Crafting a Better World One Woman at a Time

Last night we hosted a "dinner and a movie" night at the home of Audrey Steele.

 We shared an African meal and showed the documentary "A Walk to Beautiful". Here's a picture of all the women who attended--Eirene Ng'anga Hackett's husband Keith, the only guy at our "hen session", took the photo. Thanks in large part to Eirene and Keith, we had enough African food to feed a small village! Everything was so delicious, and it gave us all a little taste of Africa.

 

After dinner we all watched the film, which highlights the good work of the Fistula Hospital of Addis Ababa, which offers free fistula repair surgery to Ethiopia's poorest women who are suffering from obstetric fistulas. Then we "passed the hat" to raise funds for one fistula operation for one Ethiopian woman--$450, to be exact. Now I was getting ready to pull out my checkbook at the end of it all and pay off whatever remained to be donated so that we would have the $450 needed for an operation, but can you believe that these generous women--and let's not forget Keith!--donated $588!? 

Many of us spent a good two hours after the film ended, talking about our favorite projects and the ways we hope to put good into the world. Audrey and Carmen travel overseas on medical missions with "Faith in Action". Holly and Debra M. raise food and funds through their crafting efforts. Cathy N. has supported five female victims of war struggling to rebuild their lives through "Women for Women International", and Eirene and Keith talk about the possibility of opening an orphanage in Eirene's home county, Kenya. I left the gathering, truly inspired that, in continuing to come together as women supporting women,  we are nurturing an ever widening circle of care, concern and giving.

If you want to see a great film that will deeply inspire you, order "A Walk to Beautiful", which was presented by Nova and can be found for purchase at PBS's web site. If you want to support a great cause and give a desperately poor woman a real opportunity for a new life, consider donating to the Fistula Foundation at their website: www.fistulafoundation.org .

When Great Connections Benefit Great Causes

I'm still riding high on the after effects of a fantastic doll making marathon, but apparently I'm not the only one. Audrey Steele  has decided to host a doll making event of her own, at her home here in St. Petersburg on Saturday, September 20th. (Check out the nice photo of Audrey below in my last blog posting; she's the woman in white snuggling her dollie-in-progress.) Audrey and friends will create thirty dolls to accompany Anna Reschar to Chulucanas, Peru this fall, where Anna will serve as a nurse on a Global Health Ministry medical mission trip. 

As if Audrey wasn't doing enough making dolls, she has also opened her home to host a "dinner and a movie" fundraising evening to benefit the Fistula Foundation of Addis Ababa on Friday, August 29th. Together Audrey, myself and Eirene Ng'anga-Hackett will be preparing a feast of African food and showing the documentary "A Walk to Beautiful" which highlights the work of the Fistula Foundation. We are hoping to raise $450--the cost of a fistula repair operation for one Ethiopian woman.

Rumor also has it that some of the women from St. Joseph Hospital are thinking of forming crafting groups of their own, to make dolls to send to the Dominican Republic, among other places. I'm keeping an ear to the grapevine, and will let you know if these wonderful women make good on their crafty threats! 

When women come together and connect over good projects, great things just continue to happen. It's as though we just can't get enough of doing good, for ourselves as well as for others. I will keep you posted about the doll making gathering in September, as well as next Friday's movie night to benefit the Fistula Foundation.

Project Update: Dollies without Borders

            Audrey Steele (left) and Kara Avery with a doll "in progress".

 

Those of you receiving the "Global Women's Artisan Alliance" newsletter will remember Madeline Austin of "Dollies without Borders". Madeline came to St. Petersburg, Florida in October of 2007 to facilitate a "doll making marathon" at St. Anthony's Hospital, helping staff and patients make two dozen dolls and stuffed animals to send to Africa.

We all just loved Madeline so much, that we had to have her come back for more doll making. So we held a "doll making marathon retreat"--twenty four hours of doll making AND self-care activities--at the beautiful Franciscan Retreat Center in Tampa, Florida. Thirty women showed up to work with Madeline and her wonderful friend Ann Antonelli, to make dolls to go to poor children in the village of Benito Juarez, Mexico. 

It was a fabulous time, and the dolls everyone made were just exceptional--they will be cherished and loved by many little girls! Forty dolls have been sent to Mexico. An additional eighty dolls that had been made by other women at other gatherings--including the dolls in the photo above made by "dollies mamas" in Newfoundland, Canada--were "blessed and sent" by the women at the retreat to accompany Carol Mitchell to Cape Town, South Africa in September. There, Carol will be giving the dolls to the folks at ArtAidsArt, a not-for-profit that assists women artisans and their families who are HIV+. ArtAidsArt provides the artisans' children with Black dolls and ethnically sensitive children's books, among their many other good projects.

The retreat was funded by a grant from the Allegany Franciscan Ministries, Inc., so not only did no one have to pay for participating in the retreat, but all the doll making supplies were provided! The women sewed like maniacs, but also enjoyed morning tai chi and yoga, optional massages given by the incomparable Svetlana, fantastic food, including the best beef tacos north of the border, thanks to Chef Roxanne, and lots of "girl time" talking, laughing, crafting and relaxing. It was so much fun, we're talking about when we want to do it again!

Special thanks to Madeline Austin and Ann Antonelli, to Carol Mitchell and Maureen Connors of the Franciscan Retreat Center, who coordinated the finer details of the gathering, and to each and every woman who took precious time from her busy life to come and create a doll for a poor child. Stay tuned for a report about Carol Mitchell's "doll drop" in Cape Town in coming months. Take a minute to check out Madeline's web site at www.dollieswithoutborders.com. 

Welcome to the Global Women's Artisan Alliance!

Greetings, Friends,

Welcome to my blog, and welcome to the Global Women's Artisan Alliance! 

The Global Women's Artisan Alliance is an informal organization that I created to address the need for craftswomen and friends of craftswomen to network with one another to craft a better world for all women, especially marginalized craftswomen who are economically disadvantaged. The mission statement of the Global Women's Artisan Alliance is that together we strive to empower women to create art and create communities rooted in justice, and to extend practical support and friendship to women and women's artisan and craft groups locally and globally. 

The Global Women's Artisan Alliance has been born out of my love of arts and crafts as a practicing artist and casual collector of folk art, as well as the many years I spent traveling overseas for my job, where I encountered women's crafts initiatives and cooperatives while buying souvenir crafts and folk art. Initially I was simply  impressed by the beauty of the women's craftwork, but as I got to know these women better, in countries such as Mexico, Guatemala and Bolivia, I became more and more impressed with them on a number of levels. 

First of all, a great many of these women were "impoverished", living in shacks without electricity or clean running water, and planning their lives from meal to meal, or from one day to the next. Yet while they were materially impoverished, these women were often spiritually, culturally and artistically rich. They come from long and deep cultural and spiritual traditions that are sources of individual and communal pride, informing every aspect of their lives. They understand the joys of journeying through life's difficulties in faith, and the importance of belonging to and working together as a supportive community. They claim making beautiful objects as their birthright, believing in and striving for beauty in their lives and in their environments. They have led me to question who is truly impoverished--wealthier women in the first world who have many "things" but few significant connections or relationships as well as scant creative skills or traditions, or the women of the so called "third world" who, while economically impoverished, are so rich in other ways.

Likewise, I have experienced firsthand the simple joy of making art and creating something of beauty. Making art and crafting can be a deeply satisfying, empowering and spiritual experience for so many women,  not only providing joy, beauty and relaxation in our otherwise hectic lives, but also, over time, creating in us new ways of looking at life. Creativity in one aspect of life--be it knitting, doll making, painting or throwing ceramic pots on a wheel--spills over into other aspects of life as well until, soon, the artist or craftswomen is visualizing--with greater ease and increasingly satisfying results--all kinds of new and creative ways in which to address life's dilemmas and challenges. When we do this together, in creative and supportive networks and communities... well, I really believe that the sky's the limit in terms of what we can create and accomplish. 

Finally, since 9-11, many of us in America have a heightened sense of how small and increasingly interconnected a world we live in; a world that is often plagued by gross injustice, economic disparity, misunderstanding, distrust and conflict. Many American women are aware of these issues and injustices but don't know what steps they can take to address them, or how, as individuals, they might be able to make a difference. These women want to connect meaningfully and purposefully with other women globally, learning to listen to and become community with women from other cultures and countries. We want to make positive contributions to the future of this planet. We are looking for new ways to be global citizens, and want to connect with and partner with other craftswomen around the world to craft a better life for all of us.

This blog will be posting the stories of women and women's craft groups that are trying to make a difference. It is also meant to be an informal community or network for women who love crafts and crafting,  who value community, and who want to make a difference with their lives, to inspire and be inspired by one another. As my friend, I invite you to join me in this journey.