COVID QUILT REVEALS SUFFERING OF LOCKEDOWN KENYANS

                    COVID QUILT REVEALS HARDSHIPS ENDURED DURING LOCKDOWN

BY Margaretta wa Gacheru

The COVID quilt is a work of art, It’s also the collective creation of more than 14 Kenyan women from self-help groups who, among other things, do embroidery as both an advocacy and an income-generating exercise.

In this case, the quilt is meant to send a message which is for Kenyans to be safe by getting vaccinated. At least that was the idea that the founder of The Advocacy Project, Ian Guest, had hoped the quilt would convey when he suggested the women embroiders create artistic images of the trials they have faced during the COVID pandemic.

“The quilt will circulate around schools, churches, community groups, wherever there’s discussion about the value of vaccinating people to protect them from the virus,” says Gillian Rebelo who is the liaison between Mr Guest who is based in Washington DC and the women based in informal settlements in both Kangemi and Kibera.

                        Gill Rebelo, Stella Makena and Karen Mbayaki with the COVID QUILT

“I wasn’t sure what Gill was asking us to do when we first met,” says Karen Mbayaki, leader of the Kangemi Advocacy Self Help Group. “She was offering to teach us skills in embroidery but many of us already knew how to embroider. But when she explained we would receive a stipend every time we met, that was an incentive for women to join in,” she adds.

Stella Makena leads a group of 11 women from Kibera who have also helped created the COVID quilt. “We have a lot of self-help projects, but this one has been special. We brainstormed ideas together before we created the images that we embroidered,” she says.

The COVID Quilt is not the first one that Kenyan women have produced in response to suggestions from the Advocacy Project, a non-profit group that works specifically with vulnerable communities in informal settlements all over the world.

“Ian [Guest] contacted me in 2019 since I was chairperson of the Quilt Group of Kenya at the time,” says Gill. “He told me a UNFPA conference was coming up soon in Nairobi and as his project works a lot with embroiderers and quilters, he wanted me to find women who could help create a quilt for the conference.” She adds.

Undaunted by the fact that she only had eight weeks till the conference, Gill set out to first find and train the women, then get their ideas about what would go onto the quilt, and finally produce it in time for the conference. Having taught quilting and embroidery for many years, Gill asked her Kenyan quilters to reach out on her behalf. That’s how she met Karen and Stella and got the groups brainstorming about problems that women face.

“Skills training was primarily done by Christine …, a professional quilter,” says Gill who marveled that the Women’s Quilt was completed in time, and is now on its way to be permanently hung in the United Nations in New York.

The women embroiderers continued to meet, with a small stipend from Advocacy. It was Guest who suggested they pursue their next big project in light of COVID-19 and the Kenyan public’s hesitancy to take the vaccine.

“We once again brainstormed on the problems Kenyan families have faced since the lockdown began,” says Stella who did all the outlining of ideas on fabric squares that the Kibera women embroidered in. Karen’s women also brainstormed with Edwin… outlining their ideas on fabrics they would embroider thereafter.

The result was the COVID Quilt containing 14 images depicting the genuine plight that Kenyans have suffered since COVID came to Kenya. The images portray everything from children taking their classes under a tree to homes being congested places where no one has work, no funds are coming in, and children are stuck inside with no books or internet.

The images also reflect the way public transport services have taken advantage of the lockdown. Their fares have gone up while the number of buses circulating has gone down. Then there are images of everything from a daughter mourning her dad, a wedding filled with all empty chairs, and an airplane leaving people stranded since all flights were cancelled. Then there’s the beggar who is bypassed by everyone who is nearly in the same situation, the cop pushing people around, and the healthcare worker trying to save lives.

In short the Quilt is a masterpiece portraying Kenyan people’s actual suffering during this pandemic which has yet to go away.

“The hope is the quilt will send the message to Kenyans that the vaccine can help to bring the pandemic to an end, so get vaccinated,” Gill adds.