Suzie Jenkins

     I'm a newly retired elementary school librarian and classroom teacher returning to Fayetteville after 21 years of teaching overseas in six different countries from Bolivia to Kazakhstan. I lived in Fayetteville and taught in the school district for 15 years before my world enlarged. My husband, Tom Jenkins, has been an administrator / principal in the schools. Usually, the schools have been small, operated for the ex-pat families of overseas corporations.  We have a grown son, Steve Jenkins, former owner and chef at Sassafras Bistro and Wine Bar in Fayetteville, now off on his own family adventures.  We have a 5 year old granddaughter who was one of the reasons for coming back to the States, and I wanted to be a babushka(Grandma); "Baba" to her.

     In my travels, I've always loved and collected the ethnic jewelry and beads. Now I've started doing beading and am able to create more modern pieces using the original beads collected here and there: Italian glass beads used in trading with Africa, beads made from the volcano rock from Greece, bone and bamboo from Indonesia, lapis and coral from Afghanistan, Russian amber, and silver from Thailand are some of my favorites.  This is why I chose my domain name to be "FarawayBeads.com".