Like ripples in a pond...

Anna isn't much for putting her thoughts on paper (or in Cyberspace), but I want to take the liberty of sharing excerpts from an email message she sent to Susan and me today. Her day included visits with Haiffa from Iraq, Khadiga from Sudan, Htee from Burma, and Angelique from Democratic Republic of the Congo. I was at a conference, so no crafts fun for me! Glad to see that Anna did enough work for both of us. --SM

Busy, busy, busy. Susan, I feel like you must everyday. Nearly every minute of my day from 8-4:30 was jam packed...I dropped off my sewing machine with Haiffaa today. I brought so much stuff with me this morning I looked like a pack horse. I am going to go over to Haiffaa's tomorrow and we are going to do a small lesson on how to sew small gift bags for the jewelry.

Khadiga also showed me her sewing machine that she brought with her from Sudan. It is a Singer... a very good vintage Singer. She just recently got it fixed. Tomorrow I will be bringing her some material and patterns that were donated to me by my mom. I have been waiting and waiting for this point... Khadiga said she makes skirts and dresses, so I am excited to see what she comes up with.

And the new development of the day.... I gave Angelique a beginner's jewery kit today. I went over to her house around 2pm and we had a very short one-on-one lesson on how to make braclets, necklaces and earrings. I have attached the photos from today. It was easy to see that she has had very little experience with using tools. It was very hard for her, but she was very happy to make something beautiful. Her daughters were very intrigued too. So intrigued in fact, the younger one kept trying to sit in my lap and be a part of the action.

Ohhh... I forgot about Htee... How could I? I brought her a bunch of yarn, and she had a whole new bag full of woven scarves and a bag. I didn't have time to look through the whole bag, but I am sure there is a lot more great stuff in there. I will be visiting her tomorrow after I see Haiffaa.

Just in case you were wondering, I made sure to let Khadiga know that Angelique was just starting out with the jewelry making, and Khadiga automatically said "She come to Khadiga's house. We do same." Which, in my book, translates to "she can come over and I can help her." I made sure Angelique knew that too. They only have English to communicate with each other, so that will be interesting for them. They both seemed happy to get together, though.

Building community ladies... It is hard work.