Tapestry Depicts the Perils of the Poppy Plant
Covered with vibrant flowers, poppy buds, and finely stitched signatures, the first Sanga Amaj tapestry depicts the allure and sting of the attractive poppy flower. Patients at the Sanga Amaj Women’s Drug Treatment Center in Kabul have been engaged in embroidery since June 2008 when Rubia initiated therapeutic stitchery at the Center, the only residential clinic for women substance abusers in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The flowers point inward, drawing the eye toward the center where a spiral snake snaps its forked tongue in defiance. Hafiza Malikbaba, master embroiderer and designer who is leading the project for Rubia at the Center explains, “The snake signifies the poison contained in the beautiful poppies.” Each woman has signed her name next to a bud framing the edges of the tapestry.
A hadith from the Koran is stitched onto the background, extolling the virtues of a drug-free life.

An exhibit is being planned that will display the Sanga Amaj tapestries along with samples of anti-drug artifacts distributed in Afghanistan as part of drug eradication and anti-drug education efforts. The exhibit is intended to bring attention to the devastation effects of substance abuse on Afghan households, and to expand understanding of the connection between poppy production, abuse, and abatement. Rubia is working in cooperation with Social Services for Afghan Women Organization (SSAWO) and the Welfare Association for the Development of Afghanistan (WADAN) to implement this innovative project.

Rubia, Inc. was awarded a grant of $5000 by the Women’s Fund of New Hampshire to support the program “Sewing Confidence among Refugee Women” to establish a sewing center where recently resettled East and Central African refugee women will be trained in small business enterprise. Rubia is working in partnership with Women for Women Coalition, founded in response to the difficulties that African refugee women and their families encounter during resettlement in New Hampshire. Based in Manchester, this non-profit organization is dedicated to assisting refugee families from East and Central Africa as they navigate their new environment without English language capabilities. The Women’s Fund of New Hampshire is a statewide, public foundation dedicated to encouraging philanthropy among women and girls; improving the lives of women and girls through social change grant making; and educating the community about the potential of women and girls. To make a tax deductible donation of supplies—anything from basic sewing supplies, to yardage, a cutting table, sewing machines, or professional steamers please contact staff@rubiahandwork.org or call 603-397-3438.

This past winter and spring Rubia and the Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA), a national organization for the promotion of women and art, created a collaborative art quilt using Rubia-inspired stitching and imagery. The quilt, Women Helping Women, Stitch by Stitch, presented a unique opportunity for women to connect through their artwork, supporting cross-cultural communication. Since its opening in May, the quilt has been traveling around the US raising awareness for Rubia’s mission and work.

November 6th at City Hall in Portland Oregon was the 5th opening for the WCA-Rubia collaborative quilt. The quilt was on display during November in the City Hall. The next showing will be March 2-April 2, 2009 at the Florissant Valley Art Gallery in St. Louis, MO. Accompanying the quilt is a juried exhibition of WCA St. Louis and Philadelphia members entitled, Women and the Environment. To follow the quilt’s tour or to inquire about sponsoring an exhibit please visit www.marycrowley.com/rubia or call 603-397-3438.

Rubia’s 2009 calendar is now available for sale at www.rubiahandwork.org/calendar.html. This year’s calendar features poems collected from women throughout the valleys of eastern Afghanistan and refugee camps of Pakistan by the late poet Sayd Bahodine Majrouh. The verses, known as landays, are composed by women during daily rituals, chores, and during celebrations when women gather together to sing and dance. The best landays are repeated and shared with others, becoming part of the Afghan oral tradition. Unlike the more mystical prose for which the region is known, landays are full of passion and raw, earthy emotion. They are songs of nature and earth, life and death, love and war. All of the landays in this calendar are reprinted with permission from Songs of Love and War: Afghan Women’s Poetry, Edited by Sayd Bahodine Majrouh, translated by Marjolijn De Jager, Other Press: New York, 2003. The calendar, designed by Beth Gottschling, showcases Rubia embroidery and photographs by Beth Gottschling, Rachel Lehr, and Anna Lehr Mueser. Calendars are $10 ppd and are being shipped daily. All proceeds support Rubia’s work in Afghanistan.

This fall Rubia supporters, board members, and volunteers in the US had an opportunity to meet and work with Ghulam Sakhi, Director of the Afghan NGO, Rubia Handwork. The two organizations, Rubia, Inc. in the US, and Rubia Handwork in Afghanistan work together to implement programs for women in Afghanistan. Ghulam Sakhi attended the September Rubia Board meeting and visited schools throughout New Hampshire to talk about Afghanistan. He attended the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts ‘Arts in Education Conference’ where he shared stories and observations about life in Afghanistan in the past and present. As a native speaker of Pashai, a minority language in eastern Afghanistan, Sakhi spoke to students and faculty at the University of Chicago about his language and home region of Darrai Nur, where Rubia’s work is based. Sakhi also met with students in the School for Community Economic Development at Southern New Hampshire University to discuss Rubia’s model of economic development. Before leaving, Sakhi visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York where he assisted in the cataloging of textiles, jewelry, and artifacts from Darrai Nur, Afghanistan (in photo below).

Major Yarn Donation from the Collection of Susann Connelly
Susan Foster Brown, aware of Rubia’s work in Afghanistan, knew her mother Susann Connelly would approve when she donated a large portion of her mother’s massive collection of fine embroidery threads. Susann Connelly was a Master level embroiderer who taught embroidery and needlework of all kinds but could no longer use the threads when she entered assisted living. Susan Foster Brown honored her mother through the ‘gift from one embroiderer to others as a gesture of international peace and good will.’ This significant donation will keep Rubia’s Afghan women embroidering with the finest wool threads for a long time.

Much appreciation to Mayor Sam Adams, Pollyanne Birge, and Jo Grishman for organizing the Portland, Oregon exhibition of Women Helping Women, Stitch by Stitch.

Thanks to Catherine Reilly and James Hellinger for hosting a wonderful Evening with Rubia at their home in Lexington, MA.An extra big thank you to Catherine who generously offered to match all donations made at the dinner.

We’d like to thank The School of Community Economic Development at Southern New Hampshire University for once again hosting the Rubia Board Meeting.

We’d also like to give a huge thank you to all the volunteers who have helped to organize and promote Rubia’s handwork at holiday fairs and events this fall.