Local Jasperite takes sewing talent, machines, caring nature to Guatemala

Tennessee Williams had it right when he wrote “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” The kindness of strangers can be seen in a plethora of acts: some miniscule like a place to stay, and others a little more monumental, like giving a stranger the ability to sew their own clothes, grow their own food and make nutritious life-sustaining food for their family.

Dec. 10 marks the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and it also marks the last of the 16 Days of Activism. Thus, it’s a monumental day in history and it’s important to note that to this day, there are countries out there that do not provide the same basic rights that we take for granted. Living in a place like Jasper, or anywhere in Canada, it can be easy to become complacent about the world we live in, forgetting the poverty and hardship that others live with every day.

Donnelly Hart, who has lived in Jasper since 1972, has taken it upon herself to help the less fortunate by volunteering her time, equipment and money to help a community in Guatemala gain skills that she hopes will help to end their poverty. Her philosophy is simple: “Education helps to reduce their poverty”. She has been working with a like-minded Dutch friend, Angeline Baron-Hill, for several years and will return to Guatemala next month to continue her efforts.

Hart is well-known as a local sewing teacher and believes she’s taught over 200 Jasperites. A little business that started out of necessity to subsidize her income, it turned out to be a very successful venture for the mother of two. Ten years after starting her small business, when her children were grown up, Hart said, “I had a feeling that I wanted to try to do something different and maybe make some form of a small contribution.” So she did.

Her first venture to Guatemala was in Oct. 2006 as a volunteer for Safe Passage. “What I could offer would be to teach sewing. So for the first year I did teach at the Safe Passage residential orphanage.” Hart said she worked with Husqvarna, a sewing machine company, and a local sewing shop to organize a “very good price on half a dozen machines. I ended up bringing two machines down and about 125 meters of fabric that I donated.” During her time at the orphanage she taught 41 children that the company had rescued from scavenging through the local dump.

It was on this trip that Hart met Baron-Hill. Unlike Hart, Baron-Hill’s expertise was in agriculture. “She worked with families. Her focus was always agriculture and she would teach them how to take their little plot of dirt and dig it up and get it ready and plant some seeds which she would provide and they’d end up with a little garden,” Hart said. “That’s her background and what she’s trained to do.”

They were the perfect team, Baron-Hill thought, and told Hart she’d be happy to work with her given the opportunity. Sadly, the orphanage was closed after a car accident claimed the life of the head of Safe Passage. Proactively, Hart contacted Baron-Hill and asked if she would like to work together. “So, I went down and spent nine weeks there,” explained Hart. “We found some space and we taught cooking, and sewing. Also, we did a bit of micro-credit loaning.” 

The pair tried to learn from other projects, of which there are many in Guatemala according to Hart, to find a sustainable and successful solution. They’re not looking for government support and do not want to be the next big agency. Instead, they want to keep a low profile and have an organization that consists of just the two of them. 

“We are lucky in the sense that it’s Angeline and I discussing a plan of action over coffee and trying to implement,” Hart said. “What I see from other projects, things get bogged down really, really quickly if there’s a lot of administration.” It’s nice to know that all the money donated to this little project goes directly to pay the electricity bill, the rent, buy fabric, and all the other things needed to teach the classes. Any of Hart’s “personal” expenses, which include her flight down, come out of her pocket.

The pair’s focus on helping the locals become sustainable and tightly bound within the project is evident. A Guatemalan cook was hired to help with the cooking lessons and “never were we introducing something that they didn’t have right there,” said Hart. She explains that they were trying to enhance the basic cooking skills they’d been taught as children. “We would enhance the nutrition component of it and try to teach them how to use products they don’t normally use, their own products that are available in Guatemala. Maybe offer something that has a little more flavour using herbs, and get them to grow some so they’d be able to use them.”

The sewing classes, where Hart’s expertise and passion shine through, are introductory classes to the “machines and how to maintain them,” she said. “How to use a pattern, pinning, cutting and sewing.” Hart’s admiration for their abilities is clear. “They proved to be excellent students, very, very good with their hands on the whole. But, nine weeks is a short time to get their project started,” she said.

A modest lady, Hart had always self-funded her trips and everything she used was donated mostly by her family. Her generosity and bashfulness are evident when she talks of any fundraising. “Up until this point, I have been able to do it with our personal family,” she said. “With our donations, with friends and some people in the community. I didn’t ask for anything, and I tried to keep a pretty low profile because I felt that it was a personal thing and just wanted to do it on my own, without very much hoopla.”

Despite Hart’s desire to keep the ‘hoopla’ to a minimum, with the expansion of her project has also come the expansion of costs. The duo now have a place to house their classes, somewhere they can call their own and leave their materials and equipment in a safe environment. But with a house come numerous new bills and suddenly costs have increased threefold. But this is outweighed by the fact it allows Hart and Baron-Hill to “set codes of conduct” and have a “set place that people come every time”. Hart hopes that her return students will be able to take the basic classes and continue to teach them while she is back home in Jasper, but if nothing else they will be able to “build on the skills that they learnt last year.” 

What would drive somebody to leave their quaint town in the Canadian Rockies and head to Guatemala for nine weeks a year? The motive behind such an effort is selfless and giving: the kindness of a stranger. “You gain a million times more than what you give and that’s absolutely the truth and although that can be used as a cliché it’s just so 100 per cent the truth,” said Hart. “There are some very hard frustrating days when you do question: is this effective? But those days are few and far between. You see that you’ve touched those peoples’ lives in a manner that has made it better than it was the day before. You’ve offered them some social release, which is sorely lacking, it’s nice to see the women interacting with each other. Hopefully, offering them a skill they didn’t have before, which is great to see. So, I would benefit almost 100 times over.” 

Hart’s generosity is not just found overseas, she will be having a fabric ‘stash’ giveaway Dec. 7 at 914 Tonquin Street from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Everything will be given away, unless people would like to make a donation that will go directly to support her project in Guatemala. She will also be speaking at the International Human Rights Day at JAG from noon to 1 p.m. as part of the 16 Days of Activism.