Martha's trip to the seaside!

It was my brother’s wedding last weekend in Cape Town and he really wanted Martha to be there. Like me, she is his 'African mother' and has known him from the day he was born. Growing up he was Emanuel’s best friend. It was such a special time. Martha, who will never get on a plane for fear of flying, caught the City-to-City bus up to Cape Town from Pretoria which took her 17 hours. When she arrived she was wide eyed and bushy tailed – and instantly fell in love with Cape Town.

Not wanting to sleep, she helped us with all the wedding ‘stuff’ that needed to be done and drove around in sheer awe of the mountain and the sea. It was so special to have her at the wedding and to share such a special time with us all – even though she was only there for four days - to her it was a memory that will last a life time.

It's a crazy thought to think that Martha, like the Heartfelt ladies, never gets the opportunities that we do to go on hoiday to places like Cape Town. Or even away for the weekend. Some of the ladies have never even left Makapanstad. Now there's a depressing thought - and we take it so forgranted and get upset if our flight is an hour late or we can't stay an extra night or two!

Arriving back from her trip last week, Martha was back at work and into the Heartfelt swing of things to show Annie Mokoena and the SABC crew of the show Leihlo la Sechaba which is broadcast on Thursdays at 6p.m. on SABC2 around Makapanstad. They are in the midst of doing a documentary about Heartfelt for Women’s Day and wanted to come and visit. So as you can imagine – all the ladies were so excited they could hardly sit still! We’ll let you know when the programme will be aired. Annie is such a lovely lady and filled with so much warmth.

And until the crew come back in a few weeks time to film the final bits - Mrs Celebrity will be staying putt for a little while, because as we all know, it's not like her to want to miss out on anything. And her four days in Cape Town? Well, as you can imagine - they are already the talk of the town (or rather - village).

Mrs Celebrity Makapanstad!

It’s been a buzz of excitement at Heartfelt over the past two weeks. Motsawako’s SABC2 talk show aired last Monday night featuring a story on Heartfelt – and the star of the show Martha. None of us knew it would be on TV, the first we heard of it was when we started getting frantic calls from friends and family. Wow, talk about exciting. I called Martha and she was already watching it – her phone had been ringing none stop. Since then we've had a few visitors coming to meet the ladies and see their beautiful handy-work. As well as receive inspiring emails from special people who watched the show. We have even employed a young girl who lives in Makapanstad who got hold of us after seeing the show and has a very heartfelt story of her own.

The ladies were all so excited to see themselves on TV and Martha has officially been renamed Mrs Celebrity Makapanstad by all of them. It seems to have given them all a huge boost and they are more excited than ever about what the future holds. It's wonderful.
Other than that we've all been keeping nice and busy and working on a lot of orders and wedding favours for our blushing brides. Also, my sincere apologies for the silence this month. I have been spending a lot of time training Charlene (Martha’s daughter) to work on the office admin side of things and with daily orders (not to mention moving house) it’s been a juggling act this month!

Charlene and I are also both doing a Costing & Pricing Workshop through Fetola & Old Mutual this month which we are very excited about – and the ladies are also getting a spoiling treat with Old Mutual actually coming to Makapanstad to give a workshop called 'On the Money' teaching them about looking after their finances. It's going to be held at a local school close to Pinky Place and each lady will be bringing a friend with her from the community. They'll also all get a free lunch from Old Mutual and the entire workshop will be done in Setswana so everyone can understand. It will be a very special event indeed and one that we hope will teach the ladies how to look after their finances - and not get suckered into buying on credit!

And finally, thank you to everyone who sent Martha beautiful messages on Mother’s Day. It meant so much to her and she felt extremely loved. Also, a very big thank you to Carolin & Sepati from South 2 South who met with Martha and the ladies this month and did a councelling session with them all - your continued support means so much to the ladies. They really love it when you visit and can't wait to share that next cup of tea with you when you are back in Makapanstad.

Oh and one last thing before I forget - please could you sign our water petition - we are still desperate to get water to our lovely ladies and their families in Makapanstad! Thank you.