he Story of The Rwandan Orphan Quilting Project began in the most unlikely of
places. As Rwanda
and its Capital City, Kigali, was reorganizing in the aftermath
of the 1994 Genocide, Sylvestre Nzitukuze had a vision. He felt that he was being
called to help rebuild the lives of the street children of Kigali. Sylvestre left
the Rwandan Army and began bringing home young boys who had been living in the
streets and picking through garbage to survive. These boys were suffering from
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, homeless, orphaned and angry. Many had turned to
drugs to dull their pain.
As one could imagine, as the number of boys grew, the walls of their humble home became strained. The situation became a bit much for Sylvestre’s wife and there was an ultimatum. Sylvestre was able to find an abandoned warehouse, and with the permission of the landowner moved the boys to their new home.
Soon there were 150 former street boys living in the warehouse and 250 other children attending “Catch-Up” School, all receiving at least one daily meal of corn, cassava and beans.
Shortly before completing her tenure at the American Embassy to Rwanda in 2006, Dr Sandra Bagley, the Embassy’s Nurse Practitioner went walking through the streets of Kigali looking for an orphanage she had heard of. Sandra never found that Orphanage. But in her search she stumbled across an old abandoned warehouse. Perhaps it was the sound of the Children’s laughter or perhaps it was the sound of the children singing that drew her through the narrow entryway. Four hundred children turned her way and smiled, Sandra’s heart melted and she knew then and there that she had found what she was looking for. Like Sylvestre, Sandra also had a vision. Sandra closed her eyes and saw quilts.
By the time Sedona, Arizona residents Dottie Webster and Suzanne Connolly arrived in Kigali Sandra was already back in Utah. But her vision apparently lingered in the abandoned warehouse with no windows and a leaky roof, which was now El Shaddai.
While doing trauma-relief work at El Shaddai and teaching trauma-relief methods to community leaders and El Shaddai teachers, Suzanne and Dottie also had a vision. They wondered what would happen to the older children who would soon be leaving El Shaddai with no way to support themselves. They knew that the choices for the children were few and none were acceptable. Knowing nothing about Sandra Bagley or her vision, Suzanne and Dottie also closed their eyes and saw quilts. When they opened their eyes there were still quilts. Beautiful quilts. African quilts. Quilts made of the beautiful brightly colored wax-relief batiks available at the marketplace in Kigali. Quilts were the answer. The older children could create quilts, and at the same time learn a skill by which they could support themselves. And Dottie and Suzanne could sell the quilts in the U.S. There was no escaping. It had to be done!
While doing trauma-relief work at El Shaddai and teaching trauma-relief methods to community leaders and El Shaddai teachers, Suzanne and Dottie also had a vision. They wondered what would happen to the older children who would soon be leaving El Shaddai with no way to support themselves. They knew that the choices for the children were few and none were acceptable. Knowing nothing about Sandra Bagley or her vision, Suzanne and Dottie also closed their eyes and saw quilts. When they opened their eyes there were still quilts. Beautiful quilts. African quilts. Quilts made of the beautiful brightly colored wax-relief batiks available at the marketplace in Kigali. Quilts were the answer. The older children could create quilts, and at the same time learn a skill by which they could support themselves. And Dottie and Suzanne could sell the quilts in the U.S. There was no escaping. It had to be done!
So off they went, negotiating the stalls of the marketplace, making the difficult choices,
picking out their favorite prints, stuffing them into their suitcases and carrying them back
to Arizona.
Alas, Dottie and Suzanne are not quilters, but to the rescue came a group of local women who call themselves The Red Rock Quilters. On Dottie and Suzanne’s second trauma- relief mission to Rwanda in 2007, the fabric they had brought home in 2006 accompanied them back again to Kigali, this time in the form of the beautiful sample quilted wall hangings created by the Red Rock Quilters. Also in their suitcases were quilting supplies such as cutting boards and scissors and a check for a treadle sewing machine all donated by the quilting group.
By then Sandra Bagley’s dream and Suzanne and Dottie’s dream had caught up with each other. Ideas had been exchanged for nearly a year. Meeting up with Suzanne and Dottie in Nairobi, the last stop before landing in Kigali, was quilting teacher Daisy Gale, a friend of Sandra Bagley, from Utah. While Dottie and Suzanne joined other Americans on the trauma-relief mission to Rwanda, Daisy gave the first group of quilters at El Shaddai, their very first lessons in quilting.
The Children created one wall hanging under Daisy’s tutelage, using the scraps of fabric left over from the Red Rock Quilter’s creations. Tucked into a suitcase, this bit of fabric in the form of the first quilt made by the children of El Shaddai, crossed the Atlantic for the third and final time. It was purchased soon after for $400.00. The Children were in business.
Suzanne and Dottie pooled their resources and paid a Rwandan quilting teacher and a quilting project business manager, a small amount to keep the momentum going. They are hoping that the project will soon be self-sustaining. Please see the quilts at the Marketplace.
Your quilt purchase is a donation and is tax deductible. One hundred percent of your donation will be given to El Shaddai. Nearly one half will go to the quilters who created your quilt and nearly one half will go to the orphanage. A small amount from each quilt sale will pay for the quilting instructor and quilting supplies.
Thank you for helping the children of El Shaddai help themselves.
Find out more about the Orphanage Building Project
See quilts made by the children, go shopping or, Make a donation.
Alas, Dottie and Suzanne are not quilters, but to the rescue came a group of local women who call themselves The Red Rock Quilters. On Dottie and Suzanne’s second trauma- relief mission to Rwanda in 2007, the fabric they had brought home in 2006 accompanied them back again to Kigali, this time in the form of the beautiful sample quilted wall hangings created by the Red Rock Quilters. Also in their suitcases were quilting supplies such as cutting boards and scissors and a check for a treadle sewing machine all donated by the quilting group.
By then Sandra Bagley’s dream and Suzanne and Dottie’s dream had caught up with each other. Ideas had been exchanged for nearly a year. Meeting up with Suzanne and Dottie in Nairobi, the last stop before landing in Kigali, was quilting teacher Daisy Gale, a friend of Sandra Bagley, from Utah. While Dottie and Suzanne joined other Americans on the trauma-relief mission to Rwanda, Daisy gave the first group of quilters at El Shaddai, their very first lessons in quilting.
The Children created one wall hanging under Daisy’s tutelage, using the scraps of fabric left over from the Red Rock Quilter’s creations. Tucked into a suitcase, this bit of fabric in the form of the first quilt made by the children of El Shaddai, crossed the Atlantic for the third and final time. It was purchased soon after for $400.00. The Children were in business.
Suzanne and Dottie pooled their resources and paid a Rwandan quilting teacher and a quilting project business manager, a small amount to keep the momentum going. They are hoping that the project will soon be self-sustaining. Please see the quilts at the Marketplace.
Your quilt purchase is a donation and is tax deductible. One hundred percent of your donation will be given to El Shaddai. Nearly one half will go to the quilters who created your quilt and nearly one half will go to the orphanage. A small amount from each quilt sale will pay for the quilting instructor and quilting supplies.
Thank you for helping the children of El Shaddai help themselves.
Find out more about the Orphanage Building Project
See quilts made by the children, go shopping or, Make a donation.