'” All I could do was take her in my arms as we laughed and cried together!  It was so precious...and take note, her painting was not stolen, only misplaced.

 Her painting is the one with the two African pots.

As I was helping another Mama (Mama Mary, aged 70), she kept on telling me over and over again that she was the only Mama there that could not write or read. Afterwards we found out that she was chosen as 'The Women of the Year' in South Africa for 2002 and 2004!  She started an orphanage in 1994 and is presently caring for more than a hundred orphans!  All she wanted to paint were children and houses ... the homes that 'her children' are presently living in!  This woman has much more wisdom than most people I know ... even without any schooling!

Heilencia and Mama Mary

Another Mama decided to paint red arum lily's to honour her daughter who passed away when she was still very small. "Why red arum lily's?", I asked her. “The day of my daughters funeral a friend brought me a red arum lily, and from that day I always wanted to hang a painting of a red arum lily in my home to honour my daughter with!” WOW, what a blessing it was helping her to paint it herself! Praise God!
Her painting is called ... SWEET MEMORIES.

Mama Selestine with Ezette

Another Mama afterwards said: “I cannot think of anything else ... the art is burning in my heart!  I just want to go back home and teach my people what I've learned.  Please, you have to come and help me to teach them, so that they can sell their paintings and start to make a living for themselves!”

 Mama Ester with Ezette.

AND THEN ... we've also met some of the Clover team that drives the Mama Afrika project.

Prof Elain with some of the Mamas

Ezette, Jo, prof Elain and Heilencia.

Sanet with her beautiful painting!

Milly with Mamma Lumka at at the rewards evening

May God bless all of you for what you are willing to do in order to help these Godly Mamas!

What a Godly example these Mamas are, because they are willing to DO EXACTLY WHAT GOD IS ASKING OF ALL HIS CHILDREN...“First you must LOVE THE LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. AND SECONDLY (equally important), LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR as you love yourself.”

MAMA'S WE SALUTE YOU!!!

And thank you for our reward!

To view all the beautiful paintings click here.

It was wonderful to have Heilencia's mother and daughter attending!  Afterwards her Mom said she has now found that one thing that was  missing in her life – PAINTING!

Sharon's daugter Lara, who was visiting from England, was blown away when she realized that she can paint!  When she wanted to do art at school, the art teacher told her that she had no talent! Shocking!

Nadia brought her two daughters and they enjoyed just spending their day together while painting their individual masterpieces!

Arne could not sleep the night before, but again we could prove these fears unfounded. Another great first effort! What a wonderful day she had!

To view all the beautiful canvases click here.

The Schoombee family planned a family reunion and decided that to produce a few canvasses will give them something to talk about for years.

The day started off with setting out 26 canvasses, brushes etc and then getting the family to quiet down so that we could introduce them to painting!  Not an easy task (you can guess which task .... ).

As normal, some persons are experts when it comes to painting and can teach others!

The fun started with getting the picture onto the canvas.

Some found it almost impossible!

While others had fun drawing !

The next step was starting the work of art!  What fun!

Like father like son - seems the proverb still holds true when it comes to orange paintings ....

It is all about concentration to get that exact shade correct!

The secret lies in the detail!

Tea and chocolate and cream cake was for some much more important than an orange canvas ....

An extremely proud member of the family with his masterpiece.

Except for some dirty feet, the evening was a huge success!  A total of 26 excellent paintings saw the light.

The final product(s) - A feast for the eyes!  To view all the paintings painted today please click here.

Well done Schoombees!

Thank you for the wonderful day we could spend with you.

We had a wonderfull team building day at MTN in Sandton filled with laughter, cries of unbelief and praise.  Anton Kapp decided that the best way to create solid team spirit was to bring out the creative side of his new management team.  Well he was very correct in his decission!

The day was planned as a surprise for the team and no one knew that they will be meeting with their arty side!! 

The day started off early with us preparing the room for the team, making sure everyone had a large canvas, brushes and all the other tools to paint with.

The session started with everybody having to choose a picture they liked and discussing their unknown capabilities.  Anton could not belief that Jenny wanted him to paint that!!

Then it was time for a few basic lessons in painting and for Anton to present his team with some MTN specials!

Planning the canvas took some time and everybody had a hard time in getting the lines into proportion. Once the nerves calmed down a bit, things picked up and the canvasses were not that threatening any more!

A new world is opening up for us!

The team members all took to the task of getting that masterpiece on the canvas.  Some found it very frustrating while others enjoyed their creative side.  However everyone made their mark and it was really enjoyable to see how each person grew in confidence.

Time for jokes and coffee there was!

After completing the canvasses, it was time to put these out to dry!  Nothing like some pavement art to get the team into deep discussion!

Can you believe Jenny did that?  Unbelievable!

Thank you Anton and your team for a real blessing! We had a wonderfull time with you!

To view the artwork you can click here.