Woman to Woman
A front porch; women smiling and talking with each other, their hands busy, admiring one
another’s work—a familiar scene, but in this case, with an unexpected twist. The women were
HealthEd Connect’s Kawfas (volunteer health care workers from Kenya [actually Zmbia], and
the beads they were making and stringing into necklaces served a larger purpose—educating,
feeding, and clothing the 1400 AIDS orphaned [and vulnerable] children of their villages.
My research had revealed that each cultural representation of the grandmothers should include
bead necklaces. I turned to this small but mighty not-for-profit as my source. My intent was to
buy the necklaces as a way of further supporting a charity I believe in. Instead, they insisted on
sending them to me free of charge as a collaborative and supportive act.
And so, a global effort was born which put beads on each grandmother’s neck. It made no
difference to the people they were meant to comfort that the beads weren’t from the correct
country; what mattered was the familiarity they represented. The beads could be thought of
through their traditional uses–for adornment, worry, prayer, games, with dance and celebration,
or as currency; but, because of their story of origin, I see them as symbols of a heartfelt
connection and synergy.
No one could have predicted that the creations from the front porch of a community center half a
world away would one day be used to comfort another woman’s child, yet across continents,
woman to woman, that’s exactly what happened.
P.S. These grandmother healing dolls have now been delivered to centers on our
southern border so children separated from their parents can receive a hug from a
grandma.
Posted in Grandmother Healing Dolls blog by Kelly Guinan. To read more of Kelly's blogs go to: https://grandmotherhealingdolls.com/2019/01/15/woman-to-woman/
