CAMBODIAN STORY ROPES

There's Marcia in Cambodia teaching the story ropes this past week!

Amazing seeing what started in Rwanda, is now going to the nations!

Once I get the stories I'll be posting Marcia's Cambodian experience on Our Stories, my other blog.

Click Our Stories for 'why' and 'how' of story ropes.

SO VERY DIFFERENT

On thursday afternoon, my Indian friend, came over to do her story rope.

She told me her life story the last time she was over. It was so culturally different from my own. It had 2 distinct parts - the years lived in India and the years lived here in the US after she married.

All we had a chance to do last time was cut a very long strip of filmy orange sari fabric. Orange, the color on her flag.

On thursday she cut ribbons & sari fabric strips to tie to the filmy orange 'rope'. Even how she assigned color choices to communicate each segment of her life story were exotic & unfamiliar to me.

It was fascinating sitting with my friend, listening once again to her story as she cut and tied pieces. She pinned it to the work wall for the picture.

Much conversation came out of our time together & our friendship deepened. It was a good afternoon.

• creating at the table with sari fabric, ribbons, metallic effect threads, organza, shiny metallic fabrics

• the finished story rope

WORKING ON A NEW BLOG

Through my own & friends experiences, the blog will teach how to use storying techniques with people.

Story ropes, accordion books & altered books are some of the techniques we'll share.

Needs to be ready for Africa. Keep you posted.

• story rope with African fabrics & buttons

'HOW TO MAKE A STORY ROPE' video

I developed the story rope in Rwanda as a way for genocide survivors to process their stories. Since then I've taught many how to use it in their cross-cultural work. Most recent 'how-to' requests have come from people wanting to use it in India, Uganda & Australia. Pat Butler & I partnered in making this video to share the process.

'How to make a Story Rope' http://vimeo.com/26931171

Please let me know where in the world you are making story ropes & I'll put a pin in that spot on a world map. You can contact me in the comment area.

A COUPLE MORE STORY ROPES

• We traveled to Bridgeport, CT today to visit with our dear friends, Isaiah & Comfort (photo), in from Ibadan, Nigeria.

I've been to Nigeria 1x to met & present to artists, who want to use their art for God. Nelson's been multiple times. Today we met them at the home of friends from Ghana.

Knowing these are all folks who work with people, I made up some story ropes in African fabric for them, thinking they might be interested in using the idea.

And yes, once they 'got it', they were bubbling with ideas!

• I looked briefly at the Rahab quilt. Yesterday I put it on the work wall, framing it off with strips of white felt, covering up some of the intended length to see what it looked like. Tomorrow I'll have time to work.

Click here: Presenting in Ibadan & Jos, Nigeria

click on photos to enlarge

THIS IS THEIR REALITY

her body black and blue

looking so tramatized

husband to Russia for work, maybe for years

sends no money as promised

marries, has second family in Russia

comes back, unannounced, moves in, beatings restart

"we're going to a party" husband said. A trick, takes her to empty apt & rapes her

marriage arranged-does not love her

beautiful wife & 4 children but girlfriends on the side

friends to husband, "beat her, show her who is boss."

beatings, beatings, more beatings

1 in 3 women experience domestic violence.

This is their reality.

How could we help? We could not fix their problems. Thankfully our NGO friends were there to encourage and help. But we could facilitate having them tell their stories in safe, small groups.

There is something theraputic about working out your story in a tangible way. Our groups of women made story ropes, telling their stories sequentially with ribbons (colors carefully chosen) & tied to a narrow band of 'atlas', their ethnic fabric.

An important part of the process came next - telling their stories. BUT only if they wanted. There was much understanding & support as they took turns sharing - touching each colored ribbon, telling the part of their story it represented.

At the end of each session there were smiles and glowing faces.

One young mom looked at me directly in the eyes and said,

"I will never forget this day."

STORIES ON THE ROPE

...my childhood was very happy

...then the war

...this was the depression

...and this was Pearl Harbor

...my mother died in childbirth

...there was no work-we moved

...my father died in Auschwitz

...I liked playing in the dirt with my brother's friends

...Hitler came & it was bad for a long time

...I went to college

...we were poor

...my mother wanted me

to study to get a job

...we went to a lake in Hungary

...I had 3 careers

...we had a wonderful life

Making & sharing their story ropes today at the Watermark. My reward was hearing their stories. They did not know each others life history before today.

Telling Stories With Fabric, Ribbons & Buttons

"If that was the only thing I did in Kosovo, it would have been worth it." Melinda Elliot talking about her experience using the story rope with the mostly Albanian team during her 3 wks. in Kosovo. (top photo)

The smiles on the women's faces belie the earlier 1 1/2 hrs. of tearful sharing about their life stories. Although this team has been together for two years, the women were able to openly talk about things that they had never shared with each other. (lower photo)

The story rope, like a personal time line, was a catalyst to sharing. Made with local materials - the buttons & ribbons were thoughtfully chosen & tied to a strip of fabric in an order representing a sequence of events. If willing, participants were invited to tell their story using the rope. Melinda holding her own story rope she made in Kosovo to demonstrate how to do the project. (top photo)

This creative activity released each storyteller from the deep burden she had silently carried alone and brought a new level of openness, understanding, & empathy between team members. So simple yet so powerful!

Earlier post - Sharing with Melinda how to use Story Ropes in Kosovo, Wednesday March 10, 2010

http://margemalwitz.blogspot.com/search/label/Kosovo

Story Ropes in Rwanda

For those who asked for more details about the Rwanda experience, here are 2 workshop pics. (top) Beginning to demo how to create the story rope at a class in western Rwanda. In the back are my original quilts also used to help them process their stories. (bottom) I'm surrounded by the World Relief staff with their newly created story ropes.

For more about this experience, link to my website at the bottom of ABOUT ME. Go to >The Journey >Rwanda.

Stations #11 update: more cutting and pasting; pushing around buttons; waiting on Pat for French translation.

Story ropes-Kosovo & Painting-STATIONS

Melinda Elliott came over this afternoon to learn more about the story ropes we made with the genocide survivors in Rwanda. She'll be using the idea in Kosovo with women who lived through the horrors of ethnic cleansing.

The story rope is a simple project done with fabrics, buttons and ribbons purchased in local markets. Creating a rope has helped many survivors begin to process the damaging emotions holding them hostage. On the table I'm showing the Rwandan materials and a story rope made by one of the women in our class.

Earlier in the day I painted more watercolor paper scraps with acrylics. Expect to begin the Stations #11 collages tomorrow. The painted papers are drying on the tables behind us.