It was an exciting day for the children of Akumal Pueblo thanks to an offer by Kathy Clemon and her niece, Aleena Hetzel, to do a tie-dye project. Kathy and Aleena arrived with all the supplies they needed and spoke with Nadia Mora, who arranged to have the children at The CEA Center the following Saturday morning.

As Kathy explained, “After coming to the Akumal area time and time again and taking in all the beauty and all the services the people have to offer, you start to ask yourself, what can I give back?” Kathy had brought down supplies for CEA and the library on several of her trips but this time she wanted to do something fun with the local children. She told us, “I thought about what kinds of projects I did with my children and nieces and nephews when they were little, and the one really fun, but yet simple, project that kept coming to mind was a tie-dye project.” So she packed dyes, T-shirts and rubber bands.

According to Nadia Mora, “Kathy and her Aleena showed up at The CEA Center and told me that they wanted to tie-dye with the kids of the pueblo. I asked her, When? I was expecting her to tell me in one year but instead the answer was, Whenever you want.” Nadia was thrilled and when she found out all that was needed were some buckets and a bunch of kids, she was even more excited.

To make the experience even better, many of the children were given a T-shirt to keep. Nadia got everyone together and then went into the office to work, leaving the children with dyes of every color, and ropes hanging all around the front of The CEA Center. When she later went to check, she said, “ The next thing that I saw were a bunch of cool tie-dye shirts hanging and a couple of kids with blue hands; those were the ones that did not use the rubber gloves that Kathy brought.”

Kathy up summed the experience by saying, “There were some beautiful creations and all had a wonderful time. Don’t be surprised if at one of the next art shows there will be tie-dyed pieces by some of the local artists—children of Akumal.” She suggests to others: “If you have a special craft project that you would like to share while you are in Akumal, contact Nadia to see how it can be worked out. Don’t worry too much about not being able to speak the language; you don’t always need words to communicate.”

We at CEA would like to take this opportunity to thank Kathy and Aleena for sharing their time and talent with the children.