Bomen Women & The Fellowship of the Cloth

Bomen Women & The Fellowship of the Cloth
Cloth connections open face to face fellowship at Bondeko Mennonite Church in Kinshasa (May 2012) -- photo by Nancy Myers

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Questions about CCC from the Mama's at BOMEN


This is a continuation of the story of Suzanne Lind's visit to the BOMEN Sewing Group in Kinshasa, DR Congo. They will receive sewing machines and tables for the center from the proceeds of our project. Marie-Jeanne Mujinga, their director, will be visiting with us here in later June and early July.

The other BOMEN members/seamstresses came as the day unfolded. Somehow we all managed to sit in the room which is about 12 feet square.

L-R: Mama Manjina, Secretary of the group.

Mama Nenette.

SMama Felly --

She never stops smiling, even for photos,

and always looks like she has a little joke up her elegant sleeve.

Mama Nicole at the machine.


Mama Angèle.


Mama Manjina, Sec.

She is the most insistent about knowing what CCC is all about, and when the American seamstresses will come to DRC. She scolded me because I haven't been to Bondeko Church for a long time, and not since the CCC connection was made. So we looked at the calendar and I will attend Bondeko on June 12, which will be the farewell Sunday for Marie-Jeanne and her husband, Gaston, before they leave for the United States.

Mama Nenette


Mama Felly.

She did the most talking and had the most persistent questions about how to sell their products in the USA.


Mama Angélique Kakoyi and her son Blessing Ilunga.


Mama Mbalaye Ntumba.


The women at BOMEN wanted to know what Marie-Jeanne will be doing when she comes to visit us in the
United States. They couldn't quite get the idea of the Mennonite Church USA Assembly, but I think understood what the booth will be like. They immediately, just as Marie-Jeanne herself did, asked if they can send clothing items to see there. I said no, but they can send a few things to show what they make.

Q: Do women in America like to wear the kind of clothes we make and wear?
A: They like to wear them for something fancy, but not on ordinary days. In many places it is too cold, but mostly we are more comfortable in our more simple clothes. And we know that we don't look as beautiful in these clothes as you do.
We are jealous that many of us don't have your graceful, confident, beautiful way of holding your bodies and walking. (Lots of laughter about that.)
I had sent Marie-Jeanne the picture of
Nancy in her reversible jacket, and said that something like that might be more saleable.

Q: What could we make that women in America would like to buy?

A: Perhaps useful things for the home, such as table cloth, napkins, pot holders, bags.

We talked about all this for a very long time. In the end they agreed to send a few things with Marie-Jeanne to show what they do, and to wait for a report from her about what people in
America like. I said that an active way to send items for sale there is just not available, and cautioned them not to get too excited about that as an optional outlet for their products.

Q: And when will your seamstresses come to Congo?
A: That depends on how quickly they can raise the money they need to travel. That will take quite a long time because they do not have money for long journeys like that and will have to save it up. You know how hard that is, don't you? (Big chorus of "Oh yes!")

After more discussion about this we got excited about the idea of the American seamstresses coming when BOMEN has its new workshop.
Then all the women from both countries will sit together at tables and sew and talk. Ideas for products and continued connections will come easily and quickly when all the women are together and sewing!!


When we were talking about what might sell in the US, Mama Felly pointed to this poster on the wall and said, "Would Americans buy clothing for children? Wouldn't mothers there like to have African dresses for their girls?"


Styles they often make.


Ready-made tops and cloth waiting to be used.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Meet Mama Nicole, sewing teacher at BOMEN

Now we will start meeting "the Mamas" who arrived a bit later in Suzanne's visit to BOMEN Sewing Group. Mama is a term of respect used for the older women. These Mamas play important roles in supporting the young single mothers.


Mama Nicole is the new assistant to Mama Marie-Jeanne, the director of BOMEN. She is the main teacher for the young seamstresses. She has been in this role for four months.

She is using the second of the two sewing machines currently in use at Bomen Workshop. This one is a treadle machine.


Nicole was working on a beautiful bodice top of a traditional Congolese dress. She was putting a black lining inside; the sleeves were made of black mesh with a border of the bodice material. While I was there she had some trouble with the bobbin and the connection to the treadle. She and Marie-Jeanne worked on the problem for quite a while and finally got things going again.



Tina in the background, is still waiting a turn on the machine.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Meet Tshidinda Tina

We continue with interviews with the women Suzanne Lind met at the BOMEN Sewing Center in Kinshasa. Here experienced seamstresses teach young single mothers the skills of sewing.


My name is Tshidinda Tina. A friend of mine goes to
Bondeko Mennonite Church and told Mama Marie-Jeanne about me.


I am very glad they invited me to learn sewing here at Bomen. I have a baby but no husband. I want to learn to sew so that I can raise my child properly and not become a beggar.

I have only been here for one week. My project is to make a small blouse with this red and yellow cloth.



Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Meet Monique Bapa -- BOMEN Sewing Group



I am Monique Bapa (In Congo we say our last name first: Bapa Monique).

I am a member of the Bondeko Mennonite Church. I had a baby but I don't have anyone to help me support the child. Mama Marie-Jeanne said I could come to the Bomen Workshop and learn to be a seamstress.


I have been here for one month. My training will last three months. When I finish my training I hope to sew at home so that I can help to support my baby, my brother and sister and myself. My family can't afford to send me to school so now I will have a way to take care of myself.


The project I am working on now is a dress made of different pieces of cloth.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A VISIT TO BOMEN SEWING GROUP

Marie-Jeanne Mujinga, the director of BOMEN Sewing Training Center and Workshop, will be the guest of Congo Cloth Connecting in Michiana and the MCUSA Assembly in Pittsburgh. During this week, get to know her and BOMEN day by day on the blog.

Marie-Jean Mujinga

Suzanne Lind, a member of Congo Cloth Connection, lives and works part of the year in Kinshasa, DR Congo. The pastor of Bondeko Mennonite Church, the hosts of this project, escorted her there where she befriended the women who are teaching and learning sewing. They had many questions and are eager to know when the seamstresses from America are coming to visit as well! This, indeed, is Congo Cloth Connection.

Suzanne Lind:

When I visited the Bomen Sewing Workshop in December, I left $100, which I said was from CCC for a new sewing machine. The new machine has now been purchased and is in use. Everyone is very pleased with it.


Monique Bapa, who started her training at Bomen one month ago, is
working with the new CCC Sewing Machine.


Tina Tshidinda, who is in her first week of training at BOMEN,
waits her turn to use the new machine
while Monique Bapa works on her project.


Monique threads the machine.


Mama Suzanne takes a turn. It's harder to get that handle turning than I thought.


"Are you sure it's okay for me to sew on this piece of cloth?"


With help from Tina on the handle and Monique at the presser foot, Mama Suzanne gets coordinated and sews a seam.

BOMEN Sewing Training Center and Workshop will receive the first monetary profits from sales of cloth. BOMEN is a new project of the Bondeko Mennonite Church in Kinshasa to train women heads of household, teenage mothers, and unemployed young women in sewing, dressmaking, and tailoring. To date only a small number have been part of the program because only two sewing machines are available.

BOMEN seeks help to buy additional sewing machines, tables and chairs, supplies, and rent for a larger building for the center. Local contributions will cover personnel costs. The project hopes to train 100 women in basic sewing skills over an 18-month period. It will help the trainees find employment and establish a production workshop to start young women in their careers.

Monday, May 16, 2011

CCC in A Postcard and a Prayer -- Mennonite Women USA

We are thrilled to have our project featured in the current A POSTCARD AND A PRAYER published by Mennonite Women USA. Thanks for your interest and support!



“Every Stitch a Prayer” – Congo Cloth Connection

Women know the art of prayerful stitching. When the women of the Gulf States suffered the chaos of hurricanes, Mennonite women knitted prayer shawls to wrap them in our love. Women for centuries have stitched quilts to pass down the generations as baby comforters and wedding blessings. In this age of the global church, stitches make even broader designs.

“Every Stitch a Prayer” began when Christine Nofinger visited the Democratic Republic of Congo for her friend, Rosetta Lind’s, high school graduation in 2009. Rose’s parents, Tim and Suzanne, are old friends of Chris now serving as MCC country reps in Kinshasa.

“My senses were over-whelmed,” says Chris, “with the sounds, colors and smells of Congo. And I fell in love immediately with the cloth the women wore.”




As a quilter, Chris immediately imagined a world of projects with what we are calling “Congo cloth.” While little of this cloth is now produced in Congo due to economic hardships, the bold wax print style cloth has been the hallmark of Congolese beauty for years.

So upon return from Congo, Chris wondered how she could be part of God’s work in Congo. The complexity of beauty and suffering were hard to sort out. So as she used Congo cloth for quilts she began to pray.

“Every stitch a prayer” is a way for many of us to be blessed by the beauty and creativity of Congo, to learn more about our brothers and sisters there, and to pray for mutual connections to emerge.

In 2009 Chris came home with three suitcases jammed full of cloth. Now every time Tim or Suzanne or others with Congo connections travels, they also return with yards of cloth. There is no other way to get cloth here as there is no postal or delivery service between the US and Congo. We now estimate we have 1,000 yards of cloth. And we have a plan.



“Every Stitch a Prayer” will host a booth at Pittsburgh for the MCUSA Convention, July 4 -9. At our booth your connections can begin. A quilt will be stitched and a comforter knotted. These along with other gorgeous wall hangings made by Goshen’s Mennonite Church and Silverwood Mennonite Church women will be auctioned on Thursday evening. Fabric will be for sale, with new designs added each day. Other ready made items will also be for sale.



As cloth is sold for ten dollars a yard, the benefit, in addition to our joy in Congolese beauty, will be for two sewing projects in Congo. In Kinshasa, the Bondeko Mennonite Church sponsors BOMEN Sewing Group.



BOMEN trains young women who are single mothers to make a living through tailoring. In eastern Congo, the National Council of Churches, a Mennonite Central Committee partner, also sponsors sewing groups to train women to provide for themselves.


(Cisca Ibanda, MWC Congo, and Nina Lanctot, Florence Church, MI)

Those who want to connect through prayer will sew “Every Stitch a Prayer” cards using Congo cloth. We are exchanging prayer requests with Mennonite women in Kinshasa through Cisca Ibanda, Congolese representative to Mennonite World Conference Executive Committee. She gathers with women from all three Mennonite conferences in Kinshasa for prayer and praise, and they have begun praying for us and this project.



Prayer Card: As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.


We are very exited that Marie-Jeanne Mujinga, the director of the BOMEN Sewing Group of Kinshasa, will be present with us at Central District Conference and at Pittsburgh. She will bring an immediate connection with seamstresses in Congo and with stories of congregational life there. She will also be visiting the Michiana area as a guest of Michiana Friends of Congo, a joint effort of Florence Church of the Brethren Mennonite (Constantine, MI), Kern Road Mennonite (South Bend, IN) and Silverwood Mennonite (Goshen, IN).


(Marie-Jeanne Mujinga)

We hope to see you at Pittsburgh or in the Michiana area. You can find examples at congocloth.blogspot.com and Congo Cloth Connection on Facebook. If you would like to volunteer, donate, or bring a “cloth market” to your congregation or group, please contact Vicki Smucker at mvsmucker1971@gmail.com and 574-276-3809.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Share your Congo Cloth Connection project

"Every Stitch a Prayer" wants to know what YOU made with your Congo Cloth. Here are some examples. Send us yours! We would like a photo or two as well as the ways your found yourself thinking and praying about Congo connections along the way.

Nancy Myer (Kern Road Mennonite Church, South Bend, IN) had the eye for this cloth and used its pattern as the back of a simple jacket pattern. It reminded her of the jacket she bought years ago of Congo cloth.



Christine Nofsinger (Florence Church of the Brethren Mennonite, Constantine, MI) made a quilt in the Chinese Coins pattern for Tim and Suzanne Lind.



Chris also made "robes" in the form of aprons from a Congo cloth pattern that centers on the names of Jesus. The Florence men's choir was all smiles.



Suzanne Lind (Florence) with the help of Christine Nofsinger made comforters for her twin grandchildren, Amari and Desmond, who were born in Congo and adopted to live in Goshen with parents David and Kendra Lind. The fish patterned cloth was made by our friend Mama Kadi of Kinshasa, DR Congo.







Naomi Wenger (Florence) made a pleated skirt from a print with a border for her daughter, Emily.





Nina Lanctot (Florence) is making a comforter for her first grandchild. It includes cloth from Congo, Cambodia and Costa Rica, reflecting family and church ties. It needs to be knotted by May 22-- Lily's first birthday!