suzanne garr

We were lucky that Suzanne was part of Team 4, and we are even luckier that she has chosen to return to Uganda this December as a member of Team 5! The children will be so happy to see her again. Suzanne was a warm, nurturing, loving presence; the children were constantly by her side so they could soak up as much of that good energy as possible. Rarely did I ever see Suzanne walking around the orphanage without two small hands locked in hers.

After the KC artists completed their dolls, and I started posting them here on the blog last month, Suzanne decided she wanted to decorate her own two dolls which she had made under he tutelage of Rosette (doll maker extraordinaire). She has entitled the finished piece "The Sisters."

Here is her story:

"As a part of Team 4, Gloria had charged me with working with Rosette to make banana dolls for the fundraiser. I was slightly intimidated to say the least. I was following in the footsteps of Eddie Feinstein. With oodles of patience, Rosette taught me the art of banana doll making. My first attempt was a ‘tall, skinny’ doll, which had Rosette breaking out in pure laughter. I quickly learned that I needed to ‘fatten’ up my dolls.


Rosette and Suzanne

As each day rolled into the next we made more and more dolls and Rosette and I became closer, like sisters. There was a moment one evening, Christmas Eve that I was not feeling well so I sat down while waiting for our ride back to the hotel. Rosette came over and put her arm around me for comfort. She quietly sat there with me and waited. We did not speak a word. She simply held my hand. The irony was, I was there to be with her and the other kids… to comfort, to hold a hand, to listen and she was the one that was there for me. She was my new sister and it all happened in just a few, short days. We had this unspoken bond between us.

As the dolls were beginning to be posted on Gloria’s blog, I was in awe of them and their artistic interpretations. They took me back to the days spent making them with Rosette. I thought I would love to donate & create a doll in honor of Rosette.

My doll turned into two dolls, as I wanted to channel that feeling I had with Rosette into the essence of that unspoken bond we now share. Rosette is the big sister because she taught me, the little sister, how to make the dolls, much like ‘big sisters teach little sisters.’ Rosette is adorned in bright colors, as that is her: vibrant, full of life and a beautiful young woman. I wanted the sisters to have some similarity, but also personalities of their own. I also wanted to include every detail from their necklaces to the head wraps that matched one of the fabrics in their skirts. They each share a charm between them that simply says, ‘sisters.’"