Arts and Crafts Show to Benefit Rwandan Orphans

Last Saturday I did my very first show. It was held in the parking lot of the college, organized and put on by the Intercultural Communication students. The vendor fees and t-shirt sales went toward building a house for Rwandan orphans, victims of genocide.

It was a really small show with only about 20 vendors, but it was for a great cause.




The whole thing was promoted by the Chair of the Communication Department, my friend Tina.


It was so windy I had to finally give up on my upright displays and lay almost everything flat on the table. Some of my business cards are now floating somewhere on campus. I shared a table with my friend Julie, who brought candy canes which made us very popular with the kiddies!


Because of the wind and because the Gem Faire was in town, I didn't do very well in sales. I did go to the Gem Faire after the show was over and undid any gains I made at the show and then some!


If I thought of the show only in terms of income generated, I'd have to write it off as a loss. (Some vendors didn't sell anything at all, though, so I did better than most!) The thing is, there was so much more to be gained from this event.

They had two drumming bands play, which was awesome! One was a small band called Panzumo who kept us bopping with Africanesque beats.


The other band was a bunch of kids and their instructor from a local drum shop. These kids were fantastic! They played drums, trash cans and trash can lids. They had choreographed movements to match their playing. I was so impressed with these guys! Their name is Boom Chaka. The kid pictured below is about to do a backwards somersault off of that trash can!



Needless to say, they drew quite an audience.

The most impressive thing about this event, though, has to do with the Intercultural Communication students. They worked like demons to put this thing together in a short period of time. Seeing college students come together like this to make a difference in the lives of others much less fortunate than they was a real privilege. They actually had three days of events to raise money to build a home for orphans in Rwanda. It was the students themselves who came up with the ideas for all of this.

The event on Saturday may not have been lucrative for me personally, but it was fun. Between the bands and the joy of watching the students work to help those who need it, it was a much more fulfilling experience for me than just making a profit. I was so moved by their hard work and dedication that I contributed 10% of my sales (not much, but every little bit helps) to their cause.

For more information about the efforts of the Intercultural Communication students' efforts and events, go here:
3 Days of Change

For information on the situation in Rwanda, go here:
Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened