On Saturday, 7, from 1 pm to 3 pm, there will be a reception at the West Tisbury library of wishing flags and other creative works on fabric. In February, 2025, Islander Fae Kontje-Gibbs launched the “Wishes For Children” project with a similar show at the Chilmark library. The aim of the project is to raise awareness of child trafficking and funds to help bring an end to it.
70% of proceeds are donated. This year they will be split between local Media Voices for Children and The Save The Children Foundation, an advocate and protector since its founding just after WWI by Eglantyne Jebb.
This year’s show is bigger and includes a new element called “Practical Flags/Everyday Wishes…”
“Tea towels, tea cozies, pot holders, and pillows. A canvas tote bag, a scarf around the neck. A lap quilt on the couch. Everyday objects are so common in our culture, they are not considered to be luxuries,” says Kontje-Gibbs. “Yet in many places such basic civilities are rare.“
These everyday objects are considered another kind of flag. Practical flags. Useful flags. Comforting, and delightful. The wishes, though, are the same: The wish that we who have may be aware of those who don’t; The wish that we who are free may remember those who aren’t; The wish that we each may find our own way to be useful, comforting, and delightful; and The wish that there may be an end to human trafficking.
