Dolls need underwear!
Coordinating the outfits.
(February 2004. Lakewood, Colorado)
The One doll project got started on a whim. I wanted to take something with me to Zambia, something for the kids in the orphanage we’re going to visit and I heard a voice say loud and clear “make dolls, brown dolls”. I really didn’t know how to make dolls but I went to the fabric store and found some soft brown flannel and beautiful soft, curly black yarn. Once got home I started drawing and cutting (What pattern? That would be too easy!). The first 10 dolls looked like gingerbread men with reaaalllyy large heads. I knew I needed help so my sister and some friends came over to help decorate them. With love and lots of imagination the first “Worldly Girls” were born! After writing messages of hope and love on their bellies and they were ready for their journey!
(October 2009. La Paz, Bolivia)
I wanted to scream in pain but I was having too much fun. Besides, I was sure if I cried the twins would quit hanging on me.
This moment was what made the past 5 years worth it.
Three separate doll making parties had turned out some beautiful dolls for our trip to Bolivia. My friends, the decorators, had painted, beaded, coiffed and loved the dolls into perfect works of art. Two of the dolls ended up looking so much alike that I was ecstatic when I found out the first children to receive the dolls were 6-year-old twins!
When we reached their neighborhood Maria greeted us at the gate and walked us through the compound. I’ve become accustom to seeing stark poverty and the simple home without running water and electricity barely registered as I saw Salena for the first time. The girls were identical! I had to look at their shoes to tell them apart. Pink Ugg boots tend to stand out in a setting like that! The girls’ grandfather came into the yard to meet us and they all listened quietly as their counselor told them that we had come from the U.S. to bring them each a present so they would know they are loved. When I pulled the twin dolls out of the bag and handed them to the girls they went berserk! They shrieked and laughed and grabbed me. Which made my knees buckle and then the pain started and then I cried… but out of joy.
These dolls were decorated by the McClay family in Canada. We delivered them to children living in Bolivia.
We only had 5 days and we weren’t making any headway getting into one of the large institutional orphanages. We were in a small town called Prejmer and Tracy saw a sign for a clinic and thought it was worth a try. Luckily someone spoke English and believe it or not they just happened to know of a small home for orphans a few blocks away. A young boy guided us there on his bike and inside the gate we were surprised to find Casa Mea owned by Jan, an American. At the time there were only about 5 children, 4 of which were girls. Jan had started coming to Romania several years before with a church group and volunteering in some of the state-run orphanages. It wasn’t long before she decided to sell everything she had at home and move to Romania full-time. Through some tough times and a lot of hard work she now has a beautiful home for these children and she’s hoping to take in up to 12. The children are given a family environment in hopes that they can grow and thrive. After sharing experiences for a while with Jan we gave our beautiful rag dolls to the girls and we had some other toys for the one lone boy. They were all so excited. We have since heard from Jan that when they venture from the home the girls can’t go out without their dolls.
We didn’t bring many rag dolls to Romania to give away, but since Casa Mea was small we still had quite a few left. With the larger orphanages not an option open to us we decided to try another tack. Romania has lots of gypsies. Most are rather poor and are viewed as second class citizens. While sightseeing earlier in the week we had driven by what looked like a poor gypsy village on the outskirts of Brasov. We had no idea of how this would work, but we drove up to the edge of town and saw a women pumping water from a well. She had a little girl with her so Tracy got out and motioned her over to the trunk. She pulled out one of the dolls and the little girl’s eyes lit up. In no time other women and children came rushing out. We had no problem giving away all the dolls and toys. The first woman we met was so grateful that she led us back to her home. It was very modest. Barely more than a one room house and she had four children. She didn’t have much but she invited us in and offered us a drink. Not knowing the language we could only smile as she held her hands over her heart in a sign of thanks.
No matter how hard it seems to be somehow it almost always works out. We usually find some children who are grateful to receive a gift of love from a world away.
We had been in Siem Reap for nearly a week and were leaving Cambodia in another day. We had gotten a few suggestions of places to deliver the dolls but none of them quite felt right. On our tour around Angkor Wat Ed had noticed a sign for an orphanage, but we didn’t know exactly where it was. So we hired our favorite tuk-tuk driver to take us there. We somehow got the idea across to him of what we were looking for and he acted like he knew what we meant. “Sign language” is a beautiful way to communicate. But, when we got to where we thought it was he kept driving. We started to get anxious but stayed patient and waited. Several minutes later he pulled up in front of a rustic building. We walked up, and sure enough, it was an orphanage for about 50 kids. There was a young Cambodian man who came out to greet us. In perfect English he explained to us that he grew up an orphan himself and now lived here helping to raise these kids. The COSO orphanage had been started a few years earlier to help take care of orphans and other children whose families are just too poor to raise them. The need in Cambodia is great and the government just doesn’t have the resources.
The young man took us on a tour of the two-room building, complete with outdoor kitchen. The ones old enough all go to school and take English and other lessons right there. The kids bathe in the lake across the street. They don’t have much, but it is more than what they had before. We wished we had had enough dolls for all of them to get one of their own, but judging by the room they all slept in, we could tell that they were used to sharing. We had barely given out all the dolls before the girls, and boys, were already taking off the dolls’ clothes and swapping them, redoing their hair and having a ball. We knew we had found the right place. It’s a great feeling when it all comes together.
Chiang Mai is a crazy place around the Thai New Year, Songkran, and we arrived right in the middle of it. Picture giant water fights, people driving around in pickups with 55 gallon drums of water and buckets, more super soakers than you’ve ever laid eyes on. And it lasts 3 days! When the mayhem settled down, and we had done some sightseeing we knew it was time to find a place to deliver the handmade dolls we had brought with us from the States. It was Ed’s first trip to deliver dolls so he was a bit nervous and not quite sure what to expect. The woman at our hotel wrote down the name and address of an orphanage right in town so we hired a driver to take us there. Some of the kids were out playing in the yard. We were greeted by a nun who worked there and we told her why we had come. She took the dolls and said they would put them in the girls’ rooms for later. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see the reactions of the kids, but our experience in Cambodia a week later more than made up for our disappointment. They did, however, invite us to stay and play with the kids outside. Tracy had told Ed that it might take a while for the kids to warm up to us and she went over to a group of them to try and play. Well, a short while later she turned around and to her surprise she saw Ed giving an “airplane ride” to one of the little ones. And, there were more chasing him to get their turn. Before long it was time for the kids to go inside for a nap and we took our leave. Things don’t always turn out the way we hope, but at least we were able to spend some time with the kids and let them know that someone cares.
