Every year, Mandela Day asks us to give 67 minutes of our time to serve others. But this year, our team really went beyond - beyond 67 minutes and beyond a a donation. We set out to craft handmade doll silhouettes from scratch for girls and the more we created, the more the project crew.
We chose to support St. George’s Home for Girls, a haven caring for young girls aged 3 to 20 who are abused, abandoned, neglected and orphaned. As a female-dominant team we have all feel a close connection to supporting and helping girls and woman.
We used white fabric that we dyed natural skin tones using coffee and tea - natural ingredients and low cost dyes. We stitched and turned inside out the fabric dolls and stuffed them with soft sheepskin wool. We stitched wool hairstyles onto each doll, with time each one acquired more advanced hair styled as we improved in our skills.
Our local printer, Epic Print, kindly sponsored printed adoption pages for us, featuring the words, “Happy to meet my new best friend.” We added markers to the packages so each girl could write her doll’s name and bring her own creative touches to life. We dressed each doll in custom outfits made from various fabric offcuts and wrapped each one in a cozy little blanket.
When we arrived at St. George’s Home for Girls to hand over the gifts. What was a special and exciting time for the girls, was a deeply touching experience for us.
One moment stood out vividly with a young girl who looked at her doll’s simple, plain dress with a touch of uncertainty, feeling it looked a bit too plain compared to the patterned fabrics. When we looked closer, we realized her doll's outfit was crafted from silk. We knelt down and explained to her that silk is the fabric of real princesses!
A few feet away, a four-year-old girl took her doll, wrapped it tightly in her arms, and quietly walked over to a corner of the room. She was completely absorbed in her own little world. She unwrapped it, undid the braids in her hair and went outside to play in the wendy-house. Alone, but perhaps not feeling quite as alone as before now with her new doll.
We also knew that for the older girls entering their teenage years, childhood dolls might not be what they needed most. We stitched drawstrings linen bags filled with new underwear and chocolates.
Mandela Day is often framed around what we give, but the true gift is almost always what we receive in return. It is a gentle, necessary pause in our busy lives that demands humility. It asks us to look closely at the abundance we often take for granted and reminds us of the power of simple human warmth. We didn't just leave behind dolls and gifts that day; we left a piece of our hearts, bound forever in threads of tea-dyed cotton and soft wool.