By Leah Sanchez
LHS senior Paw Spai Moo sits at a table, with memories of her past in her home country and her future goals in mind, at her hands lay the fabric and thread that will forever record her experience.
Paw Spai Moo along with 15 others from LHS will be given the opportunity to express their prior environment, tradition, and everything that is them, and sharing with us their goals for the future in The Quilted Conscience project.
The group met the 16th, 18th and the 19th of September at the Sheldon Art Gallery, who volunteered their beautiful building during the process. When asked if excited for this project Paw said, “Yes, I’m really excited,” Moo said. “Because we just want to represent our culture and what we usually did when we lived in our country.”
The project was started by Native Nebraskan Director John Sorensen in Grand Island. As Sorensen grew up there, he began noticing the difference in the population that was, at the time, mostly whites. He was interested in this change.
He decided in 2008 to do a project to bring the Sudanese kids (in Grand Island) together with some of the women of the community that were quilters.
The students were given the chance to do two squares on a larger quilt. One square represented their memories from their first country and the other represented their dreams for this country.
Lincoln High ELL Department Chair Susan Hertzler expressed her excitement about this project. “I feel lucky that I get to have that [cultural exposure], and this is an opportunity for me to share those really important stories and relationships with people outside of Lincoln High School,” Hertzler said. She then shared her hopes to continue this project, even after this one is done. “If this quilt does not make it permanently at Lincoln High, then we will do another. I just envision it happening more than once,” she added.
This project gives us insight of what we fail to remember and that is that everyone has a story all their own. Each and every individual has his or her own, captivating life. Hertzler said, “Learning is the beauty of it, it’s a two way street.”
Paw explains her life in those two squares pointing out, “When we lived in Thai refugee camps we didn’t have freedom, but here in the United States we have the freedom to do whatever we want.” This continuance of the ever-growing diversity we have here, not only in our country but at Lincoln High, makes us who we are. Proud.
