
Over the past few years I had the wonderful opportunity to help “Quit & Art” with their booth at the HIWC Bazaar. My ability to speak was useful for the group of deaf people who had made so many wonderful handicrafts and sown so beautiful quilts during the course of the year to sell as their means of making a living. The excitement of the “Quilt & Arts”-team and their welcoming spirit to me as an outsider are some of the treasured memories I will take with me when I leave Vietnam in a couple of months. It became kind of an annual tradition for me to ask if I could help them at the day of the bazaar. And I was always received with enthusiasm. We shared the work, their sandwiches and the cake I brought along. The excitement always grew towards the end of the day when the sales were summed up. Seeing the pride for their achievement in the eyes of the deaf and the happiness displayed made me want to be part of this day in their lives again and again. -- Birgit Schmidt (see http://quiltsandart.com/ for more about Q&A)