Ethiopian Basket

Day 359: When my mother was a young girl, family friend Daisy went to be a missionary in Ethiopia. Idealistic to a fault, I have no doubt that Daisy's eyes were opened wide when she discovered the living conditions her converts had to endure, but she stuck with it for several years until she contracted malaria and had to be sent home to the US.

During the years she ministered to the impoverished and spiritually needy, she sent home a few handcrafted items, one of which was this sewing basket which in my own childhood was still brightly colored. My mother was rather casual about where she kept it, and thus the lid became badly sun-faded. The interior is still bright (perhaps not as bright as it once was), and now I keep it out of strong light, still using it as a container for sewing supplies and small projects. Although I never knew Daisy, the memories of her which my mother imparted to me always rise when I lift the lid.