For the last year I have been involved in a locally based group that has established a school in Zambia - a school called Our Rainbow House which is based in Chainda, in a community that is the poorest in the area, assisting children who are the poorest of the poor.
Initially I was helping with some office administration but after my husband retired we were asked if we would take over the wages administration for both the Australian and the Zambian staff. This year a hand craft group started up called Handmade With Love which makes things to sell to raise money for Our Rainbow House. This was much more my style of things and so I have left the financials to Fixit Guy and have instead devoted my time and energy to sewing. What a problem :)
We meet weekly in the home of our convenor, Peggy whose main claim to fame, with me anyway is that 15 years ago she taught me to do patchwork. She used to own a haberdashery and men's wear shop here in town and ran patchwork lessons once a month in the shop.
We are quite a mixed bag of ladies - quite a range of ages, ethnic backgrounds and previous sewing ability. Several of the ladies had never used a sewing machine before joining our group. Peggy is patiently and painstakingly teaching them to sew.
As well as sewing bags, placemats, zipper pouches, clutch purses and the like we also have done some macrame. This was very popular at our first stall last week and so some more will need to be made before our next stall is held.
We had our first stall at the Pink Pearls and Panache Afternoon tea held on March 28th
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| Two of my fellow crafters on the stall at the afternoon tea |
A selection of some of the items I contributed
Okay...that little bicycle bag is so freaking cute. I love that fabric. What a fantastic way to participate in a good cause! Elle @ Erratic Project Junkie
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