Dia's Story Cloth
                  By Lily & Carly, Cape Elizabeth, grade 5

 Dia's story cloth  tells about what Dia's family and many other people had to go through to finally get to American and get their freedom.  Now it is in Colorado with Dia. Dia's aunt and uncle made this cloth while they were at the Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand,China. Dia and her family spent four years there before gaining her freedom.  This cloth really brings alive what people back then in 1979 had to go through.  Every stitch on this cloth was hand stitched. The picture on the left shows one half of the quilt.
 

This smaller picture is a close up of the part of the quilt that tells when Dia and her family had to cross the river.  They crossed by using bamboo sticks under their arms to help them float across. Others used inner tubes.  Some people never made it across the river safely.

 We think that it would be a great experience to see this cloth, it would be interesting to have a close up look at it in person.  The picture at the bottom is when they first arrived in America by plane at the end of their long journey.

Think Questions:

    1: Did you know people had to go through all that to get freedom?

    2: Do you have a story that you could make a story cloth out of?

    3: Do you know anyone who has gone though something like this?

    4: Do you have at cloth like this at your house? 
 

 For more information
 About Dia's story cloth you can read the book:
 Dia's Story Cloth , By Dia Cha, © 1996, Lee & Low Books, New York
 The pictures on this page came from this book.
  
                     
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