Sea Hearts for Hope

Sea Hearts for Hope.

Africa has long been known for its large array of hand crafted beads. Twined with naturally growing rich mahogany coloured Sea Hearts that grow deep in the Rainforest of the Cameroon, we have experimented to build a simple but elegant design that will incorporate both the handcrafted wooden beads made in Northern Cameroon and the Sea Hearts collected from the Rainforest in the Northwest of Cameroon.

The long term goal is to have marginalized people (handicapped, HIV AIDS persons, the very poor) hand make Sea Hearts for Hope chains that will be able to be sold, lifting lives from hopeless poverty to a better life. Hope for sending children to school, paying school fees. Hope to pay for HIV AIDS antiretroviral drugs. Hope that will provide money for better nourishment for the family. HOPE.

Our story of the development of this project. As CESO volunteers, ten years ago we discovered Jacqueline and Bingy in Tobago. Bingy was collecting seeds from the rain forest and they were hand crafting jewellery with these seeds. Unique among these seeds was the ‘Donkey Eye’, interestingly a member of the Entada Gigas family. For those of us who did not venture deep into the rainforest to search out these prized seeds, occasionally one can find a Donkey Eye washed ashore and left by the tide.

In Bamenda, we quickly spy a larger version of the Entata family, some heart shaped and some as large as 3 inches in diameter. The rich color, the smoothness of the seed gives one a tranquil feel for the beautiful surroundings in which it grows.

We experimented with different designs. We discovered that Prescraft, an upscale craft store in Bamenda (operated by the Presbyterian Church) was selling key chain holders made with the heart shaped Sea Heart. We began by using these beautiful sea hearts to build designs using hand crafted wooden beads from Northern Cameroon. We had brought a number of beads donated by the Colchester Community Workshop that make the chains unique. Gold and silver accent beads really set a chain off beautifully.

We modified the design, moving to drilling the Sea Heart in two places to eliminate the need for an insertion of a screwed hook of any kind. I still have my first chain made with the drilled hook and continue to love it. One design style we have settled on is a light weight chain that slips over the head. This eliminates the need for any hooks. Although this is ahead of the story, below are two examples made by workshop participants:

Next step, to purchase native beads appropriate for the chains. Critical in the design phase has been a very unique 17 year old girl whom we happened to meet at the hotel. She has not been attending school this fall. Mimi is from the very traditional village of Samba and is a member of the Boro grazier tribe (her grandfather is the village chief) who believe in very early marriage (age 14) and do not believe in education, especially for girls. Fortunately, Mimi has been able to attend secondary school here in Bamenda, living in the dorm. This fall, funding was not available for her to attend. Oussematou met with Mimi very early, determined to find out why Mimi was not attending school.

Below is a picture of Mimi and one of Mimi and her mother.

Mimi is very talented and has loved working on designs for the Sea Hearts. On our first shopping trip to the market to look at beads together, we met her school principal who wanted to know why she was not in school and what levels she had completed and what her marks were. He said most empathetically that she should be in school. As well, we met Rosemary, a Baptist missionary who has been working in the village of Samba for seven years and knows Mimi well. Mimi has taken classes with Rosemary in food preparation. Mimi invited us last Sunday to her village to meet her family and participate in the beginning of a week long celebration in her village, Ramadan. This was a great experience for us and the topic of another blog.

We settled on a design pattern. Each will differ according to the person who crafts the design. Jean Baptist and Mimi went on a buying excursion to purchase beads. Bargaining is the mode. Mimi had identified a street seller of beads, Elvis. They settled on a number of styles of wooden beads and established a price. We ordered 100 Sea Hearts pre drilled from Prescraft.

We have held three workshops. The first two here at IDF. Mimi and her mother came from Samba, one lady from Wum, three ladies from Bamenda and one man who is very quick, very strong and creative! They have really enjoyed making their creations. Here is a picture with them hard at work.

The second workshop with them, working with a clasp was introduced along with earring making. Below, ‘Granny’ Elizabeth models her choker and earring creation.

Just as we were leaving for a two day workshop on Conservation Farming in the village of Bana, Oussematou asked us to bring the box with the Sea Heart jewellery. Good thing. The people showed great interest. Fortunately there were six kits in with the 40 already made chains. We were able to hold a workshop at the end of the second day and six people from the village of Bana made their first chain, Sea Heart for Hope. By the end of the workshop, they had worked with Oussematou (they speak only French and Pigeon) to request 100 kits to be sent to them to fabricate for return to Canada with the Sorfaltens to be sold! We will pay these people for their labour when we pick up the completed Sea Hearts for Hope on our way to Douala to fly home.

Workshop in Bana:

In the big picture, it is the handicapped and HIV AIDS positive people, the marginalized the Oussematou wants to target for an extended pilot project, Sea Hearts for Hope