Raining porridge

Raining Porridge
Just now, I bumped into someone from the Postnet where I do all my Etsy posting, and she commented on the major upswing in my output lately. I was half-bemoaning my extraordinary busyness, and practicing a bit of the “can’t complain” school of gratitude I seem to specialise in right now. She came up with a fabulous and hilariously graphic Afrikaans saying for me, which is just what I need to remember, even when my feet and brain and eyes are burning with worn-outness. It goes: As die pap reen, moet jy skep! which means, more or less, When it’s raining porridge, get the ladle out!

It’s certainly been raining porridge for me this year. Business has been great, opportunities beyond my dreams have come my way, and, especially in these times of global decline, porridge raining from the sky is likely to become an increasingly rare sight for most.

I’ve put together a little list of places and organisations that I’d like to share some of my porridge with. I’m not doing this to boast about my do-good credentials (actually, I haven’t donated to all of them), but I thought that seeing as a good few people read this blog, and most of them are from the better-off part of the globe, perhaps it would be worth spreading the word:

* Not buckets of porridge, but Buckets of Love is an annual project of Catholic Welfare. A donation to this cause will see them putting together a bucket full of food items, to be distributed to destitute families over Christmas time.

* Greater Good SA -This is an amazing one-stop-donations- shop, listing a wide range of non-profit organisations. It makes makes finding and giving to an organisation that speaks to your interests and concerns very easy and accessible. The ones I’m particularly keen on are:
– Biblionef, an organisation that gets books to children in deprived areas;
– Food Gardens Foundation teaches people how to grow their own food, using sustainable, organic principles

* The Peninsula Schools Feeding Association provides kids with a square meal at school every day. They’re an amazing organisation, and are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.

* Bathandwa Day and Night Shelter feeds, houses and cares for the 36 abandoned, HIV+ and physically or mentally disabled children. Visit the website and meet the team – those people are doing amazing work!