What could you draw
on this calico square to show students in another country the
things you love about your life here?" With gusto the year
5 students at Liwara Catholic School in Greenwood, W.A. proudly
set to with bold blues, rich ochre red, bright gold and green
to draw the sea, the sunset, their house, the football oval, the
map, their friends, their family, their pets.
The "Friendship
Quilt" grew quickly. I assembled it in the pre-trip rush
over Christmas, edged it in the rusty red and gold that set off
the strong Australian desert sunset colours the students had used.
In Hanoi, despite the
tumult from the teeming playground at the Private Foreign Language
School the Year 12 students pored over each quilt symbol. They
asked questions about Australia.
The Vietnamese students drew the calico symbols of their land,
experimenting softly with the fabric crayons, chatting about their
choices and teasing each other as they enjoyed the rare diversion
from chalk and talk. With subtle, gentle, traditionally stylised
strokes they sketched the proud symbols of their land, lotus and
bamboo, Ho Chi Minh and Hoan Kiem Lake.
Their patches joined
impressions squares from some of the other teachers on the tour,
linked in a quilt that brought the greeting of friendship back
to Australia.
At the final dinner
the Liwara's Friendship Quilt was presented to the Principal of
Hanoi Foreign Language School. The Principal was impressed - the
patches were linked and bordered with the colours of the Vietnamese
flag! Serendipity, coincidence, common threads link us all!
We spend our lives
piecing together the patchwork impressions of our world. TICFA
helps.
