THE CLOTH AND THE MUD, NUMBER 31

NEWS FROM FABULOUS AFRICAN FABRICS, A 501 (C) (3) ORGANIZATION

SUPPORTING AIDS WIDOWS AND CHILDREN IN AFRICA

OUR MISSION: to support agencies working with AIDS widows and orphans in Africa and to educater others about the AIDS crisis in Africa

1158 Kensington Street NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49534

616-735-4109, Michigan and 727-733-9694, Florida

Editor, Laura Salazar, FAF Executive Director

NEWS FROM AFRICA

Life in the Good Samaritan Home continues with love, hope and care. Merci Thuo writes in an e-mail dated October 1 that the several in the orphanage family are recovering from disease and accidents. She writes:

Greetings from our children's home. We are doing well trusting that this email finds you in good health. Only that we have had simple frustrations, because last month we had one child who was knocked down by a vehicle but she is recovering. She incurred a serious cut in her thigh and knee but no fracture only dislocation on her knee.

Another small boy 2 years and a half has been hospitalized for tuberculosis. He is also discharged out of the hospital and recovering too.

Our teacher Hellen lost both her father-in-law and her younger brother (17 years).

Some students have been sent out of school fees for the third semester & most of them are form four candidates. Nevertheless we are trying our best to put things together where possible.

Lots of Love

Mercy and Children

In August Merci wrote that she and the children are glad to see the quotes from pen pals on our website and assured us that the chaos and riots that hit their slum have subsided noting that they were all fine despite the tension.

Response Magazine, May 2007 notes that the Western press rarely relates Africa's problems to colonialism. Colonialism in Africa robbed the continent of natural resources. . . Post-colonial Africa often saw the creation of nation-states with rulers who served their own interests and tnterests of former colonial powers. . . . Today more money flows out of Africa to the global North in debt payments, corporate profits and undervalued exports than aid given by the North.

In Angry Wind Jeffrey Taylor writes about life in the cities, and countries between Northern Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Winding up in the Mali city of Bamako, he writes: The chants of the mendicants, the hyena-honks of taxis, the grunts of the wormen, and the oaths shouted by angry drivers all compose a cacophony of usban distress as grievous as it is vain. Vain because beyond the Sahel [region] the voices of these people cannot be heard; their stories will never be told. He predicts that the land is ripe for either savior or tyrant. (pp. 236-237)

SENT TO AFRICA THIS YEAR TO DATE: $4565.00

The Michigan AIDS Walk raised $180,000 this year.

FAF participated in the Grand Rapids walk on September 27 with a booth.

FAF FALL BOARD MEETING

October 27 at 1158 Kensington St. SW, Grand Rapids MI. All members welcome.

Agenda: Board openings, winter activities, new fund raiser, Salazar Fund for 2008.

THE CLOTH

"I want a blouse just like that." Audrey Cavanaugh called to Laura Salazar one September afternoon at the Amazwi Contemporary African art gallery in Saugatuck, MI. "I love it when they want the clothes off my back," says Laura. Immediately our Singer magician, Lucy Ramshaw was notified. She whipped into action and in a week Audrey had her blouse. It isn't exectly like Laura's, as all of that textile had been used. Rather it is of a gorgeous tan cotton with dark brown impressionistic animals given to FAF by Candace Hallett. It takes a village to make a fashion statement.

The standard has been set. Members Lucy and Ken Wisner gave Laura a picture of the perfect FAF holiday. In it we see all of Ken's sister's family dressed in their new FAF Christmas presents: Ken's sister, Dr. Marlene Neushul in a Ramshaw hat and oven mitt; Dr. Neushul's son Todd Karakashian in a Ramshaw dashiki; and Todd's Partner Paul Tukai in a dashiki donated to FAF. The race is on. Can you top this?

COMING EVENTS

OCTOBER 20--Artists' Attic Craft Fair, First United Methodist Church, Dunedin, FL

OCTOBER 27--Board Meeting

NOVEMBER--Sales move to Florida. Be looking for announcement on the website of a new venue for our sales.

DECEMBER--Holiday party honoring Roger, Rose and Joshua Ellis in Dunedin. Look for your invitation on line and in the mail

FAF ORGANIZATIONAL NEWS

It was laughs and party, party in August. On the 13 VP Pat Callan and Auditor Art Callan hosted a Fabulous party at their home in Newton, MA. Laura spoke about the work of FAF and was showered with gifts--the textile mentioned above, the photo from the Wisners, and a new probuct from Marion Kawalski--an apron for bathing the baby.

On August 27 at the Roadhouse in Grand Rapids, MI FAF and friends met to honor Dian and John Zahner, Spokane, WA members who raise money for FAF at their church's international festival each fall. In addition to the party, Dian gave Laura pointers on booth arrangement while John whizzed around setting it up at the Fulton Street Art Market on the previous Sunday.

Check our website often. www.fabulousafricanfabrics News items appear several times a month.

FAF will be moving to Florida for the winter--433 South Paula Drive #7, Dunedin, FL 34698

THANKS

FAF Board and members pitched in this summer and helped with special sales that required a tent. FAF's new Michigan tent is much easier to move, but Laura needed the help provided by Josh and Roger Ellis, Kiri Salazar, Hugo Salazar, and Christine Coggins. FAF couldn't do it without you.

A GOOD READ

Architectural Digest published and artical, "Kenya's Elephant Watch Camp" by Tim Beddow featuring a luxurious camp north of Nairobi lush with African textiles.

Jeffrey Tayler's Angry Wind: Through Muslim Black Africa by Truck, Bus, Boat, and Camel noted above is worth reading just for the excellent writing if nothing else. Tayler puts the reader smack dab into the wind, the sand, the poverty and ineffeciency of Sahel life. It provides a way to meet exotic peoples who may shape our own futures.

MEMBERSHIP--BECOME A MEMBER, INVITE A NEW MEMBER

REMEMBER THE MEMBERSHIP CONTEST. THE PERSON WHO BRINGS IN THE MOST NEW MEMBERS THIS YEAR GETS A HAND QUILTED SQUARE OF AFRICAN TEXTILES BY LAURA SALAZAR. THE DEADLINE IS MAY 15, 2008.

Send this form with $20.00 for in individual or $30.00 for a family membership to Fabulous African Fabrics, 1158 Kensington St. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49534.

NAME(S) _________________________________________________________________

ADDRESS _____________________________________________________________

PHONE NUMBER _________________________________________________________

E-MAIL_________________________________________________________________

As I tended the FAF tent Saturday at the Eastown Street Fair, I was yelled at by a drunk,  "You making a lot of money?"  I nodded--although it was hardly a lot of money.  "Why you doing that?  I need money.  Look I have no teeth."  His rant went on.   There was no time for me to respond.  "You should help me.  Can't get a woman without theeth.  Don't send money to them.  Send it to me.  The government doesn't help."  And off he went.

Well, I agreed with him to a point, but he turned tail and left me thinking,  "What am I doing?"  The truth be told, I give him money in taxes, in donations at church, and in the many local nonprofits I support.  I even know a group that provides health care to people who do not have insurance.  He can't see those private things I do, nor did he stick around long enough for me to point him to a free dental clinic.

Many of my freinds here in Grand RApids are devoted to local charities, and local charities only.  They share the feelings of the man,  "Help US!"  Is FAF being selfish helping women and children in Africa?  With our stuggling Michigan economy, do my friends see the needs in Michigan for employment, education and health care looming so high that there is no way to see world needs?

Ironically, help is coming to us from abroad.  Last week I met Kyung Za Yim, woman from Korea whose high school was supported by Americans.  She now works here as President of a national organization raising funds for schools and hospitals throughout the world.  I know of two young Germans working as volunteers at a community center in Grand Rapids.  Can FAF fit into this circle of caring and support?

What is your take on this situation?  I will print your responses. 

Laura Salazar, September 28, 2007

Binyavanga Wainaina writes that one of the circumstances that we live with is that all of the news about the continent of Africa is the reporting of "crisis."

This habit--of trying to turn the second-largest continent in the world, which has 53 countries and nearly a billion people of every variety and situation, into one giant crisis --is now one of the biggest problems in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and Ghana face.

We have learned to ignore the shrill screams coming from the peddlers of hopelessness. We motor on faith and enterprise, with small steps. On hope, and without hysteria.

As I mentioned in our last newsletter, The Vanity Fair July 2007 issue is a special on Africa--especially how people live and work there now in contrast to how they lived and worked during the last century. Binyavanga Wainaina's article "Generation Kenya" can give us a whole new way for FAF to interact with our friends and colleagues in Kenya. He talked about how banks were considered only for the privileged, saying that until recently a customer needed a letter of introducation to open an account. I found this when I was a Fulbright Scholar in Trinidad and Tobago in 1992. Wainaina wrote this about a new bank in Kenya.

Equity is Kenya's largest bank. It recently hit the million-customer mark. It controls one-third of the country's bank accounts. It targets as customers the vast majority of Kenyans who, until recently, did not have bank accounts at all. It has invested millions of dollars in building a sophisticated I.T. system. It is commonly thought to be the bank of the people. They call you Sir! They are nice to you! You can see the manager! You can get a small loan in one day!

There is much to be learned in "Generation Kenya."

Laura Salazar

FAF Executive Director