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Paper-making in Peru and other news...

4/7/2017

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After a very fruitful time in Ecuador, Susie has been in Arequipa for a week, seeing how the project there is getting on and giving support to the team. Yesterday was a historic day, as she and the 'Nuevas Fuerzas' group made the very first maize-leaf paper in Arequipa! A pile of maize is pictured below, with some traditional Peruvian fabric in the background!  "It was massive fun all round" says Susie, "and super productive too. I also met up with 3 of the differently-able outworkers: A pleasure and a privilege to work with these fabulous people." One of the trainees proudly holds up the first piece of finished paper below.
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Meanwhile, in the UK, we have been preparing for Easter, making Easter treats and flower decorations in our community craft sessions. (If you're interested in chocolate...the mini egg buckets below will be sold at St Mark's Church, Harrogate, on Palm Sunday!) Our community craft workshops continue to be a source of fun and creativity in the lives of the differently-able participants. Speaking to one of our regular participants the other week, he said how much he enjoys making things and seeing everybody each week.

​Our hospital craft sessions also continue to be an important opportunity for hospital inpatients to be creative, socialise and practice their motor skills. The participants had great fun marbling paper last week, producing some beautiful results!
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​It has also been encouraging to see several community groups running fundraising events for Craft Aid recently. Last week, Harrogate & District Soroptimists International held a coffee morning in aid of our work, raising £115, plus also selling some of our craft products.

​St Margaret's Church, where we hold some of our weekly craft sessions, have also continued to faithfully support us. This Easter season they are hosting a unique passion play at the church (8th April); entry is free and they're very kindly doing a collection in aid of our work. Please do head to Horsforth for this great evening! You can check out the advert here: ​
https://vimeo.com/206262655. 
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"Crosslight is a communal experience of theatre and worship which draws its audience into the Easter narrative. It tells the events of Christ’s Passion though the eyes of one disciple who failed, despite everything he believed so passionately:
'Caught in the crosslight of the flickering candles at the last supper, the torches of Gethsemane, the firelight in the courtyard, by the searching gaze of his Lord, Simon ‘the rock’ is shattered. The disciple chosen to lead, is in pieces.
As he hangs from the cross, Jesus is surrounded by a jeering crowd, laughing at his claim to be the Son of God. A small group of family and friends stands by until the agony ends. But the great friend who, more than any other, has stood by Jesus throughout the story is conspicuous by his absence.'
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‘A fascinating psychological drama… The show asks questions of its audience about what we learn through failure, the importance of forgiveness and the power of redemption… Tremendous.’ (York Press, 2016)"
Zawadi, St Aidan's School charity run by students, continues to fundraise for Craft Aid, and this April, they're holding a Ceildh for us. Please do join in the fun and come along! There will be live music and plenty of cake and Ceilidh dancing! This is being held at Mowbray Community Church Hall from 7.00-9.30pm on the 29th April. (See the poster for ticket prices.)

It's fantastic to see how our local community has really got behind Craft Aid's vision and is wanting to raise much-needed funds for our work in Peru, Ecuador and the UK. If you'd be interested in holding a fundraising event, please do get in touch and we can supply you with flyers, and any of our products if you wish to hold a stall. ​Thank you so much to everyone who is supporting us whether through fundraising, praying, donating or volunteering, from nearby or afar! We couldn't do any of our work without you! 

And finally, just to say, you can now buy tickets to our Summer Ball! 1st July at Constance Green Hall, St Aidans School, Harrogate. 7.00-11.30pm. Book early to avoid disappointment! 
​https://craftaidinternational.charitycheckout.co.uk/page1
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Written by
Ella Green

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Back in South America

6/4/2016

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It’s wonderful to be back in the Southern Hemisphere! To make me feel even more at home here in Arequipa, this time I’m staying with the wonderful family of Pastor Abel and his wife Betsaida. I’m here to see how our volunteer Ellie Thompson is getting on, and to escort her safely across the border to Bolivia and back so that she can renew her visa. When I left her here 3 months ago she barely had any Spanish, so it makes me *so* happy to see her chattering away with her host family like a native. She’s clearly perfectly at home and is being a huge blessing to the new craft project that Craft Aid is planting here.

​On my first full day here I was able to meet with all the young people from the larger Nuevas Fuerzas group that we’re working with. The world would describe this group as having ‘learning disabilities’, yet what they’ve learned in a short period is remarkable. They’re producing beautiful cards from Peruvian fabrics, and beads from recycled cereal boxes (hard to believe I know, but have a look at the finished result in the picture on the bottom left!) They were thrilled to bits to hear that all the cards they’ve sent to the UK so far have completely sold out, and they proudly told me that they’re selling well in Peru too. Christian, one of the group, stood up to make a welcome speech and said how pleased they were to be earning money from their work, which enabled them to buy the things they needed and help their families. It’s still very early days with this project, so it’s wonderful that those involved are already seeing the benefits. I told them that when they produce work that sells, two good things happen:
1) They get paid!
2) The world gets to see how talented and brilliant they are, and that’s just as important. It’s an opportunity for them to shine their light out all over the world, so people are able to see that God’s blessed them with talents and abilities just like everyone else.

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The following day I set off early to purchase beads and materials for some new prototypes Ellie and I are working on, before boarding a bus to Puno, near the border with Bolivia. We arrived late at night after a 7 hour journey across arid mountains populated with alpaca’s and cactuses, and very little else. Our hostel in Puno was like an icebox, so we were pleased to be on our way again at dawn the next morning, finally crossing the border into Bolivia just before lunchtime. We’re staying in the village of Copacabana (see top photo), on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the highest inland lake in the world. At 14,000 feet or so, it’s absolutely freezing here, but the constant sunshine makes all the colours intensely beautiful, not least the lake, which glitters sapphire blue and is ringed with moss-green mountains.
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Traditional Peruvian Fabric
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Road to Puno - note alpaca road sign!
Before leaving Arequipa I was relieved and excited to see that the building we want to help the church buy is still for sale. The vision is to purchase this beautiful old building, renovate it and create a centre which will include craft workshops, a shop and café, all entirely staffed by people with disabilities. We have just £30,000 left to raise in order to purchase it, which is so much less than justa few months ago, but we need to raise this quickly if we’re to avoid losing the building to another buyer, and there’s nothing else remotely suitable within our price range anywhere nearby. Those of you who do, please pray we can raise this money soon. The Neema Crafts centre in Tanzania was almost entirely funded by hundreds of individuals giving relatively small amounts, so if you’d like to help then whatever you can give *will* make a difference, and will get up closer to making the vision a reality.

We have to stay out of Peru for a few days in order for Ellie to get a new visitors permit when we return, for the remainder of her 9 month stay, so we’re using the time productively to reflect on what we’re done so far, plan what we’re doing next and work on new designs. I bought way more beads with me on this trip than clothes – something I’m slightly regretting now I’ve discovered how cold it is here! We set off back to the relative warmth of Arequipa on Monday, arriving sometime the next day after more hours on busses than I care to calculate. Suffice to say, its’ a long way, so please pray we get back safely. Can’t wait to get back and meet up with the rest of the differently-able people we’re working with here, it’s so encouraging to see the beautiful work they’re all creating.

Look out for pictures next week!

Written by
Susie Hart

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They will run and not grow weary...

3/16/2016

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Yesterday, we worked with (and partied with!) the larger group of people with learning disabilities from Nuevas Fuerzas and taught them how to make paper beads. They all seemed to enjoy learning a new skill and getting rather gluey! And they had produced some fantastic snazzy beads by the end of the morning. After lunch, they had a party (Peru is an amazing place to go if you like a good party. They have a wonderful way of celebrating all kinds of occasions!) and we got to join in with all the singing and dancing. There was no escape, even for us awkward British folk! But once we got over our initial reluctance, we had a lot of fun and we even attempted to follow some of their Peruvian dance steps. I was really struck by the beautiful energy of this group. Their name is Nuevas Feurzas, which means New Strength. It is a reference to a verse in the Bible that talks about God renewing our strength. It couldn't be more relevant! Like the verse in the Bible, these young people seem able to "run and not grow weary". They continued to dance, even after the party seemed to be coming to an end. Meeting this amazing group of people was a massive encouragement to me. Only a couple of days ago, one of the women at the church was telling me that people with disabilities are often hidden away at home in Peru, so it was fantastic to see that this can change. The participants came with their mothers, who enjoyed having some time to relax during the craft session and also having the chance to join in the party fun. There was a real atmosphere of joy and everyone clearly felt at home. It is hard to fully describe (even for an English graduate who likes words...), so here are a few photos, which hopefully reflect something of the joyousness of the group!
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Loving and sharing across borders

3/11/2016

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Ella writes: Over the last couple of days, we've been catching up with Nuevas Fuerzas, the group of differently-able people at the church, whom we are working with. On Thursday, we spoke to the wonderful women who oversee the group and discussed some of the things that had been going well, as well as some of the challenges. We also taught them how to make paper beads, the perfect product as Susie explained: easy to make, free resources, recycled materials, and beautiful to wear as necklaces or bracelets. The women will then be able to teach this new skill to the larger group of people with learning disabilities at the church. Then yesterday, Ellie taught some of the smaller group of people with physical disabilities how to make some of the stunning new bracelets, which she has been designing. They learnt really quickly and produced some very beautiful results!

However, I have been learning that establishing a craft-based social enterprise is so much more than just teaching people to make stuff! Perhaps that is obvious, but it constantly amazes me how much goes on behind the scenes that most people will never know about. There are so many things to consider, especially when working in two different cultures: what your market is, or indeed markets, as the English and Peruvian market may be quite different, what sort of facilities are needed for the project to grow and succeed, what kinds of skills they can learn, how much each differently-able artisan can earn, what sorts of materials to buy and whether they are cost-effective, and that is only a tiny proportion of some of the things we've been discussing with the women who run Nuevas Fuerzas.

There is also the added complication of having to work in a different language and culture. Having said that, I think there is something very beautiful when people from different cultures work together successfully. We can learn so much from each other. As a team from England, we are so aware of the dangerous possibility that we could impose our western ideas upon the people we are working with in Peru. However, since being here I have been struck by the fact that working with the church changes things a bit, because our core motivation is to love and to serve, not to regard ourselves better than each other but to hold everything in common and to share our skills and resources freely with those in need, of all faiths and none. I think this is important, because this changes the dynamic completely. As a body of people, we need each other's gifts and skills. Ellie can share her skills in Peru, in the same way that Flor, one of our Peruvian volunteers, can come over to England to share her gifts. The baptist church we are working with here, also runs a centre to help men suffering from drug addiction. This has been supported by churches in Brazil. It is so encouraging to see how churches from all over the world can come together to show God's love to vulnerable people in our communities.
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From Lima to Arequipa

3/10/2016

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Yesterday we arrived in Arequipa, La Ciudad Blanco (the White City), so-called because of its beautiful buildings made of Sillar, white volcanic rock. We were given a really warm welcome at the airport, as Neuvas Fuerzas came to greet us with hugs, smiles, and red roses for each of us. Neuvas Fuerzas are the group of people with disabilities from the church that we are working with. We were all so happy to have arrived here; as we walked round the little supermarket afterwards to get a few things for today's breakfast, we couldn't stop smiling to ourselves. We also got a little over-excited about the amazing choice of fresh fruit.

It was really great to finally meet the differently-abled artisans that I have heard all about. Today we are going to the church to see how the group are getting on. Will blog about that later, but for now, here's a picture of the amazing view from our accommodation here.
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    Authors:

    Susie Hart MBE
    Director of Craft Aid International
    Textile designer, Crafts instructor, Social entrepreneur, CMS Mission - Associate

    Liz Cluderay
    UK Programmes Officer and Volunteer Coordinator

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