My very dear friend was deeply affected by the Apology Day as the high profile, political build up brought to the surface many things that happened to her that still have impact today.
It was not a celebratory week for her and she refused the offer to go to Canberra as part of the group representing the Stolen children who have survived.
On the weekend after the Apology she spent a couple of days with Sal and I and I invited her to create a piece of empowerment art to honour the Mother she never knew and the Sisters who were lost to her.I created the ‘base’ beads using Das clay, they had a Mother / Goddess theme you can see here:
I painted the base coat in the colours she requested and then she took the beads home with her after we spent a bit of time in the market picking the black and orange ‘filler” beads:
Words could not express the joy in my heart when my friend came to see me yesterday on the way back from a gathering of her colleagues who work with the Stolen Generation and she showed me her “Empowerment Necklace” in progress…
As I held the amazingly energised, vibrant beads in my hand I knew beyond any doubt that “creating” offers avenues and pathways that ‘counseling’ rarely travels along..
My friends Mother, Sisters, Daughters, Aunty and Grandmothers were all there in this beautiful strand of ’story beads’..
Pretty cool hey? I LOVE my friend…her resolve not to let the shocking events of her childhood overwhelm her never ceases to amaze me…
Honouring the Fathers, Uncles, Brothers, Grandfathers and Sons is the next story unfolding…
