November Newsletter
The end of the year approaches quickly at Chikumbuso. We have had lots of visitors, lots of bags being made and lots of orders being filled. This has not given us a lot of time for “quiet” contemplation. Last Wednesday at our women’s group we grabbed a moment on the rug of the community hall to refocus on who we are and what we are doing as women at Chikumbuso. We looked at our mission statement:
“To remember those who died,
To remember where we came from,
To remember to do for others.”
And we asked ourselves are we holding fast to this mission?
As a women’s group we often get caught up in the daily business of Chikumbuso and the endless production of bags and bracelets completely forgetting to stop, look up and see those around us.
As a first step I challenged the widows to come up with one word to “illustrate” where they came from. Just one descriptive word of their past.
Kulibe sangalala… not happy … no food…..too much thinking… sad… no friends… not free… any knowledge… not bathing (could not afford soap)…not stable.
Next, we searched for words to explain how they feel now as a group of women working together. There were wonderful examples such as good food, peace, no worries, sitting together, and friendship. My favorite description was gonabuino “peaceful sleep”. A widow’s mind is full of worries that keep her from this peaceful sleep. She worries about her children, her shelter and her food. She worries about sickness, violence, death. Chikumbuso has helped these women to sleep peacefully by bringing them friends and a protected community center where they and their children can spend their days. Through the community center they have been given a means by which they can support themselves and protect their homes. Verbalizing the differences between before and now brought laughter, singing and thankful hearts to all of us in the meeting.
Now we ask ourselves as a group of women are we ready to reach out again? There are many widows out in Ng’ombe. So many that are not sleeping peacefully. Ng’ombe, where AIDS still runs rampant, poverty wreaks havoc in families and children are often left alone. I believe as a group we have clearly seen the changes in our own lives and family and are ready to reach out again.
We would like to thank each one of you for your support in this project and for helping us to reach out, again, to those widows and families in need. We could not do it without you.