Abu Arives in Philadelphia
After an enormously frustrating eight month US State Department delay, we finally won renewal of our African project director Abu’s visa in the fall of 2012 and immediately booked a flight for his return. Although arriving three months past our planned block of time set aside for his visit and unfortunately missing three key scheduled events, (one being a meeting with the Ghana ambassador to the US), surprisingly we managed to put together a respectable itinerary for his visit that helped move the project forward significantly.
Abu was here in Pennsylvania with us once again, this time for just two months rather than the three months in 2008 when the Moringa Community project was born. There were too many activities engaged in during Abu’s 60 days with us but referenced below are a few high lights .
Hearne Hardwoods Saws Spectacular Walnut Log as Fundraiser for Moringa Community
Within the first week of Abu’s arrival, the Lohr Woodworking Team traveled with Abu to Oxford PA for the Hearne Hardwoods Fall Open House where owner Rick Hearne hosted a remarkable two day event including exhibitions, vendors, music, and the exhibition sawing of several enormous highly figured walnut logs Rick donated and then auctioned at the event with all proceeds being split between MoringaCommunity.Org and the George Nakashima Foundation for Peace.
The Hearne Hardwoods monster band mill (an enormous machine who’s massive castings and wheels were salvaged as a relic of World War II from the Naval Ship Yard in Philadelphia) is a real crowd pleaser to watch in action. This was the mill on which the Moringa designated black walnut crotch log was milled at the event and then palleted for auction in its entirety for auction to the highest bidder on the last day of the event.
Appearing with the little girl in the photo at left, Abu demonstrates African style work bench clamping employed by many Ghanaian
carpenters. These methods have since been replaced by the Lohr School of Woodworking wedge style of clamping at the Moringa Community School of Trades (MCST) with the new system proving to be a real boon to accuracy, speed and quality of production.
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| Abu with Mira & Kevin Nakashima at Hearne Hardwoods event |
At left, Abu shows Mira Nakashima-Yarnall and Kevin Nakashima, daughter and son of George Nakashima, how our Moringa Made Fabric arts are made at MCST. All proceeds from the October 5th and 6th 2012 Hearne Hardwoods Open House weekend were divided between MCST and The George Nakashima Foundation for Peace.
The huge crotch walnut logs donated by Rick Hearne and sawn for the exhibition on Saturday were auctioned off on Sunday Oct 6th. Not being able to resist both the stunning figure and the historic nature of the ceremonially cutting of the Moringa designated walnut crotch log, Jeff Lohr outbid all others to claim the prize. Suzanne Kahn, an associate at the Lohr School of Woodworking is pictured below with two of these remarkable flitches to give the viewer a sense of scale of their size. As these live edge slabs are over 2” thick and heavily figured, they will need to season very slowly before kilning. This consecutive book-matched set will be ready to be rendered into another stunning piece of J.D.Lohr Live Edge Furniture by the September 2014.
As many of our Moringa project supporters are Alumni of the
J.D.Lohr School of Woodworking, I can’t resist showing off a little “wood bling” at left with a close up of the terrific crotch figure in the Moringa log flitch set donated for auction by Rick Hearne and purchased by me, (Jeff) as the high bidder at the event. I am thrilled to have this log set.
Abu’s 2012 American Tour - Speaking Engagements
Unfortunately as a result of our fiasco with the US State Department in securing Abu’s Visa, we missed having him speaking at a regional multi club Rotary International meeting that was being planned for August 2012. I mention this here as we are proud to have had the support of Rotary International for our work in Ghana and would like to thank the Montgomery and Chester County PA clubs that have actively supported MoringaCommunity.Org
As most know, MoringaCommunity.Org is a non-religious / non denominationally associated charity. However, despite that we help those of all faiths and do not in anyway proselytize to the minions, our mission does parallel the ethos of Christian charity in helping the poor and less fortunate. As a result the Moringa project, not surprisingly, has a number of American Church groups and congregations that have actively supported the project since our inception in 2008.
Although we wish we would have been able to schedule a presentation at all the church groups that have supported this project, we were most grateful that Abu had the opportunity to speak before members of both
The Lancaster Church of The Brethren and The
Saint James United Church of Christ in Limerick PA. Both of these churches have members that have organized others in their respective congregations to lend particularly dynamic and key support to the project at the most critical times we needed it over the past four years.
