Some good news for a change — post on PDU website, Tuesday 2nd May 2006
The Darling Trust has taken over the former A & C (Arts and Crafts) shop at Evita se Perron. Now it still has arts and crafts to sell, but local members of the Darling Community are also trained by the artists while working. Sales have rocketed and it is what I hoped for when we started it all eleven years ago.
One of our beading ladies, a Xhosa mother called Della, has been with us for a year. It's a great problem because she cannot do anything other than sort big beads from small beads. She cannot see. Months have passed. She sits apart from the others, her face close to the surface of the table, where she can carefully identify the beads with her tweezers.
Two days ago Lauren and Will, who structure the workings of the Trust Training Centre, took her to the local chemist. They included Gilbert, our Zimbabwean wire-artist who, of course, can also speak Xhosa. He translated for Della, just to tell her not to be frightened. She had never been in a chemist shop before.
Will and Lauren took a pair of reading glasses with a 3.5 lens off the shelf and carefully put it on Della's face. What can I tell you. Della cried for an hour. For the first time she could see. Her face. Her hands. Her smile. She is now sitting among the other beading women sorting green from blue, red from black.
If that's not good news, I don't know. It's all so simple. Just a pair of off-the-shelf-glasses. A life-changing experience for Della.
Who can you help?
< previous next >
