For those who don't understand Afrikaans, the term Jammer Lappie needs some explanation: directly translated, it is "Sorry Cloth" but let me tell you the story I heard way back when...
Back in the days when families were big and farmhouse kitchens were huge and had a scrubbed wooden table in the middle, the whole extended family would gather there, around the table for the Sunday meal, which was usually a couple of roast chickens and all the delicious trimmings. Everyone would tuck in and the kids, as we all do, would eat off the bones using their hands. Well as you can imagine the faces were just as greasy. The Mom or Ouma, in desperation, probably grabbed the nearest wash rag and as she wiped the hands and mouths of each child, would say "Jammer, my kind!" ("Sorry, my child") as she scrubbed the dirt and grease away!
Thus was born the "Jammer Lappie" which is a communal cloth used to clean things, in our case inky fingers and stamps! Many years ago when I was at the beginning of my teaching days in 2001, my friend Violet gave me a special bowl in which to display a jammer lappie.
Now I have a personalised lappie specially embroidered for me by my friend, Soera Lötter to store in it - thanks Soera :-)
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