Joys of finding souvenirs and gifts

My husband and I have been very blessed to travel to many places. One of the joys we have is bringing home treasures that remind us of our journeys and the people and places we’ve visited.

Over the years, we have found various items we love to collect. For example, we have interesting carpets in a variety of sizes, textures and colors. Some hang on the walls, and some we walk on every day.

We continue to add to our collection of Nativity scenes, which we display at Christmas. 

I have an unusual grouping of 15 handmade brooms from Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, India, Russia, Israel, Egypt and many countries in Southeast Asia. Displayed in my laundry room, which is occasionally called the Broom Room, all are different.

We like to share items from our travels with others. I’m a piano teacher and often bring home small items to give to my students either after the trip or at Christmas. Recently, I was talking with the younger sister of a former student, and she started listing off various things I had given her older sister from our trips.

On each trip, I try to find something (such as pins to wear) for the ladies I have coffee with each week. My husband, a pastor, occasionally gives items to members of a medical-profession group with which he meets weekly. We do not spend a great deal of money, and we don’t expect that these will be lifetime treasures. Sometimes we bring edible items, such as coffees, teas or snacks.

On occasion, the sharing comes only in a “tour of the house.” A friend who taught talented and gifted students asked to bring three middle-school boys to visit our home. We enjoyed spending about 45 minutes with them; they asked very thoughtful questions. 

Being boys, they particularly enjoyed the weapons: a beautiful sword made in Spain, a neck breaker from Fiji, a dart blowgun from Brazil, a boomerang from Australia and Maasai spears from Tanzania. The boys asked to come back a second time!

When we travel, especially when we’re hosting a group of travelers to a particular destination, our phrase becomes “Keep (country name) green.” We want to support the local economy.

On a 2013 trip to Tanzania, our last stop was at a recycling facility, Shanga Shangaa Ltd. (Burka Coffee Estate, Dodoma Road, Arusha, Tanzania; phone +255 689 759 067, http://shanga.org). Shanga hires people with disabilities who might otherwise have difficulty finding employment. 

They collect glass wine bottles from hotels and restaurants, melt the glass and make beautiful blown-glass items and glass beadwork. They have a wonderful painter and a weaver, and others have made a small, outdoor table and stools from recycled tires. We found interesting wire sculptures and amazing decorative items, buying a few items for ourselves and several for Christmas gifts.

It was a very fascinating place. We even had lunch at their lovely restaurant.

We could ship items home, and occasionally we have, but mostly we lug them back in suitcases. Oh, yes, we pack a scale to weigh our bags before we check them.

We have a great deal of fun with all the treasures we bring home. We lay everything out on the dining room table and take a picture before we start giving things away or finding the right spots in the house for them. 

More power to those who travel light, but for those of us who take 29-inch suitcases around the world, the items we bring home are worth their weight in gold.