Maria cried this morning when she looked at her e-mail and saw that some very good people had sent her more than $500 for her trip to India while she slept overnight. “I don’t deserve this,” she said, “sometimes it frightens me.” And it also inspires and exhilarates her.
I see the light in her eyes when she sees how much people care for her and support her.
(If you want to help Maria get to India today, you can contribute directly to Maria/India Trip, Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or you can contribute via Paypal – her ID is [email protected], or wait until her crowdsourcing page goes up on Indiegogo later this week, and thanks. She needs $6,000 to get there to teach the victims of sex trafficking.)
That is part of Maria’s journey, in the time that I have known her she has grown every single day, from a person who did not believe she deserved anything, or was worth much of anything, to a gifted, loving and increasingly confident artist and human being. I have greatly benefited from this strength and sense of self, and so have many others.
People who are not strong might hesitate to go to Calcutta, one of the poorest cities on the earth, to teach the victims of slavery and persecution how to make art. She has never been outside of the U.S. She never blinked.
Maria has transformed the humble potholder into a powerful symbol of the power of art to transform, she has been invited by a socially responsible tourism group to go to Calcutta, India this coming February to teach potholder-making and other fiber arts to women in Calcutta, victims of the deeply embedded sex trafficking syndicates that thrive there.
Some of these women have been slaves for years, and are eager to learn new ways for them to make a living and take care of themselves and their children. Maria is deeply touched that she was asked to teach them how to make potholders, the launching point of her art, the making beautiful things out of discarded fabrics.
She wants very much to go, of course, and we both believe she must go. This is a lifetime opportunity.
We were sobered by the cost, which will easily exceed $6,000 as we tally up visa, registration, travel, supplies, vaccinations, gifts for the women there, food and hotel, fabrics and materials and other expenses. My role is to help talk through the details and implications. She wants to give something back to every person who contributes, and I imagine she will.
She also needs to keep her own art going and deal with the loss of revenue she will experience in terms of preparation, teaching and the aftermath. This week, she is planning to launch a crowdsourcing campaign on Idiegogo.com, details to come.
She decided to ask the readers of our blog and members of our community for help first, there is an intimacy and inspiration to that. Community means a great deal to us. People seem eager to support this cause, it is perhaps the most moral of any that I have been involved with, I will help in any way that I can.
And I can’t quite think of a better cause. Maria lights up when she thinks about teaching these women how to make a potholder, what a simple yet powerful idea. It could change their lives.
People who wish to contribute before the crowdsourcing, or who would rather contribute to her directly can send checks to Maria/India Trip c/o Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.
I told Maria she needs to remind herself every day as this support comes to her that she is deserving of it, she has worked hard for it, she will do good with it in every way. I told her to imagine coming back from India with boxes of exotic fabric that could re-shape her art for years, if not forever.1
I have seen the love and generosity and courage of this wonderful woman for some years now, I could not begin to list her good and loving deeds, her love is a light that warms almost everyone around her. I told her she does not need to be a saint to be worthy, she just needs to be herself. Thanks for your support. Details to come. Maria/India Trip, c/o Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.