Adding some culture

For many area residents, Tanzania represents a place few will ever see. Thanks to Jan Jacobson, however, residents get to see the beauty of Tanzanian culture at the James Memorial Art Center through Saturday.

Jacobson, 48, Alamo, fell in love with multi-colored batiks when she saw the fabrics hanging in tailor shop windows.

The uniquely designed fabric is stenciled with a design before adding wax to the artistic rendering. Then, dye is added to the fabric, with the stenciled art serving as a stark contrast from the colors that surround it.

Jacobson travelled to the country in 2007 with the Asante Network, which was helping the women to become more self-sufficient by allowing them to use their sewing talents to fund the things that are important to them.

The Miichi tribe women, who live in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro, use the batiks in clothing. Jacobson said they do not concern themselves with coordinating the colors in articles of clothing to other articles of clothing.

They also were unfamiliar with quilts, a fact Jacobson changed. On her second trip to the country, Jacobson brought a quilt given to her by the Bethlehem Church women of Ross.

"I just had to go back," she said.

Jacobson taught a seven-day beginning quilting class for the women, where they learned how to layer the sides of a quilt and to add batting in the middle. She was amazed that some of the women could sew by hand faster than a sewing machine.

Jacobson also brought books to highlight different types of quilts. She also learned a few things while she was there, such as how to use a treadle machine, which operates with a foot pedal. She had difficulties at first, much to the amusement of the Miichi women.

"It's kind of like rubbing your tummy with your left hand and patting your head with your right hand," she said.

Jacobson ordered 200 yards of batiks and now sells them from her quilting business QuiltND.

Profits from the sales of the quilts go back to the women in the form of uniforms, scholarships for girls, vocational school and loans to women who have begun a sewing center.

For more information visit asantenetwork.org or call Jacobson at 701-539-2310.