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Friends,
As you can imagine, getting the quilts to Africa was hair raising and a very long story but it was accomplished. Because Brigit, the young woman delivering the quilts had to leave immediately after the quilts were unpacked to catch her plane home we don’t yet have pictures of the quilts actually in the hands of their new owners. The pictures in this email were taken in the Sewing Center when the boxes were unpacked. The gentleman is the doctor who does the surgical repairs in the Heal Africa Hospital. The African women are some of the patients who are recovering from their surgical ordeals and who are now learning sewing skills in the center. Yes, those Singer machines in the last picture are treadles. All their machines are treadles!
Pictures will be taken as quilts are distributed, and then sent back to the States with the next volunteers in May. No internet connection is available of course.
The 100 children's quilts from EBHQ for Uganda are being sent this week. Photos will follow a little later.
Barbara Allen, the woman who is running this project tells me that there will be shipping costs of about $500 between these two shipments. I said that I would mention it to you all. If you would like to donate $10 or so to help cover these costs, it can be sent directly to Global Strategies, who paid all the fees, at the address below. Please note "quilt project" on the check. This would be a tax deductible contribution. After all your expenses, hard work and beautiful stitches please don’t feel that you must do so, only if you wish.
Mailing address:
Global Strategies for HIV Prevention
104 Dominican Drive
San Rafael, CA 94901
The next shipments of quilts for the women in the Congo are scheduled for May and August.
You may be interested in watching the following film premier: "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo" by Lisa Jackson which premieres on HBO, Tuesday, April 8, at 7 PM channel 550 or 10pm channel 551. I suspect that this film will be very disturbing. It has been described as “a brave and unflinching look at man's inhumanity to woman and child.” Jackson says the women’s stories are “soul-ripping.” The title of the film comes from the lead sentence of Women, War and Peace, a 2002 United Nations report that began, “Violence against women in conflict is one of history's great silences.” Lisa set out to visit and film several of the theaters of war described in the report, but when she made her initial stop in the Democratic Republic of Congo she realized, as she says, “the first was the worst.”
(More information:) http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040108H.shtml
As always, thank you for your loving thoughts, beautiful work and interest in this project of quilts for Africa/EBHQ.
Deanna
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