Hello again folks ... I thought it was time to share with you the origins of our QFO project, so am printing in this Blog an article which appeared in the Careforce Life magazine (October-December 2008) in which Rachel Breukel tells of how this mission to provide orphans in India with quilts made by ladies in Australia began.
The article begins .... 'Each month, fifteen to twenty women gather together in someones' house to continue their efforts in providing Indian orphans with quilts. After the tsunami in Indonesia their passion was awakened to help others. Being told that the orphans in India simply slept on the floor, they decided they would do something about it. Making that decision was the easy bit. Fulfilling it is a task of mammoth proportions! The story goes on .....
"There are 25 ladies on our books, and we meet on a Saturday each month. Making quilts for orphans sounded simple at the time. Then we realised how many kids there were. We are making over 2000 quilts. For anyone who has made one quilt .... .well you understand the gravity of this challenge. However, we have also found out that a quilt is a sign of status in India, which encourages us even more in what we are doing.
The next container Careforce Church sends to India carries some 100+ completed quilts. That's another 2 orphan homes worth. Something extra special about this is that the kids from Careforce Church have been creating cards for each of the quilts. On the back of each quilt is a pocket. In each pocket is a handmade card with a Bible verse, picture and the name and age of the child who made it. Then it is laminated so that it can last forever. How cool is that? Every single quilt will have a card in it.
Above are some of the cards from the kids at Careforce ... just waiting to go into the quilt pockets.
Personally I feel like a 'real grown up'. Being involved in something tangible and having a direct input into a childs life and their future is something difficult to put into words. My vision for the future is to see a quilt that was made by us in the arms of the son or daughter of the child who received that quilt so many years ago. I would love to see a family photo of a child of God whose life was impacted by a group of women in a far away land, all with one mission in their hearts: to send a God inspired, long distance, never ending present of a HUG. We like to think that our quilts are like a mothers arms, willing to go around them for any reason and at any time.
In October of last year I was contacted by the magazine 'Patchwork and Stitching', to do a story on us. It is one of the largest magazines of its kind in Australia. In that article I mentioned that if anyone had a quilting machine lying around that we'd be happy to get it out of their way. Within 5 days of the magazine hitting the newsstands I was contacted by a lady with a machine. She text messaged me saying 'read your emails'. I did. She wrote that she had a machine in her garage if I was interested. I rang her to say it was price dependant and that we had no funds to work with. She very sweetly said "I would really rather donate it". That did me in. The tears flowed and flowed. Within 3 days we had picked it up. God had answered a prayer we had dared to pray! A quilting machine! Not just the machine, a frame (3.6 metres long) and a table. (Editors note: these machines are worth LOTS of money!)
Our group has great fellowship. Women have responded to the magazine and joined in our workdays. They are people from different walks of life and religions. There are even ladies interstate sewing and posting their work to us.
At this point we have no financial backing. Everything is donated, whether that be by the ladies themselves or wherever we might beg from. I quite enjoy asking for stuff (it really pays to be thick skinned. The worst reaction I can get is 'No'). I've found that most people, if given the chance, really like to be generous. Never say "they'll never give us anything". How do you know? God does indeed work in mysterious ways AND he doesn't always use the people we expect to do HIS work. One of the most charitable givers is quite a colourful character. (I could be quite offended really, but I like him. Who are we to judge?). Fabric, cotton and time is donated. Whenever we run out, I start begging again. We are always running out of batting (the inside layer). It is very expensive to buy. Some has been donated by Birch Haberdashery and Mac' Crafts. The ladies also put their own money toward it. Our greatest need at this point is a studio. At the moment everything is cramped in and outside of Mum and Dads house. Basically we are waiting/praying for God to tell someone to donate us a shed. It needs to be at least 9mx12m. Pride is not an issue. We'll accept donations from anyone. We are even happy to advertise the generous giver. We have the land and most of the interior bits and pieces, but we need a concrete slab and work benches. We also need room for storage (thus the large size).
We are hoping to have quite a few things for sale during Missions Month at Careforce Church in October. We will have displays around the church. There will be quilts for sale with all proceeds going toward batting. The need is great. The challenge will be ongoing. Unfortunately there will always be orphaned children. Fortunately we will continue as long as needed. If you would like to help us in any way, please don't hesitate to contact us."
Rachel Breukel
If you can help these wonderful people in any way, please contact Gaynor Peterson on 9756 7950 or Rachel Breukel on 9757 7375 or [email protected]
So there you are folks ... in Rachels own words the QFO story. Obviously the October 2008 Missions Month has been and gone .... but the rest of Rachels story is still as relevant as when she spoke to the church magazine. Just thought it would be nice to share her obvious passion with the rest of our Blog readers.
So over to you ... spread the word ... direct people to our Blog, to our project ... to our passion to make a difference in the life of a child half a world away. You'll not regret a moment of the time spent doing something so incredibly positive and genuinely heartwarming .... I know I don't!!
Cheers and blessings,
Susan
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