Isn't it sad to think that in this age of plenty, when many kids are going to school with their own mobile phones and I-Pods, there are other little ones in the world lacking even the simple childhood joy of a doll to love.

When the warm hearted women of the Keiskamma Art Project thought up One Doll, One Child they started a movement destined to bring happiness to countless children, whilst sowing the seeds of awareness in their more fortunate brothers and sisters across the seas.

One Doll One Child

I have been a 'Keiskamma friend' since the early days of stumbling stitch-work, which were the first efforts in the art project dreamed up by Carol Hofmeyer, to aid the fragile economy of African villagers in the Eastern Cape.

In those early days they produced jolly, naive, embroidered panels, which we couldn't wait to turn into cushions, bags and hangings for all our friends and relatives!

Now just look at the beautifully crafted pieces we see, and the wonderful altarpiece and Keiskamma Tapestry. My...what a long road has been travelled!

We who live in, and around, Brantome, a beautiful little town in South West France, were introduced to Keiskamma by Jackie Jezeweski, who works tirelessly to promote the Keiskamma Trust, here and in the UK.

We have enthusiastically supported the projects, overspent our allowances on the irresistible variety of charming, hand made products, from the diverse and ever expanding range, and passed on the word.

We were delighted when Nokwanda and friends from S.A. came to visit us on their way to the U.K.
Then we were told about the dolly project.

Karla Soares-Weiser, herself a mother of three boys, had expressed a desire to do something specifically for the children of the Keiskamma villages.

Karla, Jackie and Jan Chalmers, put their heads together, and up they came with the idea of commissioning dolls, to be made in the project workshops, especially for the children of the Cape villages, but with a difference.

Each doll sponsored would be given in the name of another child, chosen by the donor, and that child's name would be embroidered on the doll gift. An inspirational idea, because it at once brings our own youngsters into the picture, introduces them to the project, and establishes a rapport with kids of their own age, but in very different circumstances.

Every doll is different. Each has it’s own quirky, individual character as it comes from the hands of the craftsperson who created it.

My five year old granddaughter, Sophie Louise, far away in Canada, was thrilled to bits to know that someone has a dolly given in her name, and is fascinated by her unknown friend in Africa.

Young as she is, she understands, with the help of a story card I made for her, the essence of One Doll One Child.

The card tells, with simple words and colourful drawings, about the children without toys, the idea of putting that right, and photographs of the children receiving their dolls.

Sophie-Louise with her One Doll One Child story card

Africa now means something to her. She thinks of, and asks questions about, the people who live there, and that is the first step anyone can make towards a caring and sharing future, not just with Africa but all around the world.

She also is charmed by her own tiny mother/baby doll, created by the villagers in the Keiskamma studio, as part of their art project economy, and bought for Sophie to remind her of her African friends.

May the Doll Story go from strength to strength, as has Keiskamma itself, and more power to the elbows of the dedicated women who made that first little acorn grow and grow.

May Sophie Louise and her generation carry on the thoughts and the deeds of international friendship and caring, that were seeded by the simple gesture of giving another child a doll.

Julia Breck-Paterson

added 10.12.07