The two Sedona women who started a quilting project in Rwanda to help street children in that African country are having a sale of the remaining quilts they brought back to the United States.

The quilts are wall hangings or lap quilts made with brightly colored wax processed African batik fabric made in Rwanda. They are all created and sewn by rescued street children at the Rwandan Orphan Project Center for Street Children. They will be sold for half the original price, said Suzanne Connolly.

Connolly and Dottie Webster conceived the Rwandan Orphan Quilting Project during their time in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, performing psychological trauma relief work with the children at El Shaddai orphanage who are survivors of the 1994 genocide, during which an estimated 800,000 people were killed.

The orphanage serves more than 400 orphans ranging in age from 5 to 18. Many of them had symptoms of post-traumatic stress. The women also worried about the older children who would be leaving the orphanage with little education and no job skills.

“While there in 2006 Dottie and I saw this wonderful batik fabric and several treadle sewing machines sitting idle,” said Connolly, a psychotherapist.

Connolly said she and Webster thought something could be done for the children using the machines and the fabric. An idea formed to have the children at the orphanage make quilts and sell them to earn money for themselves and the center — and learn a valuable skill.

“We bought as much of the beautiful fabric as we could fit in our suitcases and brought it home.”

The two women called Winnie Wells with the Red Rock Quilters Guild and showed her the fabric. All of the guild’s members pitched in to make several quilt samples, and in 2007, Connolly and Webster went back to Kigali, along with the quilts and a quilter. They oiled the sewing machines and taught the children how to make the quilts, using the Sedona quilters’ samples as guides.

“The quilters here made some beautiful, beautiful quilts for us to take back,” Connolly said.

The first quilt handmade by the children was the product of six orphans who had survived the genocide. Connolly and Webster brought 70 of the quilts to Sedona in three different shipments.

The quilts were featured at a show in Sisters, Ore., where every quilt the two women took sold. They sold more in Sedona in 2010 and will have the 10 remaining quilts available during a Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 17 and 18, event in the lot at the corner of Saddlerock Circle and State Route 89A. This will be the final sale for the quilts. The discounted prices range from $25 to $100.

“We won’t be importing any more. They’re now being sold in Rwanda,” Connolly said. “The money goes 100 percent to the project — half goes to the quilters and half to the center.”

Money generated so far has paid for more supplies, along with teachers, an accountant and a new pair of shoes for every one of the orphans.

The quilts range from small to large and include shades of green, purple, blue, red and gold. All have an African-influenced design. The project started in an abandoned warehouse with no windows in a rough part of town. Now, the children are in a large school building away from negative influences.

The first two times Connolly went to the orphanage, she worked through Christ Lutheran Church in California and the Association for Thought Field Therapy. In 2008, 2009 and 2010 she worked just through the association.

On all of her trips, she performs research projects about using a technique called thought field therapy. It involves an individual thinking about the problem they have with a trauma like seeing their family killed. Then a person guides them through a series of tapping sequences on particular end [acupuncture] points on the body.

“It helps reduce the anxiety, depression, intrusive memories and acting-out behaviors,” Connolly said. “We’re trying to develop a model because it’s a good way to treat trauma.”

Now, with the quilt business running successfully on its own, Connolly is not as worried about the children as she first was.

“Sometimes, as the children get old enough, they stay and work at the center. One of their jobs is to go out into the community and find other street children, and try to bring them into the center,” she said.

The quilts will be on display with the farmers market near the tent sale. Cards using the quilt designs will also be available with the proceeds going to the project.

“We only have the 10 quilts, so people need to come quick and grab the one they want,” Connolly said.

For more information, call 282-2627.