Janet Storton
In 2007, I met a group of women living in the rural mountains of Uganda while on a Medical Mission trip. They asked me to come back to teach them to sew and learn the art of quilting. I have been selling their quilts every year since, and return two to three times a year to teach and bring their products back to sell. All proceeds go into their foundation, which they named Sisters of the Heart. A vocational school was built to train young girls with a trade, and the money is helping other needy families.
As I was preparing to leave the beginning of March, I received a message that the country was on lock down, that I would have to be in a two-week quarantine on arrival in the country, and possibly could not get a flight home until the pandemic was over. In June, I received another message that food was not being brought to the villages and many were going hungry. Wanting to help their community, I raised two thousand dollars to wire to them so they could purchase bags of beans, rice, and provide seeds to plant gardens. The ladies in Uganda, through these months of lockdown due to the COVID-19 virus, became Angels of Mercy to their village. While remaining at home in isolation at SaddleBrooke Ranch, I found a quilt pattern designed by Kimberly Rado that she named Peace Angel and ordered it to make. I used mostly African made fabrics for the dresses, chocolate fabric for the faces, and some embroidery to give them a look of the natural Ugandan woman. I will be raffling it off to help raise additional funds for the foundation. Although I couldn’t be with my friends in their country, hopefully the proceeds from this quilt will provide them with assistance in the future. I can be contacted at [email protected].