Utange Baptist Primary receive their lamps

The pupils and staff chosen to receive this first batch of solar lamps were given them at the final assembly of the term. I loved seeing the photos. Unfortunately two pupils chosena s recipients were absent, but they will be given the lamps on their return.

I sent labels to be stuck on all of the lamps:

 The teachers were presented with their lamps by Mr Nathaniel.  Their pleasure is clear.

 Then it was the turn of the pupils.

All of the recipients.

Lamp collections: St Peter the Rock

It was very exciting to receive photos from Pastor John Kahindi in utange of the teachers from various Utange schools collecting the lamps I had bought for their teachers and pupils. One of the schools I have donated to is St Peter the Rock School.  Here, able bodied students are educated alongside physically and mentally disabled youngsters.  Their school motto is "Disability is not Inability".  Two teachers from the school came to collect their schools's set of ten lamps:

 The smiles on their faces say it all.

Florence receives solar lamps

Florence set up Noah's Ark Academy in Utange, Kenya, in two rooms of her own house initially, turning one wall of the house into a blackboard and educating up to 50 2 to 8 year olds from the village.  Since then, fundraising has enabled three classrooms to be build, along with a toilet block and a kitchen area to produce two meals daily for the children attending.
My own fundraising (from the sale of my denim items) has enabled me to give Florence 10 solar lamps for the school this year, and e hope to repeat this annually.  5 are for staff at the school; as a teacher I was struck by a comment that sometimes not enough parents pay their children's school fees, and so Florence cannot pay the teachers.  I was also impacted by imagining myself trying to keep up with planning and marking without light in the evenings - I don't know how I would manage.,The remaining 5 lamps are for the pupils who have made the most progress this year.  I wanted them to go to children who were not necessarily the most academically able pupils.

Florence picked up the solar lamps last week, and these photos show her unpacking them.

I'm hoping for photos and information at a later date about the individual recipients. My prayer is that the lamps will provide hope to them.

Jeans donation

I am so grateful for the generosity of those who donate jeans.  Lance Haggith approached me at Bromham show, offering more jeans.  These turned out to be jeans passed on to him by Trading Standards, having been confiscated by them as imitation designer items.  This is the latest batch, soon to be cutup and recreated.

Despite being imitation, these are very good quality, and brand new - a delight to work with.

Bag making day

On Saturday I had my second Make a bag day at Tudor Rose Patchwork in Oakley.  Very kindly they let me have the use of their workshops, and advertised and took bookings for the event.  I have been steadily cutting up pockets in anticipation, so by the time the day came I had a really good number and selection!

(This is just SOME of the pockets, after I had sorted them into size.)

There were three people who stayed throughout the day, and another six who came for part of the day.  Most made bags, but three very dedicated ladies cut out pieces for my next batch of elephants and lions.  Much appreciated!

All of the ladies sewed their socks off!  Of those making bags, all made at least one bag; some made three.  All seemed to really enjoy themselves, and we had some great conversations.Some photos from the day:

Individual finished bags with their makers:

And the final pile of 13 completed bags:

Thanks to all who came, and big thanks to Tudor Rose Patchwork for their support.  A special shout out to Sally who helped solve sewing machine malfunctions!

How to deconstruct jeans

I thought this might be useful to some.  This is one way in which I deconstruct jeans.
Take one pair of jeans.

 Cut up each leg seam to separate front and back legs.

 Cut the back pockets off and trim to an appropriate size.  I aim to cut to 8" square, but these pockets ended up as 9" square.  I use the pockets to make one of my varieties of pocket bag.

 I trimmed one front pocket to 6" square, though I am not sure as yet what I will use if for.  This is often a problem with front pockets - they are very attractive but often difficult to use.  In this case I loved the buttons, but had to use the seam and the waistband in order to have any chance of using them.  I may manage to turn this into a pocket purse.
 The other front pocket was easier to make use of.  I cut it to size for a mobile phone case.

I cut as much as possible of the legs into 4" strips.  For me, this is the most versatile use.  I can use these for my flower bags, for the top of a pocket backpack, for handles, or piece four different strips together and cut into 4" squares.

 The remainer of the legs was cut into 3" strips.

 The scraps - of a reasonable size - will be used for crazy patchwork, or "found fabric" as I sometimes call it.  I keep bags of scraps and, when I am feeling creative, piece them together to create new pieces of fabric.

So there you have it. One way of deconstructing jeans.

Solar lamps - stage 2 accomplished!

So, the first stage of my project has taken another step forward today.
You may remember that I ordered solar lamps from Sunny Money - the trading branch of the charity Solar Aid - last month. I placed an order for 40 of these lamps:

I chose to do this in the hope that the lamps would enable students to study, adults to work in the evenings - something we take for granted, but something which is impossible for most of those living in bush villages like Utange, where electricity is rarely available in ordinary homes - and if it is, that electrical supply often fails for days on end. 
Ordering the lamps was not as straightforward as I hoped, largely because English banks require additional proof that the money is being used for legitimate purposes and not for terrorism.  The transfer seemed to take a long time, but did eventually happen, and today the lamps were collected from Mombasa:

40 solar lamps now in Utange, waiting to be distributed to 4 local schools and then to pupils and staff (5 of each) in each school.  My intention is to make this donation annually.  Next update will hopefully include information about the recipients.

I am into more detailed planning for my trip next year now.  If you are interested in joining me in Utange at some point during August and would like information, please leave a comment and I will contact you.

Buntsfest

This was another music festival excursion, and another first attendance.  My husband and his friend were playing at the event, as Quiet Life, and their set went down well, although only a small audience was present at the time.  In fact, only a small audience was present all day, which was a pity.  Hopefully this event will grow - I hope to return next year.

Cutting spree

I spend an evening cutting in the garden and thought you might like to see what 83  pockets look like!

These will be made into pocket bags.  Sadly this pile will only make ten bags.  Fortunately I have been collecting pockets, and have a considerable number more, ready for my forthcoming sewing day at Tudor Rose patchwork when some lovely ladies will be joining me (I hope!) to help me make lots of drawstring backpacks as well as some of the original pocket bags.

Dunstable - Party in the Park

It was great to have an event where it didn't rain!  My gazebo dried out, and the stock did not get a third soaking.  All good.  The crowds were out in force - another tick.  The event was really well organised - one more tick.  Nothing to complain about, you would think.  Unfortunately the crowds did not seem to be interested in buying.  Although there were many positive comments, and some good conversations, I had a very small number of sales - one of the lowest totals of the season so far.  On talking to other stallholders, they experienced the same.  The only conclusion we could come to was that this was a free event and that this time was the first where stalls were present.  People seemed to come without money to spend.  A pity for me, and for Utange   - but I trust that God had plans for me to be there and that there will be positive results from it.

Stony Stratford Folk on the Green

This has become a favourite venue of mine - last year was my first chance to attend, and when the offer came round again I leapt at the chance.
What could be better really - lots of people happy to buy my items, great music to listen to, my husband to come along and help, and good food as well.  This time I even managed a drink, as Will was happy to drive!

Another great day's sales!