More Recruits

Every Saturday it's a different group.  I never know who to expect.  Sure, we teachers recruit new crafters from our classes, but the attendees themselves have also been spreading the word to their friends.  This past month has been a great time of learning.  We've had some experienced knitters volunteer to teach new patterns.  We've also had senior crafters teaching new arrivals the basics.  Here are some of the latest who have joined:
Jouzella came to the U.S. from Sudan in 2006.  Her husband is the pastor of the Sudanese church and also works at World Relief.  Jouzella is a homemaker and mother of 2 daughters.  She is looking for part-time work. In college she studied hotel management, and dreams of someday finishing college and working as a hostess in a hotel.  She has some experience in sewing and crocheting, and is currently learning how to knit.

Marry(left) and Mar Thar (Burmese version of the name Martha/right) are twin sisters from Burma.  They are part of the Karen ethnic group which has largely been persecuted by the Burmese military junta.  They were forced to flee the Burmese military with their family when they were 5 years old.  They hid in the jungle, moving from place to place every time the military came through for the next 8 years.  When they were 13, they finally made it across the border into Thailand and lived in a refugee camp there for the next 21 years.  They came to the U.S. in 2007.  Mary has seven children--one girl and six boys.  She had a job for a month and a half, but had to quit for health reasons.  She's currently looking for a new job.  Mar Thar has four children and four grandchildren.  Both Mary and Mar Thar are learning to knit, and making great headway.

Rabika moved from Bhutan to the Nepali refugee camp when she was 8 years old. She came to the U.S. January 2009 with her husband and 3 children.  Friends in the refugee camp taught her how to knit, and she's one of our more accomplished knitters.  She's looking for work here.  Someday she'd like to take GED classes and go back to school to become a nurse.

Nanda Maya (not yet pictured) is another who was forced out of Bhutan to Nepal 18 years ago.  She came to the U.S. very recently--September 2009.  She has three sons and no job.  She's currently looking for work, and would love to be able to help support her family in the future.  Rabika taught her how to knit since they live next door to each other here in the U.S.

Bishnu is another of the Bhutan/Nepal crowd.  She came to the U.S. summer 2009 with her husband, and three children.  Her husband is deaf and Bishnu has significant hearing loss herself, so communication with her is difficult to say the least.  She's quick to learn new things if she can be shown how to do them though.  She's been one of our most prolific jewelry-makers.  Lately, however, she's had some serious medical problems.  She was hospitalized with a small hole in her heart and needs surgery.  Unfortunately she's a tiny woman and doctors say she must gain weight before they can be confident enough to know she'd be able to recover from surgery.  So she's at home now, waiting.