The Burundi Story
For the past eight years the Stone Soup Quilting Ministry has been providing
hand-made quilts as a source of spiritual strength and
healing for bone marrow transplant patients of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
(a cooperative effort of University of Washington Medical Center,
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Seattle’s Children’s Hospital and Medical Center).
Quilters know the silent but powerful statement of concern that a quilt can give.
It is a very effective way to reach out to someone who is in a stressful situation.
So we simply make quilts and give them to new patients as they enter the hospital for treatment.
We know from the many cards and letters we have received that our quilts are a source
of both physical and spiritual comfort to those who receive them.
An added side benefit to the joy of this ministry has been in the blessed and
enriched lives of the quilt makers—a double blessing.
A Visitor from Africa
In February 2005, David Niyonzima, director of Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Services (THARS)
of Burundi, paid a visit to North Seattle Friends Church.
We learned of the great tragedy that has befallen his country.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and many more
have fled the country or were displaced within the country.
Through his work at THARS David and others work to bring about the healing of his country
through forgiveness of past hurts and establishing trust for living at peace in the future.
Recently THARS has provided safe houses and women’s support groups for victims of rape.
Following David’s visit, it occurred to us that the same kind of spiritual strength
and comfort that our quilts offer to cancer patients might be offered to the trauma victims
that THARS reaches out to. And just as the making of the quilts has blessed and
enriched lives of quilt makers here in Washington, perhaps the making of quilts could
offer the same blessing and enriching of the lives of quilt makers in Burundi.
We began to make plans to visit Burundi and explore the possibilities of a quilting ministry
there as a means of trauma healing.
Travelling to Burundi
In January 2006 Carolann Palmer and Patty Federighi traveled to Burundi and met with several groups
of women from the THARS support groups.
They told them of the blessing the quilts provide to cancer patients in Washington
as well as the healing comfort afforded to the makers of the quilts.
They were interested to learn if the women’s support groups wanted to learn
quilt making as a source of trauma healing for themselves.
There was an overwhelmingly positive response to this.
The Way Forward
The staff of THARS are very interested in this project.
We met with them to discuss what the next step should be.
The members of the women’s support group will work together to produce a quilt to be given
to a new coming member of the group.
As the new members are integrated into the group, they learn to quilt also,
and work on quilts to be given to the next women to join.
We hope that the skills learned in quilt making can be applied to creating smaller
items to be marketed to provide the finances needed to sustain the ministry of quilt making for trauma healing.
The next step will be training sessions.
We will meet during school break at the Peace School at the Friends Center in Gitega.
Two representatives from each support group, selected by the members of the group,
plus two members of the Friends Women at Gitega will be brought to the center for a
week of intensive quilting training (16 women in all).
There is a guest house at the center and the school rooms are available during break to use for the teaching.
Peace through Pieces will send two teachers to Burundi.
Each will take half the gathered women as a class.
The classes will learn the process of making a quilt from start to finish.
Each student will receive a notebook and one text, in the form of a three-ring binder,
will be provided for each group.
Each group will receive a sewing machine and materials for a year’s worth of quilt making.
The trained women will then be able to pass on this learning to their support groups.