A personal note from Nancy: “…even though we had no choice but to cancel our travel to the villages during this pandemic, I cannot help but notice how much my missing THREE trips in a row has meant.

In over twenty years, I had NEVER missed two trips in a row (we had to cancel one trip following 9/11/01, and one due to violent political upheaval in Zim around an election), so missing three ‘normal’ visits in a row has had subtle consequences for the kind of connections and motivations folks here feel. So, this is part of what I am talking about when I say it feels to me like there is rebuilding to do, starting with this visit.

A little bit of grief for the momentum it feels like we have lost, and then BACK TO WORK!”

‘VINTAGE’ WEAVERS ARE DOING A GREAT JOB PASSING ALONG THEIR KNOW-HOW: technically how to weave a high-quality basket and how to create complex and aesthetically pleasing designs. These are the women that have the creativity to imagine original design schemes and the skill to translate those ideas into woven form. They are also DEEPLY competitive with their peers in other groups! All of this is what they pass along to the younger women that participate in these basket-weaving women’s cooperatives. Cool stuff. — ‘VINTAGE’ WEAVERS ARE DOING A GREAT JOB PASSING ALONG THEIR KNOW-HOW: technically how to weave a high-quality basket and how to create complex and aesthetically pleasing designs.
These are the women that have the creativity to imagine original design schemes and the skill to translate those ideas into woven form. They are also DEEPLY competitive with their peers in other groups! All of this is what they pass along to the younger women that participate in these basket-weaving women’s cooperatives. Cool stuff.