Uganda banners

When we visited Mbarara, Uganda last summer we had a chance to make papercut banners for University Baptist Church. I designed the banners and the medical students at the University, members of the church, and members of an AIDS support group called Go and Make Disciples worked together on cutting out the images. There were two banners.
One was based of the verse from Revelation 22:2 “The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” I had heard about an art exhibit at the British Museum, a sculpture of a tree made from donated weapons from Mozambique. I decided to design a banner of a tree based on the verse from Revelation and let the artists cut words that they thought would bring healing to their nation into the leaves. Some of the words are in Runyankore, some in English, some in Swahili.
The other banner is based on a verse from 1 Corinthians 1:23 “We preach Christ crucified… the power and wisdom of God.” The basic image was a stained glass cross. The stained glass was made by just cutting out squares or triangles. Everyone’s was unique. There were alternating concentric circles of stained glass and crosses. I had prepared some templates for the crosses and some people made up their own designs. Each cross was different. My favorite cross was made from four AIDS ribbons. The ribbons formed flowers in the center—new life!
The banners were cut on Tyvek paper donated to me by Dupont. The paper could not be torn and could be wiped clean. It was perfect for the harsh conditions in Africa.