The Hartwig/Heart House Connection

Heart House is a safe house at the Malumghat Mission Hospital in Bangladesh. One function of this group is to provide ladies in the Malumghat area an outlet to earn money for the crafts they produce.

Frank & Nancy Hartwig first visited the organization in 1973, and was very impressed how they were assisting the widows of that country’s [then recent] civil war. In 2002, the Hartwig’s returned for another visit. After 29 years, they saw that Heart House was still going strong and providing resources for women and disabled men. However, the group was still having difficulty marketing their crafts.

Later that summer, Nancy brought back items to market in the states. She presented us [aic] a small handmade doll and asked if we would be interested in having them in our machines. “Uh…Yes!”. Immediately, the entire Hartwig/Mary’s of Course family chipped in and started filling small boxes with dolls.

Presently, the Art-o-mat has proven to be her best outlet for her Bengali craftsmen friends.