| Recipe bead necklace auction - the start of an incredible journey |
Mayagems in Sydney, Australia is hosting an innovative fundraising event for Mothers for All on the 19th December at 11/20 Avalon Parade, Avalon from 12-14:00. Several well-known Australian chefs will be in attendance doing an African cook-off extravaganza, including Wanitha Tanasingham celebrity chef for Fox Studios, Hassan M'Souli whose latest cookbook on Moroccan food was voted best cookbook out of Australia 2009, and Victor Pisapia who has his own TV show.
 The highlight will be the auction by Susan Rudd of the truly amazing Mothers for All ‘recipe bead’ necklace, designed and created by Susan Storm and David Sutherland of Mayagems. The main beads in this necklace have all been made out of old recipe books by our very first group of Botswana Mothers (there are now 18 groups in Botswana and South Africa). The Mothers for All project uses waste paper from a variety of sources to make beautiful beads but the idea of using old recipe books resulted from a meeting between Wanitha and Mayagems. Susan and David have been using our Mothers' paper beads in their necklace creations for several months. Wanitha became very excited by both the beads and the project, which supports the caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children in Botswana and South Africa. As all her best recipes have been passed on to her by her family (her father was the Head Chef for the Kedah Royal Family in Malaysia) so the idea of a necklace made out of recycled recipes that would be passed on and on, spreading both enjoyment and support for Mothers for All, was born. The ‘travelling recipe bead’ necklace will therefore have many custodians who will keep it for a couple of weeks before sending it on its way to the next person who has already put in a bid, or by holding another auction. The story of each new custodian will be featured in a book made by our Mothers out of recycled paper, which will accompany the necklace on its journey around the world, as well as the Travelling Bead Blog. Each new custodian will place the money into a PayPal account that has been set up for this purpose. People wishing to ‘host’ the necklace need to enter their names and country details on the Blog so that they can be put on the list of potential custodians, which already includes people from the UK, South Africa, Botswana and Bahrain. You may wish to sign up for the Blog or the Mothers for All Twitter feed so that you can receive regular updates about the necklace’s journey. |