HELENE

Living in community is not new to Helene. Growing up as one of 10 children, she learned early on what it takes to cooperate and collaborate. Living at Sand River provides a similar sense of community.

Sand River is like a neighborhood where she does not feel alone. She can and does interact easily with others on a daily basis. Many of her neighbors are of like mind with similar interests. While not bonded with everyone, she has developed relationships with people with whom she feels a strong connection. A sense of physical safety is important to her and she knows there are others here who would respond quickly should she need assistance.

As an artist concerned with social justice, Helene's current focus is to preserve the Mbuti pygmies’ traditional hand-painted barkcloth designs, which are one of the oldest surviving forms of painting. The art of the Mbuti pygmies, who lived in the Ituri rainforest in central Africa, reaches back to primordial times. To escape the incessant military conflict in their rainforest, these nomadic foragers and hunters have fled to resettlement camps. Now removed from the source of material they once gathered and used to make their bark loincloths, the Mbuti peoples sadly are no longer producing these designs. It is Helene’s hope that her project will further the protection of the Mbuti cultural legacy.

As Helene enters the golden era of her life, she wants to share it with peers who are exploring the process of aging. Sand River is the place she has chosen for that shared experience.

PEOPLE