Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Fall 2012 Issue | Page 15

Partners in Sisterhood
Emily Cherry
Over the past several years, 13 groups and churches in the
Diocese of Virginia have partnered with parishes in the
Diocese of Central Tanganyika, Tanzania through a program
called Carpenter’s Kids. By developing partnerships with
churches and groups abroad, Carpenter’s Kids provides
vulnerable children in each of 125 villages with clothing,
meals and supplies.

These 13 relationships with Virginia groups have borne
great fruits: some churches have traveled to their partner
village to conduct teaching programs; others have sponsored
special famine relief projects.

And over the past year, several women from St. Paul’s,
Richmond have partnered with the women of their village,
Mwitkira, in a new way. The idea came from Susan Brooks,
whose son, Will Brooks, was working as a Young Adult
Service Corps volunteer of the Episcopal Church for the
Diocese of Central Tanganyika. After her first trip to visit her
son in Tanzania, Brooks came back wanting to contribute.
“You can’t just come back and do nothing,” said Brooks. And
so an idea started to form. Brooks was looking for a project
that would benefit the village in a sustainable way, and that
had growth potential – not just limited to Mwitkira.

Dadas and Design is the result. Dada means “sister”
in Swahili. The group pairs dadas in Tanzania with dadas in
Virginia. The Tanzanian seamstresses create the signature
garment: a pair of pajama-style pants in brightly colored
fabrics, each pair unique. Shipments of these pants – or
lalas, from the Swahili phrase for “sleep peacefully,” lala
salama – then make their way to the United States, where the
Virginian women sell them at churches, school fairs and local
markets. “When these big boxes arrive, … you can smell the
smell, you can feel the heat, you can hear the singing,” said

Carpenter's Kids Partnerships
The following Virginia churches and groups have partnered with
Tanzanian villages to support vulnerable children.
Buck Mountain, Earlysville
Emmanuel, Greenwood
Friends from Colorado
Friends from Pawleys
The Gottwald Family
Grace, Keswick
Grace, Kilmarnock
Holy Comforter, Richmond
St. Andrew’s, Burke
St. Christopher’s School, Richmond
The Church of St. Clement, Alexandria
St. Paul’s, Ivy
St. Paul’s, Richmond
Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria
Westover Church, Charles City

The Tanzanian seamstresses create the lalas, pajama style
pants which are then sold in the United States through Dadas
and Design.

Brooks. “They’re very vibrant. They truly do reflect … the joy
I felt when I was there. In a piece of fabric … you get a little
bit of that joy.”

A group of women in Mwitkira produce the garments,
and t