Monday, December 10, 2007

Amani in World Magazine!

Amani was recently featured in World Magazine. Check out the article: http://www.worldmag.com/articles/article.cfm?eid=AFCF4B84-ED87-101B-166F5CA7F13E7C0D.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

News from the Sankofa Fashion Show!

Sankofa was a wonderful success! Thank you to everyone who was supporting and thinking of us during the months of preparation leading up to the fashion show.

Below is a run through of the show. There were three sections, each with different styles of clothing depicting stages of life for Amani women!

Separation:
All the women at Amani came here with broken hearts, longing to be healed. Many of the women come as strangers to Nairobi, looking for a community to call home. All have experienced a separation from the life they once knew. They are survivors searching for peace, and a way to make their hearts whole again.



Transformation:

As the women learn to stitch, learn to adapt and learn to live in peace, they begin to pick up the pieces of their hearts. They find hope again and are transformed into women of faith who desire to share God’s peace with others.



Celebration:

The women of Amani share joy despite their different backgrounds and are united into a new family built on God’s love. They become confident women leading others in peace and reconciliation. In the midst of continuing hardships there is freedom to celebrate.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

What is Sankofa?

Amani Pamba Clothing...
Creative design and ingenuity in Amani’s products reflect the restoration and transformation process at work in every person in the Amani family. Amani’s new clothing line Amani Pamba (meaning “Peace Adorned”) reflects this essential element. The goal of Amani Pamba is to share the message of God’s peace in a fresh and innovative way through fashion and design. Amani designers are creating “wearable art” using colorful motifs and patterns of African cultures to create pieces that reflect God’s designs seen every day all around us.

To launch the Amani Pamba line, Amani will host a fashion event on October 27, 2007. This event, called Sankofa, will be an opportunity for guests to catch a glimpse of these new designs presented with a combination of modeling and theatrics. Sankofa will tell the story of transformation in the lives of the women at Amani. “Sankofa” is an Akan word meaning “We must go back and accept our past so we can move forward. We do this so we can understand why and how we came to be who we are today.”

The event...
Plans are well underway for this exciting event. Six Amani women and four professionals will model approximately thirty designs. By exploring colorful motifs and patterns, this event will tell the story of separation, transformation, and celebration common to the lives of Amani women. These three thematic movements provide space to explore the painful yet redemptive journeys of Amani women through traditional dances and evolving motifs. Some elements will appear in a variety of ways such as the scarf strangling the neck, binding the head, or flowing loosely to represent the changing rolls of one’s suffering. Colors such as yellow for peace and red for the blood of Christ will appear in various forms. Throughout the event, music from all over Africa will add dimension and cohesiveness to the individual representations of each element.

We are excited for this groundbreaking event and the opportunities it presents to share the story of Amani in fresh ways. For information on becoming involved with Amani Pamba or the Sankofa event, please contact programs@amaniafrica.org.