Yesterday I decided that I needed to get busy and actually make my “coat of many colors”. This has been a project that has been on my mind for several years. Several years ago I decided that I wanted the weavers to make some fabric in the colors of the rainbow so I could make a coat. The weavers here in Ghana weave fabric in 4 inch widths that are about 75 yards long. The fabric strips are then joined together to make their traditional garments called Fugu’s. In the Kumasi area of Ghana the fabric is woven with very intricate designs and is called Kente cloth; Kente was traditionally worn by the kings and wealthy people. It took me a while to find all the colors I wanted woven into my fabric. I wanted all the colors of the rainbow. The hardest part of the whole project was getting the weaver to understand I wanted the colors in the order of the colors in the rainbow. The fabric turned out beautifully. I brought a pattern in year before last but never got around to actually making the coat. Last year I pulled out the fabric and the pattern only to discover that the mice had chewed up the pattern and urinated on it and the interfacing! I was disgusted and abandoned the project. Yesterday I ran out of red thread from the states. My sewing machine does not like the thread they sell in Ghana. It is wound on long slender spools and breaks every few stitches. I rethreaded the machine until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I then decided to use red Ghanaian thread only in the bobbin and American thread in the top. It worked like a charm. The only problem is I had to sew everything upside down so the red thread was on the outside of the jacket. I was sewing away when the sewing machine totally locked up. Please! Steve and I took the machine apart but we cannot figure out what is wrong with it. We took it to our friend Mr. Adams who can fix almost anything but he was not around. We will check with him tomorrow. This poor coat might not get made this time either.
Steve got the muffler extension put on the new pick up this morning. He has had to buy parts and pieces from both Yendi and Tamale. Now the carbon monoxide fumes will not accumulate in the cap of the truck.
Nazo, the day man, told us that his daughter had her baby last night. It was a baby boy. His daughter lives in Tamale. I asked him if he and his wife were going to go and see their new grandchild. He said no that it was “taboo” for them to go and see the child but they would send someone to go and greet his daughter and take a gift. I was stunned! I said what will happen if your wife goes anyway. He said that if she goes the baby will die! He then began to tell me of cases where that very thing happened. He said that it would be very bad and they would be breaking tradition if she went. Can you imagine having a new grandbaby and not being able to see it?
Take care and thank you for all you do for us and for the work.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
