Orcutt LDS Women Make "Dolls for Africa"— 600 Dolls Sent from Central California Coast Homes

The following article appeared in the online edition of the Orcutt Pioneer. Niki Blackwell lived for several years in South Africa. She knows of the deprivation. She knows first hand of hospitals and orphanages filled with children who need food, clothing, and nurturing, and children who have toys made from whatever is thrown away. The Pismo Beach mother of four, and member of the Relief Society, the women's service and support organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and fellow member Karen Smith, set a Saturday in April as a day to make 100 "little rag dolls," as Niki called them, complete with handmade clothing, to send to Mozambique, Nigeria, and South Africa. Karen Smith and Elvia Bryant of Orcutt sent the word out for donations of various colored yarn, batting, and cloth remnants to the LDS community throughout Orcutt, Santa Maria, and the Five Cities. Using a doll pattern conceived by Smith and with Bryant writing out instructions, "Super Saturday, April 23" arrived and the handcrafted artwork began. The work was then transferred into various homes throughout the valley. Within three months, about 600 individualized dolls were sewn, stuffed, and clothed with colorful little dresses, with hand-painted faces and hair, and a small red heart hand-painted on each chest making the doll a "gift a love." Each doll is different—depending on the colors of the cloth and hair, and the imagination of the maker. Over the next several weeks, Elvia Bryant of Orcutt had neighborhood women and teens in her home, and her "doll factory" on Tillbury Court turned out about 100 of the dolls. Another Orcutt neighborhood was "stuffing and stuffing and stuffing" says teenager Brenton Wilde. "Everybody who came in the door had to stuff something. We made balls stuffed really tight for the little boys, too." Five hundred balls were made with scraps of the remnants. Getting the dolls into the hands of children in Africa was another matter. Shipping costs are extremely high. But Karen Smith had an acquaintance who had just returned from a humanitarian mission in Mozambique and was aware of "Care for Life" out of Gilbert, Arizona. "Care for Life," which arranges for food and medical supplies to be taken to Mozambique, agreed to have the dolls distributed in orphanages and hospitals in Africa. Once the dolls get to Gilbert, Arizona, shipping costs were free. The local FedEx office offered a $200 break and 34 more dolls were shipped to Nigeria for a mere $57—that amount donated by the dollmakers. Ruthanne Van Wagoner, a volunteer for "Care for Life," e-mailed Karen Smith from one of the three orphanages which received the dolls. "At the orphanages there are very few things that they can claim to be their own and having a doll as their very own was important. The dolls gave them ownership, something to take care of, something to cuddle with, something to name and have imaginative play with." Van Wagoner says one four-year-old little girl had just been placed in the orphanage after leaving her mother, who was dying of tuberculosis. The little girl, knowing she would never see her mother again, had stopped eating and interacting with the other children. "The doll became her security blanket; the comfort it brought was just what was needed when grieving for her mother." "Care for Life" is a private organization used periodically by the LDS Humanitarian Department in Salt Lake City for African immunizations and foodstuff relief. Karen Smith says some of the women had not sewn for years. Old sewing machines were brought out of storage. "I have a feeling we got as much from making the dolls as the children did in receiving them," she says. "When you look at those pictures, one thing we did learn—the power of a doll of your own!"