Maine women knit dolls for African AIDS orphans

Somewhere in Africa, a young girl waits for medicine.

Her parents are dead, victims of a widespread AIDS epidemic. The child has the disease too and may never reach adulthood, even with the medication.

This grim scene plays over and over again in the bleakest regions of Africa where these children, known as AIDS orphans, yearn for comfort.

On the other side of the world, in Hancock County, Maine, a woman knits a doll.

It’s a simple design, woven with many different colors of yarn then stuffed with poly fiber. Within a few hours, the doll is complete.

The woman is one of a handful of Maine knitters who are donating their time and talents for a cause they may never see up close.

Even though the girl in Africa and the woman in Maine will never meet, the knitted doll creates a bond that bridges two continents.

A nonprofit organization in Vermont called Children Affected by HIV-AIDS collects donated dolls from all over New England, including Hancock County.

Known as “duduza” dolls, named for an African word for comfort, the toys are used as packaging material in boxes of AIDS medication that are sent overseas. When the boxes are opened and the medicine is distributed, African children get a doll as well.

“These are children who have nothing. There is no social net that would catch these children,” Susanna Grannis, founder of CHABHA, said in a recent telephone interview from her home in West Windham, Vt. “We’ve been in homes where there is literally no food, let alone toys.”

While the doll program has spread throughout the Northeast, it didn’t reach eastern Maine until recently. Barbara Sawyer of Sorrento brought the idea back to Maine after visiting a friend in Massachusetts.

“They are so simple to make. It’s such an easy way to do something nice,” she said. “The dolls really don’t seem like much to us, but I’ll just bet they mean the world to these children.”

Sawyer, who teaches a knitting class and works part time at Shirley’s Yarns & Crafts in Hancock, convinced other knitters to give it a try.

“They told me about this project and I just thought it was great,” said Nancy Dwyer, who recently moved to Maine from upstate New York. “I joined the knitting class to meet people and keep me busy during long winter nights,” she said with a laugh. “But it’s nice to do something like this. You feel an accomplishment.”

Shirley Jones, who has owned her craft store for 34 years, said knitting for charity is quite common, but she had never seen anything quite like the duduza dolls.

“We’ve done scarves and mittens for cancer organizations, but these dolls are a wonderful way to do something to give back,” she said. “These are countries who have lost a whole generation to AIDS.”

Jones has agreed to collect the dolls at her store. She’s even giving away the patterns for free.

So far, about 30 dolls have been collected, but Sawyer said as many as a dozen women have expressed interest, and more dolls are expected to come in. When enough toys are collected, they will be sent to CHABHA in Vermont.

“We’ll keep collecting them as long as people are knitting,” Sawyer said.

Grannis, a retired educator, started CHABHA in 2003. She and her husband, both Fulbright scholars, had returned recently from the African country of Namibia.

“We had been hearing about the AIDS epidemic for years, and we got to see a little of it up close,” she said. “I started this nonprofit basically to teach people in the U.S. about what’s happening to children because of HIV-AIDS. The children there don’t have a voice.”

So far, CHABHA has provided assistance to more than 3,000 children affected by HIV or AIDS in the African countries of Rwanda and South Africa, and Grannis is optimistic about expanding the reach of her organization.

While she admitted she’s happy that the dolls have become a conversation piece at knitting parties throughout the Northeast, Grannis hopes that’s just a start.

“I’m really delighted about the doll program, but at the end of the day, they’re only toys,” she said. “The dolls are sort of an adjunct to our main work. We’re trying to encourage the doll-making as a way to make people aware of the need for funds.”

Last year, CHABHA raised about $150,000, nearly all of which was sent overseas to Rwanda and South Africa.

“It’s a tiny amount in American terms, but, boy, can you do a lot with that money in Africa,” Grannis said.

For information about duduza dolls or Children Affected by HIV-AIDS, visit the nonprofit’s Web site: www.chabha.org. For free patterns, visit Shirley’s Yarns & Crafts on Route 1 in Hancock.