Tanzania or South Africa

[MamaDavid]

Hi
Is there any body out there who is living/has lived in Tanzania? Any South Africans? We have been in Dar-es-Salaam for a year now and I am feeling very lost without my "tribe"...

[badomama]

I just found your post! I also live in Dar, but just for 3 more weeks. As you can see from my moniker, I'm not a mama yet, but will be one in September. I work at a local NGO here and live in Mikocheni B. I'm from the US. How about you? I wish I had found your post three weeks ago! You can pm me or email directly: stephmadams@hotmail.com

baadaye!

[Raven]

Hello!!!!

I live in Cape Town South Africa!!!

:balloons

Nice to meet ya!

:banana

[MamaDavid]

Hi Raven
I have just returned from a two week break in Jo'burg (my home town). Where in Cape Town do you live?

[Raven]

Hi MamaDavid :wave

I live in Pinelands. I was born in JHB and lived there for a while in 1998/9... :thumb

[MamaDavid]

Hi Raven
Do you have many AP, gentle discipline, etc type friends? The reason I ask is because I really battled to find like minded moms when I had my first child. It was only when he started going to the Waldorf school in JHB that I made some friends that I really clicked with. I often wonder how many AP moms are out there all on their own.

[Raven]

Not many....

I knoe a few but they arent that AP iykwim...

Where in jhb are you?

[MamaDavid]

We own a house in Linden. We lived in Randpark Ridge until 2001. Then lived in our Linden home for 2 years before coming to Dar. Which part of JHB did you live in?

There is more than one Waldorf school in Cape Town and since Cape Town is after all Cape Town I has this idea in the back of my head that the natural minded parents would be all over the place. But I am probably just being a Vaalie idealising the Cape!

[Raven]

I have a lot of crunchy friends but only 2 have kids and they are only kinda AP.

You are right about Cape Town having a lot of hippie/crunchy ppl around - thats why I love it so much! But like everywhere else we have our fair share of manstream folk too.

I stayed wth my dad in Northriding - close to North Gate and Honeydew :thumb

[MamaDavid]

My house in Randpark Ridge was just off DF Malan (now Beyers Naude). There is a little suburb behind Top Crop/The Crafters Market, that is where we lived. I use to go to gym at Northgate and Salvatores in North Riding make the best pizzas ever!

[Raven]

I use to go to gym at Northgate and Salvatores in North Riding make the best pizzas ever!

SALVATORES!!! I love their pizza!!! :yum :LOL

This is so wierd.... :down

Heres a question for ya:

Do you use cloth diapers? If so, do you know where I can get them in SA? Thanks!!

[MamaDavid]

Yes, I do a three way combo - disposable at night and if we go anywhere and then EC and cloth nappies during the day - Danielle has been on a EC strike since Feb. Has no problem pooing in the potty but finds it great fun to pee on the floor and then play in it!

A bit off track here - in any case. I just use the pre-fold I think they are called that one can get at Pick 'n' Pick, Baby City etc (those square jobs that you have to fold yourself) I have tried to find somebody in SA that makes/supplies the nice all-in-one nappies with the waterproof lining sewn in, but have not had much success. A lot of the UK moms here in Dar use them and they seem to be readily available there and of course in the US.

Dar is also EXTREMELY hot, so I gave up on the plastic pants - which are rather gross to start with in any case. I just use the nappy as is which works fine, if there isn't any pressure on it when she wees. (If she is sitting on my lap and wees I get wet.)

I once saw some cloth nappies at Pick 'n' Pay - but that was many moons ago and I never looked at them to see if they had any waterproofing or not.

If you do decide to be brave and buy the square jobs, go for the make that are SABS approved - I bought some nice bright funky ones at Baby City and they are really crappy quality!

The only other thing I can suggest is there is an excellent article all about cloth nappies I think it was on the Mothering site and it gives you all the materials that you can use. I have still got it somewhere and I can give you the URL. Then there are some sites that will sell you the paterns. One must be able to get the material (terry cloth is available, the waterproofing might be a bit more difficult) and then sew them yourself or else get a seemstress to sew them for you. And once you have gone to all that trouble you can just as well set up your own little business and I will be your first customer :)

I do sew and I would have loved to have sewn my own ones, but alas I now live in the sh*t hole where you can get squat and on our trips back to SA I only manage to do so much and there is never any time to go hunting for things!

If you do find anybody that supplies/makes them I would love to know.

Here is the URL for that article http://www.mothering.com/9-0-0/html/9-3-0/crazy-for-cloth.shtml

[simonee]

hey mamas sorry to crash, but i make my own here in Holland since I don't want to pay international shipping, and it really works well to make pockets out of fleece and stuff them with whatever. Can you find fleece in SA? It keeps baby dry on the inside and is pretty waterproof on the outside.

I also made some covers out of very thin wool, which sounds warmer than it is (though prolly too hot in Dar), wool can be bought in many places and lanolin for waterproofing is sold pure at pharmacies here.

When babes are big enough for rough traveling I'll visit yall :)

[Raven]

Wow! Thanks for the info guys!

I cannot sew to save my life - so there goes that idea! :LOL

I will hunt around and see what I can find. There are some really amazing online stores that make me drool - DAMN THE EXCHANGE RATE! :irked:

Will let you know what I find. Babe crying - gotta run...

THANKS AGAIN!!! :thumb

[Chelly2003]

HOWZIT....... just popping in.

Ex-SA, now living in the USA.

Mmmmmmm perhaps one of you should open a Fuzzi Bunz store or something. (love my cloth)
My daughter (KELLY) was born in East London and I used cloth, but the regular square terry towel ones, and plastic pants (YUCK)

I can tell you - I miss Elizabeth Annes Baby Shampoo - I have been searching forever for it, my sister (in EL) sent me some months ago and it never got here, I found a place online to sell to me, but at $8 a bottle, and they said I'd have to buy the WHOLE CASE! (I just about passed out)

Anyhoo........................... keep well and enjoy the SMELL of africa (nothing like it - I love stepping off the plane and just taking a DEEP BREATH)

Chelly

[Raven]

:wave Hi Chelly!!!!! So good to "meet" you! ;)

Ive never been to EL but ppl I know who have say its beautiful!

[Raven]

Oh and perhaps I could send you some Elizabeth Annes Shampoo? That stuff is amazing hey? Let me know... :thumb

[Chelly2003]

I swear there is nothing like Elizabeth Annes, I'm just sitting STILL waiting for the package my sister sent, its very sweet of you to offer to send me some, but heck, I STILL hope the lot my sister sent will arrive soon, I even watch out the window to see when the mail man arrives so I can run out and check.
East London is pretty, but even better is the wildcoast. My sister has a place at Port St. Johns, and its beautiful - in fact my husband and I spent a week of our honeymoon there, it was FANTASTIC (even with no electricity). We also spent time at the Kobb Inn, and that was so wonderfull (I just watched our video the other day, just to make myself HOMESICK!
How well do you guys think Cloth Diapers - the All in one kind would take over there? I've thought a couple of times of sending some to my sister to see if she could open up shop or something like that..... (She's also unemployed, like myself)
Chelly

[Raven]

I would love to tey - but my business sense is very :moon if you know what I mean! :LOL

I have been using sposies coz I am having NO luck here with cd! :irked:

I dont know if there is a market for it - how would I find out?

[MamaDavid]

Hi Chelly - nice to meet you. Another Elizabeth Anne's fan here. At least we can get it here in Dar - at a price - but we can get it.

I went to Rhodes University in Grahamstown. Spent an Easter Holiday in EL once. I have fond memories of the Eastern Cape.

As far as CD's go in SA. Most of the moms I know have bought into the deal of "If you consider the cost of laundering your cloth nappies it costs just as much as if you were to buy disposables" and I think because cloth does involve a bit more dealing with excrement than disposables and since disposables have been marketed as the more sophisticated solution, with the 'richer crowd' your market is going to be limited to your more environmentally conscious/natural/AP moms.

The other market will be the moms who do CD's for economic reasons - I think the poorer moms know that the laundry calculation just does not hold true. If one can locally produce good quality nappies, that are reasonably priced you might be able to have more customers....If you can get A C Kermans (alias Ackermans) to sell your quality economy line of nappies and the exclusive baby boutique in Sandton City to do your organic cotton with 100% pure merino wool covers, you can build your nappy empire! :nut

[Raven]

Sheesh! sounds like a mision! :LOL

[MamaDavid]

Nah, I am just being grandiosely silly :D. If you were to start with a stall at a craft market or a flea market you could probably get going that way.

[Chelly2003]

I've been missing forever...............
I've been working on making my own AIO diapers, its coming along nicely, just now I'm waiting for some PUL so I can get fancy............ I'm going to try sell them on EBAY or something (my website is not UP yet) so I can "finance" my stay at home mom plan.

I eventually contacted the Elizabeth Annes company in SA, they don't sell in the USA because of the FDA requirements or something silly..... but they said they would send me some of the special baby shampoo which was very nice of them.

[Raven]

Hey Chelly that rocks! :jumpers:

Are you starting your own from home company? Do you need a website? My dh does web dev and he is looking for more projects! :nod

let me know! :)

[Chelly2003]

Hey, its all exciting....... I "bought" my domain name - and got three pages along with it, but they're not very USER FRIENDLY, they're set in a specific format and I can't really move things around.

www.hug-a-bum.com

Once I have some more things going, I'll UPGRADE to a larger size webspace, and add a "shopping cart" feature...... but thats pretty expensive, so I have to make some $$$ first.

I'm a REAL WEBMORON when it comes to things like this, I think I need to buy a software program, but I'm not sure ? ?

Chelly

[Raven]

I will PM you my dh's email address and you can let him know exactly what you want your site to do. Maybe he can help you out... :)

[saharasky]

Hey mama's!!!

I was always under the impression that the snappi company was in South Africa ... and I'm pretty sure they make an All-in-one diaper

www.snappi.co.za

Blessings

[Raven]

Hi Jessi! :wave

They are mae here but as far as I am aware of they dont make AIO or pocket diapers. They make terry cloth squares and I havent had much luck with them... :(

Where are you?

[saharasky]

I'm on the opposite side of the planet LOL (western Canada) ... on the SA snappi website they talk about a snappiable AIO ...you should contact them and find out.

[Chelly2003]

Hey Raven,
Do you get on the Yahoo Groups at all?
I've set up a group for people wanting to test diapers............... HOP ON IN

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hugabum/

Chelly

[Raven]

*raven hops*

;)

Jessi - I sure will! Thanks mama's! :) :love

[MamaDavid]

Jessi - thanks for the info I have sent them an email and I hope to get a reply soon as dh is flying to SA on business tomorrow and he only has one afternoon free to do a ton of shopping.

Danielle is just totally refusing to wear those square jobs - and I do not blame her. Her EC strike is still in full swing - poos in the potty and pees on the floor - in the mean time I paid R85 for 20 disposables on Friday from a 'shop' that had more flies than goods - I must be adapting to life in this place as they also had these red peppers in a box with plenty of flies buzzing around and I even shooed the flies away to see if the peppers were fresh ... not exactly Woolies.

The rand is at less than R6 to the dollar - if Snappi does not come through maybe Chelly can export some hug-a-bums to Dar ...

[saharasky]

Glad to be of help ...I certainly hope they have them somewhere in SA LOL ... I know they are not available in North America though (too much hubbub lately about using snappis on coverless diapers to bother importing the AIOs I guess) ... I'd love to try one though (just for fun!)

I was ordering snappis from the NA distributor the other day and asked her for the main snappi company contact info ...just happened to see the AIO's there while I was browsing ... I wanted to ask them to make some new colours (and glow in the dark!)

[Chelly2003]

At this point I can't sew fast enough!........ AAAaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

With two kids, I am lucky if I get an hour or two a day to do my thing, I got up at 4am yesterday to finish one diaper ......... its kinda frustrating...

My son starts school in September, so with any luck at all, while he is in school, I can get Gillian to take a nice long nap, and make one diaper a day.

Raven, when I've made a couple of large, I'll let you know, Gillian is in Medium, but I think Large will be better for you - you'll get more use out of it....
Chelly

[Tara's Mom]

Hello - I'm South African, from JHB, living in Ireland for the last year and a half, and the UK for a year and a half before that. Still very homesick if I let myself think about it. Especially as we are moving into winter again. We had a home birth that delivered our daughter and first born Tara 40 days ago. We are not using cloth nappies yet, but are planning to. We are using disposables because they are easier for us - it was enough getting to know baby and everything else that was going on - one step at a time...I do feel guilty for using disposables. I have a friend here, who is using cloth nappies and they seem easy etc..also not expensive or difficult to obtain.

[Raven]

Tara ~ :greet Nice to meet you! :)

First of all, Congrats on your new baby! :heartbeat :baby :heartbeat Tara is a really beautiful name! If this next baby is a girl we will be naming her T'kara :) (Its Japanese for Treasure)

Personally I wouldnt worry too much about the diaper thing... like you said - one step at a time. I would LOVE to cloth diaper but my situation does not allow me to :(

[MamaDavid]

I have been gone for so long I feel I have to re-introduce myself.

Welcome to Tara's mom. I totally understand the homesickness. I have just returned from a visit to SA and this first week back has been hard - I just want to crawl into a hole and wallow in self-pity. Bring on the cold, I just can't stand the heat around here. I find it strange how the Brits around here do not seem to mind the heat - maybe an indication of how horrid UK wheather is. "At least you can still go outside" they explain. As the saying goes "Mad dogs and Englishman..."

Congrats on the birth of your little one - may she bring you lots of joy.

I have finally got a dozen of the Snappi nappies and they are great! Danielle loves wearing them as well - cute and comfortable. Ulandi Harris (ulandi@snappi.co.za) at Snappi was just wonderful.

They are apparently available at Score Supermarkets, but Snappi will supply you from their PTA office - just in case anybody is interested.

[Raven]

MamaDavid!! Why didnt you let me know you were in SA?!!!!!!!

[MamaDavid]

Next time I'll give you a shout. We'll be back in SA for good March/April next year then we'll have 2 MDC South Africans in the same country at least!

[calpurnia]

hey mamas,

i'm not in SA but gallons of my family are. they all live in CT! and my brother is living near Moshi, Tanzania at the moment! I miss Africa.

anyway. don't know anything about cloth diapers out there, but think that there's a lot of crunchy and some AP stuff going on in Scarborough. my young cousins out there are at a waldorf school etc. Perhaps somebody there will be in the cloth know!

Cal xx

[Janine Az]

I have read with interest this forum from the Moms in or from SA. I've gone to the snappi site and just had a nice, enjoyable time reading all the posts. I have never been to SA and would love to go someday.
Thanks for the enjoyable evening.

Janine in Phoenix, Az

[Raven]

Hey Janine!

Welcome to MDC! :wave

[Raven]

Next time I'll give you a shout. We'll be back in SA for good March/April next year then we'll have 2 MDC South Africans in the same country at least!

Hey that ROCKS!! :banana Where will you be staying?

[wednesday]

Hi SA Mamas!

I like to lurk on your thread because I spent a lovely several weeks at Rhodes University in Grahamstown a few years ago...hope to return to SA with my family for a visit one day. Meanwhile I just like to read your posts!

[Raven]

:eyes

[MamaDavid]

Welcome Wakeupmama. Rhodes! I spend 4 years there in the 80's doing a 3 year degree - had something to do the the Vic, the Mot, the Cathcart, the Graham, the Rhodes union...

Raven sorry somehow missed your reply - decided I was spending too much time on MDC lurking around threads - hence the long silence. We are moving back to JHB at the end of March - when on holiday we normally stay with my folks in Kempton Park. I am about to leave on another trip back home I'll PM you and hopefully I can at least give you a call when I am there.

The other thing I have been wondering about is the whole CIO thing. I use to go to this baby group which was about 99% British and CIO seemed to be a very popular form of sleep training and parenting in general. (The one mother was looking lovingly at her little one of about 2 months and said "You look tired. Shall I go put you down so that you can cry yourself to sleep?" ) I am trying to figure out if I just have a biased view of the world since none of my mainstream friends used CIO. Are South African moms in general more AP-like?

[MamaDavid]

Calprunia - I know this is a very late response. My husband works for Tanzania Breweries and they have a brewery out at Moshi. Does your brother maybe know Marionette and Paul Muller? They lived in Moshi for a few years - Paul was actually there for many years...

[SugarAndSun]

You are all making me so jelous! I studied abroad in Tanzania in '98 and LOVED it. I was in Magi ya Chai, Arusha, and Mto wa Mbu. I can't wait to save up enough money to bring ds there! The most beautiful people and place on earth! I want to go back. Enjoy yourselves...

[Samjm]

Hi Everyone

I'm an SA expat, married to an American and now living in Colorado. Grew up in Cape Town, studied at Stellenbosch, and lived in Jo'Burg for a while.

All my family are still there. Miss it terribly.

Just wanted to say hi, and it is great to see some MDC moms there!

Sam

[Raven]

hi sam!! where in ct did you live? Im in pinelands. I stayed in jhb too for a while... in northriding... nak... forgive spelling and grammer....

mamadavid - how u?

[Jeanne_L]

MamaDavid, are you still in TZ? I lived there for 2+ years (with the Peace Corps)... 3 months in Arusha and the rest of the time near Masasi, MTWARA (down south). I spent quite a bit of time in Dar, coming and going...
I'm now back in the states, expecting my first baby in December...

[mychamps]

Hi
Dont mean that you have your babies at home unassisted?
You are simply wow!

[Raven]

Hi

It was an accident! :LOL