Embroideries inspired by the
"I Love You Positive or Negative" campaign.


The activity of embroidery began in July 2005 with a group of 100 women from the Malanda community in Swaziland. They received an initial training organised in collaboration with Create Africa South an NGO based in Durban. after getting the skills, Designing Hope organised a second training based on the interpretation of the campaign message I Love U Positive or Negative. This was a rich source of information to build the international campaign.

Here are some exemples of interpretation by the women:

	Khombisile “Life goes on”.... This women lost two of her relatives including her brother a few months after embroiding this canvas. This women is strong enough to keep an extraordinary sense of humour and positiveness much appreciated by the community.
	Ntombie “There is prosperity even if you are positive”. The“VCT” Voluntary Counselling and Testing center, apparait souvent sur les broderies often appears on the embroideries, most of the time with someone walking someone else to get tested.
	Delly “You will remain my Mother even if you are Positive”. “Healthy food is the order of the day”... Notion of “healthy food” is quite acknowledged by people living with HIV AIDS as an essential complement to medical follow up
	Khetsa “How to help someone living with HIV & AIDS”. This women almost embroided the guide to helping someone in it's daily life, supporting a neightbor, helping with house cleaning, food preparation, washing, entertainement...
	Dudu & Nompumelelo “You are still my brother”. “I love my brother, there is hope.” Women's embroidery reveals to which extend each family is affected in Swaziland, in every generation, and how the notion of acceptance and support of affected family members is something that needs to be written and said, as if it was not a natural thing. It is more a family secret, and a sister will discreetly support her brother, convince him to go to the hospital, and get tested, Even if very often it is too late when they accept to go.
	Phindile “I love myself as I am Positive”. “There is hope even if you are positive”. This women had the strenght to reveal her status within a group of 100 women from her neighborhood, This confidence is a first victory against stigma.

AWARENESS T-SHIRTS

Embroidery turned out to be a wonderful medium to reveal talents, and duplicate this message on awareness tools, and especially T-shirts..



Designing Hope’s benefited from Ithemba's Expertise in France to develop this activity, especially through an exhibition on Maison & Objet fair in September 2005.
This exhibition gave much opening to this initiative, and developed a real potential for these women.
Designing Hope however had to face the reality of a difficult activity to run locally, with an evergrowing number of women wishing to be involved and trained, in communities where activities are so needed.

Local organisation, supply of materials, transport of material, exports, customs and international regulations have had a negative impact to a spontaneous initiative that did not take all of these realities into account and was developed in a very short schedule.




Alet Fick, Designing Hope's local coordinator, completed this action working closely with the two counsellors based in Mfuleni, one of Cape Town's furthest township around the “I Love You Positive or Negative” campaign. 30 HIV+ women have been embroiding T-shirts and teddy bears carrying the campaign message.




all these items are distributed by Ithemba (Available on www.ithemba.fr). Each item bought finances free distribution of similar items in local communities. (Read for instance the human ruban project organized with the Lycée Français de Johannesburg. (picture bellow) and the Amazing Grace Orphanage donation.






OTHER ITEMS

Together with Ithemba, other objects have been developped, such as cushions and teddybears, also carrying the campaign message.
 

Love Letters

LOVE LETTERS is the latest embroidery project developped with Ithemba.
an embroided alphabet has been designed, gathering 50 letters, figures and symbols combining different embroidery techniques. Embroided individually within support groups in comunity venues and hospital, they can be assembled on banners, as collective artworks, carrying the campaign message. An adaptation of this alphabet, mounted as broches is also available as a fashion accessory for clothes or bags. (Read more on Ithemba's web site)

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