Firstly a big thank you because I know many of you have been supporting the Kayaker (aka son,Tommy Hatwell) via Instagram and Facebook with his endeavours to keep the village in Uganda and his friends in Acholi Quarter in Kampala supplied with essential food during recent months. It wasn’t the year Tommy had planned, not in the slightest, but the Ugandans weren't expecting it either, yet it’s the year we've all been given and we've stayed with the positive and the optimistic here. That’s not hard when you see how difficult life has been for people who had so little to start with and it’s been a huge inspiration and perspective shifter for us to be in touch with the lives of the happiest of people in Africa who always make Tommy so welcome. And now we're supporting him supporting them as he develops his Think People Think Story project ....follow that link for more information.
And this link for information about the projects he's spearheaded so far
The latest fundraiser for Christmas are The Borehole Tins.
The tins (filled with sweets) have been produced by Tommy here in the UK, mainly so people would have something in return for their seasonal contributions as a Christmas extra, but it’s been touch and go as to whether my little tiny dovegrey contribution would come off because I wanted different contents, and so whilst Mama Joy has been stitching, actually getting the end product here along with more fabric hasn’t been easy.
Anyway some of the Mama Joy purses have arrived...
...and I have snaffled a dozen of them (all different) for the dovegreyreader Borehole Tins and created a little tiny bit of scribbles magic. Inside each of my tins, along with one of Tommy's postcards, I've put a fat quarter of African fabric (blue, or green & yellow) one of Mama Joy’s purses, a handmade notebook from Bookhound, and would you believe I found a stash of the DGR bookmarks so we’re including one of those along with a few of the sweets.
The notebooks won't all look exactly like this (expect white pages) but they are a clever little folded invention from Bookhound's bookbinding days...
And of course you then have a tin to use for whatever you want.
The tins are part of the remarkable and evolving story of The Borehole image that wraps around each one, born from a creative vision that Tommy left Uganda with in 2017. Returning to Uganda in 2018 with a half baked plan and plenty of patience this vision became a reality as he photographed 37 youngsters at their borehole in Kyabirwa village. Over the next year back in the UK, he digitally pieced, processed and printed the final image before returning to the village in January 2019 to share the 2.5 meter wide image with the children who made it possible.
It was a magical moment when the children saw themselves in the final picture too...
And here's a short video...
In total Tommy has created thirty-seven Bore Hole tins, one for each youngster in the photograph, and just twelve of them are the dovegreyreader specials. With every sale, each tin will deliver a Christmas dinner to five small but mighty Ugandans across the two communities he works with in Africa. Team 'Think People Think Story' is a small operation that is making a big difference and the trusted team on the ground in Uganda will source, shop and serve up the 185 Christmas dinners.
As a bonus each tin comes with a code, these are automatically entered into a draw to win an 18 x12 print of your choice from Tommy's 2021 calendar. A few of the calendars are still available here)...an essential optimistic investment, because don't we all want to see the back of 2020.
And if that wasn’t enough you will have a link on the bottom of your tin to a webpage to watch how the Christmas Dinners you supported went down in Uganda.
There are Think People Think Story team bangles to purchase too....
Made by a family in the village and it's now down to me to make a little bag for each one. Mama Joy ran out of time before the courier left, but this pile of fabric is now here with me and I'm on the case. I can't tell you how good it feels to be carrying on something that Mama Joy has started (my bags not quite as good as hers it has to be said) but the fabric is enough to lift the heart on a grey November day...
Please don't feel under any obligation because we all know these are tough times for everyone, but if anyone does want to help out the special dovegrey tins are available via the links above or via this link to The Think People Think Story shop and even better we (as in Bookhound who is in charge of the postal department) will post worldwide.
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