A little dolls’ house much loved by a local family has had a complete makeover and is looking fresh and ready for a new home. It is being sold by Kathy Ellery to raise funds for Sister Sponsa, a nun, midwife and nurse who runs a health clinic in the Solomon Islands. Kathy found the dolls’ house on a berm ‘free’ several years ago and her children played with it when they were young.
It was showing its age, when Kathy decided to ask her great uncle Pieter Dekker of Ōrewa to restore it so she could raise funds for the clinic. Ninety-six-year-old Pieter, a carpenter and “building perfectionist”, says he enjoyed the job, which included repairs, paint and “a safety rail on the stairs to ensure it was compliant”. He also made some doll-size furniture and his wife Heather crocheted new bedding.
Kathy says in its refurbished state, a family or maybe a childcare centre, is going to love the dolls’ house – the money will be used for supplies for the clinic. “Sister Sponsa works as a missionary, without pay, in a small island of 3000 people and it is more than four hours from the nearest hospital, by boat,” Kathy says. “The clinic is so basic and has no water supply directly to it.
Last year, Sister Sponsa along with two priests and four other nuns, helped more than 400 patients.” Anyone interested in purchasing the dolls’ house can contact Kathy, email.
