Herma

It is hard to translate the term enabler into my mother tongue. Let alone the term for an enabler of an enabler. I think we would refer to those people by saying " that person knows a person and that person knows a person who collects, in my case, hippos". This is an amazing story about how sometimes, things and people come together.

In October of 2015, a friend of my mother in law (hence the name of this post) visited a Quilting Exhibition in Maastricht, the Netherlands. where she found an embroidered hippo (black inside part), handmade in Africa. Apparently, by somebody called Grec R. Knowing that my mother in law is always on the lookout for hippos, she got it right away. Then my parents in law went to a fabric store called: De Naaidoos (the Sewing Kit) in a little village: Nieuw Buinen. This village is not far from where they grew up. My mother in law found the pieces of cloth for the frame, and my father in law discovered that the owner of the store is actually a distant cousin.     

The result of all of this is a beautiful piece of art, with a quilted frame, arriving by mail as a present, on time for my birthday. A wonderful example of how hippos are bringing family and friends together. A true enabler and enabler of an enabler's project, I am very proud to own.