Judith B Miller

Author, Coach, Inspirational Speaker, Mapusha Supporter

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Hand Spun Hope

The book, Hand Spun Hope Making a Difference in Rural South Africa begins as…

I perch on the ancient rocks at the top edge of the Blyde River Canyon, looking out over the rough heights of the Drakensberg Mountains, the red-orange earth and the infinite shades of green in the bushveld below. All of my activity as a community developer over the last twelve years occurred within the wide view of this spot. The special thrum that is Africa vibrates within me.

hand-dyed yarn drying on the fence, South Africa | Hand Spun Hope, book The persistent hum happens when bugs, bees, crickets, birds and wind all join together to form a life force that vibrates with immense vitality. The sun is strong and the sky encircling me is bright and clear, a startling blue. A bateleur eagle glides by riding the currents of wind in this immense canyon, the third largest in the world, and unlike the other two a green canyon teeming with life. The rocks are ancient, some 200 million years old, a number so unimaginably big it blows my mind wide open. And, if I consider the rock art sprinkled on the walls of the caves in this range, the spirit of the native, hunter-gatherer San people joins my party of one on the rock. I need to be touched by this primordial canyon’s spacious wisdom to understand what really happened here in South Africa for me and for those with whom I worked.

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Lindy, Mapusha Weavers Cooperative at the loom, South AfricaMapusha Weaver spinning wool, South Africa | Hand Spun Hope, bookRegina, Mapusha Weaver with a work in progress tapestry on the loom

This lively memoir…

Hand Spun Hope Book Cover | Judith B Miller, author

This lively memoir begins when an idealistic American woman, weary from a year of cancer treatments, takes a leap from the cozy bubble of Portland, Oregon, to the raw and wild bushveld of South Africa.

A chance meeting with six grandmothers from a rural weaving cooperative launches the unexpected next chapter of her life as she and the women join forces to face the challenges of poverty, AIDS, and the lingering post-apartheid oppression of women in a small rural village.

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