Curios and curiosities: Things to do at an airport

Apart from my beautiful son, my very favorite souvenir from Africa was this hand-made rag doll of Archbishop Desmund Tutu that I bought at the Jo-burg airport.

I love Tutu so.

That crazy, infectious laugh.
His beautiful spirit.
His circa-1980 spectacles.

The doll is a Zuko Doll – the product of what has evolved from the Masiphatisane Sewing Group begun in SA’s shack towns in the 1980s. I did a bit of reading about them when I got home and I loved this part of their story in particular:

When we presented our dolls to the Bishop himself, the only thing he wanted changed was that the doll had to have underwear. “NO this won’t do…. the doll must have underpants because I wear underpants.” 

My Archbishop Tutu doll does, in fact, have underwear. Light blue jockey shorts, complete with white elastic waist band. Love. It.

As some of you know, I have the word UBUNTU tattooed on my back. I learned that word from Bono who learned it from the archbishop.

Tutu explains it this way:

“One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu – the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can’t be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity.
We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.”