Community Crafting...

(the back of my head and the lovely Mayra and Maria...Ash is off to the side!!)

I love my community. I've blogged about it before, so feel free to skip this bit, but for those of you who don't know... me and my family live in a Community House run by the Salvation Army in Footscray, Australia. In this house we currently provide housing to a mother and son who are Asylum seekers (Refugees) from East Timor. Many people from the neighbourhood also participate in activities held here during the week including backyard soccer, community meals, kids clubs and community gardening. (We live here as House Managers, but I'm not superwoman, other people involved in the community organise most of these activites-not me!)

In a very culturally and economically diverse community such as Footscray, I guess this space and the things we do here are about creating a sense of family for those who may not have much family, equality for those who don't often feel equal to those around them, and for all of us a place of safety, warmth and love. It's pretty special, and I'm so passionate about seeing my kids grow up in a world where diversity is NORMAL!! (I grew up in a very white middle class suburb, and so have experienced a lot of this much later in life then my kids.)

Anyway, a few months ago I discovered that my housemate, Maria, crochets. Oh, what joy! She was taught by her grandmother in East Timor, and her style is very different to what I know, but we both discovered that it's just lovely to sit down side by side and do a bit of craft together, and its often in those times together that we have great chats about life, and learn more about each other’s stories. This year we have been inviting other women (nieghbours) to come round once a month in the evening for a bit of crafting with us. There are no rules, no set projects (yet!) or expectations. We just hang out and craft for an hour or two while chatting, learning more about each other, sharing our skills...and drinking tea -of course!!

If you're at all like me, I'm sure you'd like crafting with people in your community too! Why don't you find out if there are any Craft groups in your local area you could join? Or, start one!! Women all over the world a making small (or is that big!?) differences in their communities one Crafternoon at a time!

Mezz xx

PS- I’d love to hear of any experiences of craft groups/community crafting etc. Feel free to share!!