By Dale Barbour
The Bulletin
Ilan Schwartz, a medical student, and Kristine Christoph, a respiratory therapy student, have come a long way over the last two years.
And they’ve had some Little Travellers to help them on the journey.
The Little Travellers are pinky-sized beaded dolls and are perfectly sized for pinning on your shirt or jacket. But as adorable as they are to look at, it’s the story behind them that drew Schwartz and Cristoph in.
“In 2005 after I finished my degree at the U of W and just after I had interviewed for the Faculty of Medicine at the U of M, I had an opportunity to go down to South Africa and spend a few months volunteering at the Hillcrest AIDS Centre,” Schwartz said.
Hillcrest patients often remain in their own homes, touching base with the clinic for treatment. Schwartz joined the nurses as they went on their rounds throughout the community.
The experience cemented Schwartz’s interest in exploring the link between health and communities.
One of the things Schwartz spotted during that first trip to Africa were Little Travellers – beaded pins made by women who are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The pins are part of the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust income-generation project.
They were sold locally, and a few were available at specialty shops in Europe but they hadn’t really appeared on the North American scene. Schwartz bought a few and brought them back to Canada.
“I joked with them at the time that when I went home I was going to open up a shop and sell crafts instead of going to medical school,” Schwartz said.
As it turned out, he was only half kidding.
“I wore a Little Traveller for the first week of classes and people were intrigued by these little critters that kept showing up on my shirts. So I told them what they were and everyone wanted one.”
And suddenly that craft shop that Schwartz had joked about was up and running. Christoph entered the picture not long after, catching one of Schwartz’s presentations about the project.
“I was completely blown away by Ilan’s presentation. I wanted to become involved. When you look at the photos and all the information he showed us, I can’t see anyone not wanting to get involved,” Christoph said.
Since then, a lot more volunteers have come on board.
“It’s truly been a grassroots initiative with people selling directly to family and friends,” Schwartz said. “Fortunately, because of the endearing nature of the dolls, it’s been easy to attract volunteers on our behalf and as they go out into the rest of the country they’re always spreading our reach and helping us attract more people to the cause.”
Over 20,000 Little Travellers have been sold across Canada bringing in over $100,000 Canadian for the Hillcrest Aids Centre and the over 100 crafters who make them. The funds raised through the Little Travellers project are split between the beaders and the Hillcrest Clinic, with $50,000 going to support an AIDS respite unit at the clinic.
“The unit is chronically underfunded. Were it not for the Little Travellers the unit would not be able to operate,” Schwartz said.
The project has even won the endorsement of Stephen Lewis, the former U.N. Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa. The Stephen Lewis Foundation targets its efforts at helping people deal with AIDS on the ground in Africa – and the Hillcrest AIDS centre is among the groups it gives support to in Africa. “Stephen Lewis’s endorsement has brought a lot more respect to what we’re doing when we can sign off our e-mails with a quote from one of the most respect humanitarians in the world,” Schwartz said.
Selling Little Travellers has meant learning about marketing and distribution. Fortunately, they’ve had no trouble keeping themselves grounded. Schwartz and Christoph have both volunteered at Hillcrest during the past two summers – helping out and seeing the impact of the Little Travellers project firsthand.
“It’s enabled the employment of over 100 women who would otherwise have no source of income,” Schwartz said. The beaders are often doing double duty, caring for members of their own family and volunteering in the community to visit other patients under the clinics care.
Christoph and Schwartz have interviewed about 30 beaders during their visits, adding their words and pictures to their website at www.littletravellers.net. Ultimately, the project works best when the people who make the beads can speak to the people buying them. Christoph said they’ve also distributed disposable cameras to the beaders, letting them snap pictures of their own lives.
“We had one woman telling us that she had never earned a cent in her life – there’s 40 per cent unemployment in the area – and she has always been dependent on somebody else, be it a spouse or family member or the government,” Schwartz said. “When they tell us about how gratifying it feels to go to bed on a mattress they purchased themselves and about everything else they’ve bought through Little Travellers it really makes it worthwhile.”
As for Schwartz and Christoph, they plan to keep juggling their academic careers with their interest in the Little Travellers project. And both of them are hoping the careers that follow their education will draw them back to Africa.
“I plan to pursue training in infectious diseases and international health,” Schwartz added. “I would like to return to South Africa.”
Meet the people who make Little Travellers
Francisca Mbele
Francisca Mbele is a 73 year old granny who makes Little Traveller dolls. Of her ten children that she raised to adulthood, all but one have passed away, and she now cares for her five grandchildren, ranging from six to 20 years in age.
Francisca (who is affectionately known as “Gogo”, a Zulu word for “Granny”) has been beading for six years, having learned at the Hillcrest Aids Centre. She initially came to the centre when one of her granddaughters fell very ill. She explains, “Paula [the director of Woza Moya income-generation project] taught me how to bead. So I’m happy. I didn’t do beading before, but now I’m clever. Jill [of Woza Moya) gave me glasses and now I can do it fast.” In fact, Gogo says that if someone brings her tea to her, she can make up to 20 Little Travellers in one day.
Gogo is very happy to be part of the beading project at the Hillcrest Aids Centre. She describes her poverty before she started beading: “Before, I hadn’t got even shoes. Nothing before. I was too frightened to go outside. I was afraid people were going to laugh. I had nothing. Nothing to eat, no clothes.” By making Little Travellers, Gogo now earns approximately R300-400 per week, and she uses it to buy food and blankets. When asked what the Little Travellers mean to her, Gogo responds, “They mean that God helps me. God helps me to do these dollies. He looks after me.” She explains that she knows this because there are “so many orders coming from Canada.” Gogo continues, “I’m happy! I’m too happy!”
Sibongile Mchunu
Sibongile is a fifty-three year old crafter who makes Little Traveller dolls at the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust.
Sibongile cares for her 24-year-old son, her 23-year-old daughter, and a four-year-old grandson. Sibongile’s sister and her brother-in-law passed away, and she is now caring for their daughter, who is 21 years old.
Sibongile is a volunteer home-based caregiver, and she has been doing this since 1989. Currently, she cares for seven clients, and she usually visits two clients at their homes each day. There, Sibongile bathes her clients, cleans their homes, and administers medications; she also helps with cooking. Sibongile has learned new skills being a home-based caregiver. She does it because she cares about people and she hopes to one day become a nurse
Sibongile was taught to bead by other home-based caregivers, and has been making Little Travellers since last year. She can make up to twenty dolls in a single day! Through the Hillcrest AIDS Centre’s Woza Moya income-generation project, Sibongile has learned to be independent and says that learning how to make things has made her feel creative. More importantly, though, being involved in the beading at the AIDS Centre has ensures that she and her family do not have to go to bed hungry.
Sibongile says that she makes approximately seventy rand a week from the Little Travellers. With it, she buys rice, cooking oil, bath soap and powdered soap, and meats. To relax, she goes to church on Sundays.
POSITIVE JOURNEY: Some of the Little Travellers made by the Woza Moya crafters in their container workshop
