ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WIVB) — Sunday’s game between the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets was a special one for three women with the local organization Stitch Buffalo — it was their first time attending an NFL game.
Stitch Buffalo is a textile art center that sells products that are handmade by refugee and immigrant women. It was founded in 2014 and offers various programs and workshops to empower the women.
Munawara Sultan is from Pakistan, Palwasha Basir is from Afghanistan and Hkawng Lung is from Burma. The three women were excited to finally experience what Bills Mafia is all about.
“It’s surreal! We’ve been listening to all the stories and now we can see how crazy it is,” Sultan said.
The women started working with Stitch Buffalo three years ago to make the signature furry water buffalo hats for the Buffalo Water Club. Back then, they knew nothing about football or the Bills Mafia.
That quickly changed.
“We started making these hats, and ever since then we are the fans of Bills and we are making this happen,” Sultan said.
Therese Forton-Barnes, the founder of the Water Buffalo Club, wanted to give back to Sultan, Basir and Lung and show them what it’s like to be a Bills fan.
“I wanted them to just experience the energy here that all these hats have with people that are here,” Forton-Barnes said. “They brought so much happiness to people and I wanted them to see it.”
She went on to say that the experience is so much more than just going to a game.
“It’s uniting the Bills community, uniting three women from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Burma that have (been) torn out of their countries, settled here as refugees, making all these hats, didn’t know who the Buffalo Bills were, and (it’s) bringing everybody together,” Forton-Barnes said.
Sarah Minkewicz is an Emmy-nominated reporter and Buffalo native who has been a part of the News 4 team since 2019. Follow Sarah on Twitter @SarahMinkewicz and click here to see more of her work.