Deborah Morel, probation officer with the state of Hawai‘i Judiciary Adult Client Probation Services has been doing a lot of sewing lately. Morel has been hand-sewing pillows on which she applies beading and in which she stuffs herbs like lavender
Deborah Morel, probation officer with the state of Hawai‘i Judiciary Adult Client Probation Services has been doing a lot of sewing lately. Morel has been hand-sewing pillows on which she applies beading and in which she stuffs herbs like lavender and chamomile. The pillows are not for personal decor or for assembly into a mountain of throw pillows. They are for something behind the scenes and outside the glossy pages of interior design magazines; they are for children of Kaua‘i who have been abused.
The idea came to Morel nine years ago while she was working for the New Zealand Ministry of Education’s Trauma Team and living in the city of Nelson, an artists colony on the northern tip of the southern island of New Zealand. The long holidays off afforded Morel the opportunity to return to sewing which she learned as a child from her mother.
Surrounded by lavender and influenced by the Nelson culture of aromatherapy, Morel came up with a way to bring comfort to the children she helped through the trauma team. Morel incorporated the soothing lavender into a soft, touchable pillow ornamented with beading that a child would gravitate towards. “If there was a child interview, the comfort items were placed as part of the set-up to create a welcoming environment for a child, and the child could choose something to take, if they wished,” Morel said.
The purpose of the pillows are to return a comfort item to the child since the child has been removed from home and faced with the difficult or frightening task of opening up to an investigator or interviewer. The pillows help diminish the child’s fear or hesitation. “I believe that children know what your intentions are and if there is a genuine caring that comes through, they will recognize that you want them to be safe,” Morel said.
When Morel returned to Hawai‘i in 2005 she taught part-time at K.I.D.S School and began thinking about creating the pillows for Kauaian children like she did in New Zealand. Morel started to hand-craft the pillows again and several months ago, contacted the Friends of the Children’s Justice Center of Kaua‘i as a possible home for the pillows. The CJC specializes in the health and progression of children and youth who were physically or sexually abused or severely neglected.
“We are very happy that Deborah is producing and providing the pillows. It’s a wonderful and appreciated service. Her pillows are going to children who are victims of or witnesses to abuse as items to make them more comfortable,” said the Friends of the Children’s Justice Center.
Each pillow takes Morel three hours to hand-sew. Different patterns are selected for boys and girls and also for different age groups.
As Morel began purchasing the materials for the pillows, numerous merchants offered to donate the goods required for the pillows’ construction. “In the end, all materials were donated in abundance — enough materials to last for months of sewing,” Morel said. “Several merchants have also offered to place them on consignment and or display, as a portion of the proceeds will go to the Friends of the Children’s Justice Center.”
Morel recently started Blue Moon Lavender Crafts, which is in the process of becoming a non-profit organization, to reach out to the community. For more information about the pillows, Morel can be contacted at 634-3623 and the Friends of the Children’s Justice Center can be reached at 246-6214.
