June 26, 2012

Rwanda: Kitenge Fabric Dress

June 26, 2012/ Katie Taylor

I am not a fashion blogger.

This is because (a) I am not fashionable, and (b) I have a very hard time looking normal in posed photos.

But this dress warrants a little fashion blogger-esque post.

Remember when I told you about my East African kitenge fabric? Back when I had just returned from Rwanda?

And I told you that I had left some fabric behind so that my sister's seamstress could make me a dress?

Well, the dress has arrived! All the way from Rwanda, and I absolutely love it.

I wore it out to the Burlington Farmers Market on Saturday and threw my arms up in a victory cheer when a girl walking by me turned and yelled over her shoulder, "love your dress!" Score.

And it has pockets.

Double score.

And since these pictures were taken at our farmers market surrounded by scrumptious locally grown fruits and veggies (I had a delicious fresh squeezed pear ginger kale juice from the solar-powered juice stand), I'll make an only slightly clumsy segue into telling you all about an awesome organization down in Tennessee that needs your help to win a fruit orchard.

Plant the Seed is a not-for-profit program that uses community and school gardens as outdoor classrooms to educate and empower under-resourced young people.

It's run by a fabulous (and funny) woman named Susannah, and it's in the running for a whole orchard of fruit trees from the Edy's Communities Take Root contest. You can read about Plant the Seed here and then head over to the Communities Take Root website and vote for Plant the Seed every day. There's not much time left, so get over there now!

Don't you love how this post transitioned from a fashion post into one about donating money to a gardening and food security nonprofit? I told you - a fashion blogger, I am not.

Katie

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#Repost @ijeomaoluo with @make_repost
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I spoke with @voxdotcom about the racial justice moment we're in right now. “Be wary of anything that allows you to do something that isn’t actually felt by people of color,” Oluo

Learning. #Repost @ijeomaoluo with @make_repost ・・・ I spoke with @voxdotcom about the racial justice moment we're in right now. “Be wary of anything that allows you to do something that isn’t actually felt by people of color,” Oluo said. “I always ask myself when I’m trying to do solidarity work, can the people I’m in solidarity with actually feel this? Can they spend this? Can they eat this? Does this actually help them in any way? And if it doesn’t, let it go.” https://www.vox.com/2020/6/9/21285062/ijeoma-oluo-interview-talk-race-book-george-floyd-protests

Beautiful image and important reminder #Repost @mamaglow with @make_repost
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Mama Glow - Black breastfeeding is a revolutionary act. There are so many barriers to breastfeeding success including: lack of peer support, lack of familial encouragement

Beautiful image and important reminder #Repost @mamaglow with @make_repost ・・・ Mama Glow - Black breastfeeding is a revolutionary act. There are so many barriers to breastfeeding success including: lack of peer support, lack of familial encouragement, lack of education and instruction, aggressive marketing from formula companies and health care providers, less accessibility to lactation consultants, lack of intra-community support, policy gaps like lack of federal paid family leave, etc. Systemic racism plays a huge role in breastfeeding and the trauma endured by enslaved black women who were forced to nurse the children of their masters is directly correlated with black breastfeeding rates today. _ The CDC found that of infants born in 2012, 66% of Black women chose to breastfeed. While 75% of White women and 80% of Latinex women choose to breastfeed. Who really has a choice is the question. _ Not all black mothers are set up to be home with their infants for a great length of time them and able to nurse their babies on-demand. 1 in 4 women in the US head back to work 10 days after giving birth. This includes people like our essential workers. All mothers should have access to quality and culturally competent care regardless of ethnicity, skin tone, partner status, income, location or insurance. They should have access to education and support groups during the perinatal period to help encourage breastfeeding success. Modeling breastfeeding in the community is an act of community care. It preserves a natural biological process that is no longer instinctive. If we don’t see breastfeeding in our community then our chances for breastfeeding success decline. _ Salute to orgs like The Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association @bmbfa, who have a national impact on the reduction of racial disparities in breastfeeding success for black families. They provide education, valuable resources and ongoing support to black families and public/private agencies that service these families. _ Who are some of your favorite care providers and organizations serving the community and preserving breastfeeding? _ 📷 @rebornfromwi