Dolls

                                  DOLLS
                      By : TSURTIDOGNI
                                  032910

Dolls fascinate me. I never had a doll when I was a child for two reasons:
1)  My parents simply cannot afford to buy me one.
2)  The stores in our village did not sell any of them.
So I was not able to have a doll, but I have seen it in the books and magazines
that my older sisters shared with me.

I was in grade 1, about six years old when I decided, "I will make my own doll."
My mother asked , "How ?" I replied " I will and it will be very beautiful." Then I asked permission that I see and visit the dressmaker who lives about ten minutes walk from our house. My parents permitted me to go.

"Good morning, may I ask some of your cloth strips ?" the dressmaker, Tira
smiled,"Yes, you can have them,  what are you going to do with it ?"
I replied, " I will make my own doll." She gave me different sizes and different
cloth strips  that made me very happy as I thanked her and ran back home.

I made my first doll. I connected the strips and made a body, the arms and the
legs, and the head, but there's no face. My sisters were laughing and were amazed with what I had just made and my mother told me:
"Someday, you will put a face in your doll and it will be very beautiful." She hugged me and told me to keep on learning on how to perfect my making of dolls.

I was busy with my classes and with so many interests, and as time goes by
I forgot about the doll making. I grew up, fell in love, got married and have a one
daughter. I was a part of the corporate world for more than twenty-five years,
and when me and my husband decided to stay here in the countryside for good
one of my childhood interests and that was making dolls came up into my mind.

After my gardening, my writings, my basket weavings and many more interests,
I decided to try making dolls and I told myself, "You must have pretty faces !"
I gathered all my old clothings that I am not using anymore and started making dolls. The question: How about the face? I started drawing their faces. At first,
I was not pleased but with constant practice I made them so beautiful. I made
a dozen and  I displayed it in our visiting area. I sold them all. One lovely lady
who owns a school bought them for the students to enjoy in her library. So I made more.

One day, a Japanese man visited us and he was holding hand in hand with his
seven year-old daughter. The father told her daughter to look what I was making.
When the daughter saw the 18 pieces of dolls that I finished making, the girl took
them all that she even gave some to her father and said" Papa, I love them all"
The Japanese man said "Please give them all to her, I will pay you, today is my
daughter's seventh birthday." Oh ! my day was glorious !

A lady who said she works as an editor of a national newspaper bought one of my dolls and she told me :"In my 35th year in this world, I have never seen a doll as unique as this" and she paid me double of the price. "WOW !"

A French lady bought one dozen as a gift to her grandchildren.

Today, I am taking a break from my doll making. I already made 50 dolls and I placed them inside a box and surely anyone who will visit us will buy one or two or more.

As I write this short biographical story, it also bring me back to the good old days, and being poor is not a hindrance but an inspiration to move on with life as I always believe that dreams will be a reality if one must work for it.

By the way, I call my dolls, Naomi's Dolls. Naomi is my name too, and I am a
very special doll to my family and friends.

Yes ! God surely makes a way......