Bill Farnum brought dolls to an African village when he and his wife visited their son, who was serving as a Peace Corps worker in Lilongwe, Malawi, in southeast Central Africa
CLASS MAKING DOLLS
FOR GIRLS IN AFRICA
By: SHAUNA WONZER, Staff Writer September 04, 2004
THAT'S MY BABY: Mwayiwawio of Lilongwe, Malawi, holds her doll "Judy." Stu-dents in a Tyler Junior Col-lege course will help make dolls for African girls after instructors learned they used shoes as substitutes. (Courtesy Photo)
The instructor of a Tyler Junior College course is seeking participants wanting to make sure more African girls have baby dolls.
Paige Parrish, the Seniors College coordinator, thought of the idea for the course, called "An African Christmas," aimed at helping make dolls for girls, after learning many were imitating their mothers by securing shoes (instead of dolls) in a cloth wrap.
TJC employee Bill Farnum brought dolls to an African village when he and his wife visited their son, who was serving as a Peace Corps worker in Lilongwe, Malawi, in southeast Central Africa.
After Parrish saw a picture of one of the girls and heard about the situation, the idea to offer the project as part of a "service learning" course at the college was born. Service learning is a new area of Seniors College courses helping to link community service and academic study, she said.
"The children in the village really don't have any toys. Anything they have is made from materials they can find," Farnum said.
Little girls wear wraps like all the women wear, sometimes draping them over their backs to carry children, he said, adding that a lot of children who do not have any dolls put a shoe or other object in the wrap and carry it around as if it were a baby.
Farnum said Malawi is the third-poorest country in the world and a large number of children are orphaned.
The baby dolls, he said, are a symbol of comfort.
Students enrolling in "An African Christmas" must register by Wednesday. Those taking the course, offered from 9 a.m. to noon on Oct. 6, will be given materials and instructions to make two baby dolls. Afterward, the dolls will be shipped to a contact in Africa, who will have them delivered. The cost to enroll in the class is $60.
SERVICE LEARNING
The "African Christmas" course is one of three service learning courses the Seniors College is offering this semester.
A course centering on the Empty Bowls Project is enrolling students to help create and paint bowls that will be sold to benefit the East Texas Food Bank's Kids' Café and Meals on Wheels. The class will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Mondays from Sept. 13 to Oct. 18. The cost is $60.
Another course, St. Louis Project, is aimed at providing information about those with special needs to create an environment where volunteers will feel comfortable interacting with children with disabilities. The class is scheduled from 9 to 11 a.m. Oct. 11 and 13.
To register for any of the service learning classes, call Tyler Junior College at (903) 510-2900.
Shauna Wonzer covers higher education and general assignments. She can be reached at 903.596.6283. e-mail: news@tylerpaper.com
