My Great Family

It used to be that your mom would make everyone dress alike in scratchy uncomfortable clothes- when did that change to ME making everyone dress alike? In Salone it is quite common to have everyone in the same clothes. It is called Ashabi (and no that is not the way you spell it but not too many Mende people read my blog so...). When our kids had their school graduation- all the staff wore one style of clothes, the parents another. For special services at church the participants have the same clothes as well. Well that made the decision- JK and I decided that was the gift we were going to bring my family. Our friend Rachel dyed all the material and our friend Francis (along with some altering help from Auntie Irene and Grandma Syvilla) did all the sewing. I enjoyed heading to church in our African garb and I think it was fun for people to see. This was the Sunday that we sang in church and I was also able to speak for a few minutes. I think it helped having the African clothes on to get a little more into our African songs. Mom rocked out on that gourd shaker she was playing. :)The Shermer FamilyWhere it all started. How blessed are we to have two such strong examples to follow?! JK still had a few extra layers on under these clothes- I'm not sure how African that was but...LOVE this family!

I guess the two of us are going to get the most use out of these clothes. We will wear them often back home- not sure how often you will see the rest of the Shermer family marching around in their Blue, White, and Green (Sierra Leone flag) Bahtiek dyed clothes.