Tie-Dye Time

So at times when applying for my current work overseas I often thought how useless my major would be. Even though West Africa is filled with textiles, I didn’t know how dominate it would be in my current country. Compared to the other West African countries it does not offer a lot of textiles within the country. None the less, the Father has allowed me to use my love for textiles in creating relationships here. One of the first Hausa words I learned was “saka” which means “to weave.” The second textile word I learned was “rini” or “to dye”.



my fabric of pink and gray





This came in handy when I met a lady, ‘M’, during my language study stay that dyes fabric. She was nice enough to let me watch her dye my fabric and I wrote down the Hausa names of the materials she used. It was extraordinary to see her and her friend work, using basic everyday items to complete this task. They didn’t have any string to tie the fabric once folding so she cut a piece of old bike tire inner tube with a razor blade. In America I would have probably run all the way to A.C. Moore or Michaels if I didn’t have the “proper” materials to tie my fabric with. My fabric turned out beautiful and I will get it back from the tailor’s, embroidered and everything next week.


From this dyeing excursion I have visited ‘M’ several times. She has helped me practice my Hausa and has been very patient with me. I let her borrow and look through my textile dyeing and embroidery book last week. I also brought my laptop over to her house to show pictures of my textile work from college. She enjoyed them and asked me to teach her to weave. Oh I would love to if only I had a loom and materials with me. However, I told her I would bring my weaving book next week so she could see the basic workings of the loom and how to draft weave patterns. Actually translated into Hausa I said, “I will come next week, weaving book, you look.” Haha, baby steps right!


I ended up asking my language teacher if they sale looms in the capital city. He said they did but that he didn’t know how expensive they were. I have to go into the capital mid-January to get my residence card so I have decided to scout out the town for a loom. That way I can practice my weaving here, teach ‘M’ the craft, and then leave the loom with her after my two year term is up. I like this plan a lot so hopefully the capital will sale looms and they won’t be too expensive!



my narrow-strip woven blanket for the cooler months :)