Kenya
Hujambo,
Today we are going to talk about Kenya and also learn how to make a Kenyan
Clothespin Doll.
Here are
a few facts about Kenya and the people who live there.
- The capital of Kenya is Nairobi.
- While Swahili is the official language in Kenya there are 68 languages
- Kenyan money is called the Kenya shilling.
- 51.39
million people live in Kenya.
- Half
of the people in Kenya live in poverty
- In Kenya they drive on the left hand side of the road.
- The flags black stripe represents the Kenyan people, the red stripe their struggle for independence, and the green stripe agriculture. Its shield and spears stand for the defense of freedom.
In Africa there are over 300 million people who have little opportunity to hear the gospel. This includes people in Kenya. AIM or Africa Inland Mission was founded in 1895 to help the many people in Africa hear the good news. AIM has people serving in over 20 African nations. Their main goal is to start new churches and train African folks to be able to lead their own churches. They also do many other things. Too learn more about AIM and their work click the link above. Pray for the many people in Kenya who have never heard the gospel and that someone would go tell them.
These are two books that I have read and found interesting. If you would like to read them for yourself you can buy both of these books, Simba of the White Mane and A Girl of Two Worlds. Both books tell about the Masai people and give a window into what life is like for some of them.
Now
let’s make a Kenyan clothespin doll.
This
is the picture that I am looking off of to make the doll. Please note that you can make the clothes any
color you want. Also the Masai people
still wear clothes that look like this.
What
you’ll need:
clothespin
hot
glue
black
paint
paint
brush
light blue, yellow and orange friendship thread
white
paper
scissors
orange
fabric
elastic
white
thread
needle
dark
blue, black, white, green, and red friendship thread
Optional
item:
wood
(for the arms)
We’ll
start with her head. Use hot glue to make
a very thin layer of hair. In reality
only Masai warriors have long hair and the women shave their heads. Hot glue a blue band of friendship thread
around the edge of her hair. Wrap some
yellow thread around the blue piece and then make it go down to the white
triangle on her forehead. Finally add earrings by cutting two 2 ¼” inch pieces
of orange thread and making circles out
of them and then gluing them onto your dolls head about where ears should be.
Next
let’s make her clothes. First we’ll make
her skirt but you can cut out both pieces at once.
The
skirt piece: 2 ½” x 3 ¾” Cut the bottom
edges in a curve so that you will be able to see her feet in the front.
The
top piece: 2 ½” x 3 ½”
Melt
the edges of the fabric.
Now
cut a piece of elastic 1 ¼” long. I got
my little sister to help me stretch the elastic while I sewed the skirt piece
to it. DON’T pull the elastic as long as the fabric. Once the elastic is on sew
the extra part of the skirt on around so that it is overlapped in the
front. To sew the extra on I put the
skirt onto the doll and added some things inside the skirt so it was stretched and
then finished sewing it.
The
top of her clothes is fairly simple. Sew
across the corner and then gather it. sew it tight and then with the string
still attached do the same to the other corner.
Once both corners are gathered and sewed together you can pull the dress
up and then slide the skirt on underneath.
This
part is optional. Cut two arms: one
fairly straight with a little curve at the bottom for her hand and the other
bent at the elbow. Sand the arms down
fairly skinny since she won’t have sleeves to hide them. Use hot glue to fasten the arms at her
shoulders. Pull her top piece of clothes
down on her left side so that you can glue the arm on.
Now
we’ll make her necklace. First cut a white
piece approximately 2” long and glue it into a circle. Add a dark blue piece around that and then
cut it off. Then add another white
strip, a black one, white, green, red, green, red, and last another white
strip. Next cut it open down the back,
fit it around her neck and then re-glue it behind her neck. You can use some glue to hold it in place if
you want.
Add
an arm band by wrapping a small piece of white friendship thread around her arm
just above her elbow and gluing.
Your
doll is now finished, find a Kenyan name for her and she is all ready to do
something fun with. We decided to call
her Makena which means Happiness. Okay that is all for today. May God bless you. Good-bye or Kwaheri.
Sources:
culturalatlas.sbs.com.au
World book Encyclopedia, 1985
Africa Inland Mission
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