kenya

I have over 100 hooks packed and ready for Matangwe. Many thanks to the Ontario Rug Hookers who passed on their hooks for the cause. Donations came from Toronto, Campbellford, Cobourg, Bloomfield, Kingston, Lansdowne and spots in between. And I’d like to say particular thanks to Karen Kaiser who donated several yards of good quality burlap from her shop and to Mary Anne Keast who donated her supply of nylons for me to dye and to the countless others who dragged burlap and t-shirts to meetings so that I would be well supplied. I hope we are going to hook some brilliant plants and birds.

I’ve also been lucky to work with Mrs. Melanie Lee and her grade 6 class at Park Dale School in Belleville. These wonderful students have made a video about their school as well as written personal letters and woven bracelets for each of the students in the grade 8 class at Matangwe. Park Dale has donated pencils, erasers and sharpeners so that each of the 500 students in Matangwe Primary School will get new supplies. And if all goes well, the students will meet in person because we will be Face-timing from Belleville to Matangwe next week! That will be amazing. Park Dale has been partnered with Matangwe for the past two years, but this is the first time we will get to talk to each other.

And finally I would like to say a big thank you to my family and friends who together are supporting four students in the Matangwe area through high school and one lovely young woman through university. You are making more of a difference than you know.

It is just a week until I leave for Kenya and the sunbird trivet is close to done. This will be an example of the kind of hooking we can achieve. I wanted to know how many pairs of nylons were needed for the background because I hope to make up kits for starting out. We can feature some of the amazing birds and plants of the area. This is just a small trivet, 10″ x 8.5″, and I have used two pairs of hose for the background, every part, top, waistband and legs. There are several advantages of hooking with nylons: the vibrant colours, the light weight for packing and travel and the washability of the final product.

All night long there was freezing rain and ice covered everything this morning, again. It seemed a perfect time to head to the dye pots. Colour and steam can do wonders to improve one’s outlook. As I mixed the colours and watched the magic happen (nylons are so unpredictable in the way they absorb colour–all the colours in the second pot came from 1/8 tsp Aljo Royal Blue) visions of the Kenyan landscape filled my mind. I was aiming for the colours of the birds and plants as well as the grasslands and sky. By the time I was finished I had dyed 60+ pairs in the brightest hues. 

Below are some of the t-shirts which have been donated. I’m not sure if we will be able to combine the cotton and nylon or not. But either way, we will have the beginning materials for the next stage in the Kenyan rug hooking story. Of course, I can never bring enough, so I want to find a source of used material which can form the backbone of the hooking once I leave. I’ll keep you posted.

 I sit in the bay window at the back of the house, morning light over my shoulder, enjoying the antics of the juncos and blue jays at the feeders — and — hooking a Kenyan sunbird.  My mind jumps to Louis MacNiece and the poem I first encountered in high school. The world soundlessly collateral and incompatible…crazier and more of it than we think, incorrigibly plural. At 18 I had only the slightest notion of the pluralities, the incompatibilities and incorrigibilities to come. I contrast the world of my small Ontario city with its birds pecking in the snow and the world of Matangwe Kenya with its glories and its desperate needs. I will be there again very soon, planning to hook again with the local men and women, to create some beauty and hopefully move a little closer to a sustainable enterprise.

I am hoping that this year we will hook some of the beautiful flowers and birds around Matangwe. I decided to begin with  a sunbird using some dyed nylon hose I had. I was trying to capture the magical incandescent colours. Last year we worked with t-shirts, and of course, my goal is that all the materials we use will eventually be sourced locally.  And yes, I will pack t shirts and hose into my duffle bags this year. But we will also scour the local markets to see just what is available to hook with and see what beauties  we can create with local goods. I am inspired by the hooking being done in Guatemala. Below is one these rugs which was on display at the Textile Museum in Toronto last spring and here is a link to Jen Manuell’s work there.