A PLEA – help us warm these babies

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A PLEA – help us warm these babies

The three month old baby girl lying in the corner, lay listless. I stroked her perfect, tiny hand and with the little energy she had left, a smile flickered at the corner of her mouth.

In less than a month, these babies will still sleep on this same floor, a piece of old linoleum laid on the bare African soil. But the temperatures will have dropped and will continue to do so for winter in Soweto. I took this photograph yesterday, 30 March, 2010.

Scattered throughout Soweto, and all the informal settlements, are hundreds and hundreds of small creches like this fashioned out of whatever comes to hand, old window frames with no glass, stained carpet pieces, plywood, corrugated iron.

Our work is to get to as many as we can to wrap warm blankets around these babies and children, many of who are affected or infected by HIV/AIDS and most of who have lost or are losing their parents.

The squares are arriving abundantly. But we have outgrown our limited resources. We need a manager on the ground in South Africa. Someone who will organise DAILY, the sewing groups and distributions, who is familiar with the informal settlements and can source the networks to find these thousands of children. Ronda will always be involved in knit-a-square, but this is now an organisational role beyond that of the organic spread of volunteers; our wonderful family, their friends, church groups and our truly remarkable Sowetan volunteers.

We are serious about putting blankets around these children. About bringing joy to their sad eyes. About telling the world of their plight.

We know you are serious about sending us the knitted and crocheted squares to do this. But now we must ask you to help us further.

A membership concept to achieve our goal
We need to raise a minimum, to start, of $3000 a month to incorporate in South Africa, hire a part-time manager and some additional facilities outside of Ronda's home and to achieve our common purpose in South Africa.

That is $3US a month from 1,000 of our 3,500 plus members. We would like to suggest that it becomes a membership fee, because that way you own what we are doing here as much as we all do. $36 per year is a small fee to pay to know that we are ALL achieving what we set out to do.

Our hope is to find a young enthusiastic and energetic South African who will, among other things, fund-raise here to cover other organizational costs. But we must have funds to do this.

PLEASE, respond to this plea. We need your help desperately. You can organize a recurring donation HERE (in the right hand column).

These children, and thousands like them, rely on us now to keep them warm through the glass-less windows this winter and for years to come.

Thank you for reading and considering this solution. We will be humbled by your response, but excited to know that we can go forward and warm our children.

Peace be with you this Easter, with love, Sandy

PS. We have made great progress opening squares over this week, Canada, Australia, half of the UK and South Africa. But the "wall" of the USA remains and we will tackle that on our return from CapeTown after Easter.

Are we making a difference

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Are we making a difference?

 

We are back in Australia after a momentous, heart-warming, heart-wrenching trip to South Africa. We witnessed what you are achieving for those orphaned, vulnerable children we have been able to wrap blankets around, or put a hat on their heads, or hand them a pencil, soft toy or scrap book. It made us deeply grateful for every square in every blanket – for every stitch that has been made by you, for them.

Since we left in the middle of March, we have been joined by hundreds of new members. We know that you and our whole community warmly welcomes those who would wish to work with us to warm and comfort the children.

The blog I wrote: all for orphans kept up to date with much of what we saw and enjoyed, both on behalf of KasCare and on a personal level during the four weeks away, with some notable exceptions; meeting Oliver Quambasch from Hotel Hope, Stephanie from Jabulani Khakibos Boys, Gail from Nkosi Haven Orphanage and Sister Cecelia Sato from Vuselela Community Health Centre in Diepsloot, among others.

VITAL COMMUNICATIONS
Time is pressing for everyone. Communicating regularly with you is one of the best jobs in the world. But the previous ezines , pages long as they were, took too much time to prepare and far too long to read. We have observed that many more of you open and read short updates, so Square Circle will now be far more regular and much shorter. I will continue to post to all for orphans regularly, meaning that between the ezine, news on KasCare.org the blog and the forum all aspects of what we do should be covered.

Each of these memorable meetings will be reported on in depth for following ezines together with the wonderful work you do and news of KAS plans going forward, but in todays' ezine, can we share this observation with you from our very recent experience.

 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE
There is no doubt that there has been, during KAS's short 18 months existence, an extraordinary communal, international effort to warm and comfort children who have little to nothing. Clearly we have all had faith in what we were doing as meaningful, right, necessary and making a difference.

Our time in South Africa was limited. However as we raced around Johannesburg, visiting creches, orphanages, community centres, meeting people, touching the beautiful children, we held you in mind. What would you feel had you been with us, experiencing what we were?

The three month old baby whose hand I held, and who tried to muster a smile in her weakened state, communicated something so moving, so powerful, she seemed to sum up all that we were doing. Just one small child whose life is likely imperilled, even at her young age. Sending her story out to the world and those of her little companions who lay on the cold linoleum floor illuminated what we can do in the future and what we are already achieving with every stitch you make.

The squares we make are indeed a currency of hope. When they are sewn into a blanket, they keep children warm, often children who are ill and who, if kept cold, would undoubtedly become gravely unwell.

The blankets are vibrant and beautiful and a gift to a child who may never have received a gift of such magnitude before. As we hand them out, the children are told that the blankets have been made by people around the world who care for them.

The children held tight to their blankets and yet relinquished them with obedience when asked by the teacher, folding them neatly and piling them up in the corner of the room.

Asked would each child be returned the blanket they were given, I was told that they would know exactly which one was theirs. Their claim had been laid!

But it is not in the blanket alone that we make a difference. The warmth of the blanket spreads beyond its little recipient. When we spoke to the dozens of people we met socially and told them about KAS, they smiled and asked how they could help. The carers, Go-Gos and 'teachers' at the creches were profuse in their gratitude for this unexpected help for their children, asking us to return to help others. Those we met who were working too with orphaned or vulnerable children, pleaded with us to continue and grow our work, understanding the enormous value of raising awareness and the lifting of their weight as together we tackled this enormous issue.

KAS is making a difference. It is only a question of scale. I have been reading Peter Singer's book, 'The life you can save'. A notable author, he is also Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. His premise is that while none of us would hesitate to save a child from drowning, many of us spend money on things we do not need and would not miss, while thousands of children die each day.

By the sheer acts of knitting and sending, sewing and distributing, organizing and planning, spreading the word, donating and caring, our world-wide KAS community both changes how we think about, and act toward, the millions of vulnerable, alone or dying children in the world today and touch, in a meaningful way, those of them we can connect to, as a result.

GROWING, GOING FORWARD!
Firstly, we are thrilled to tell you that we are to be incorporated in South Africa. Cathy Loupis of CAL Consulting, Johannesburg has offered to assist KAS with the formation of our Section 21 as KasCare South Africa. While there, it became evident that much of the potential work we needed to do would be impeded by not being a registered association in South Africa. It will also significantly reduce administrative difficulties around employing an operations manager in South Africa from Australia.

Now that we are over our jet lag and settled into our home office, we are formulating plans for South Africa which we will be delighted to share with you by the next ezine.

I am also preparing a full report on all our activities, some of which has been loosely put together in our revised wish list for 2010, posted on the forum.

We would be greatly pleased for all of you who are not members of the forum to join , not only to enjoy the warm KAS community but also because it is simply easier to discuss the practicalities of the work we are doing within the forum, rather than within Square Circle.

 

NEWS FROM YOU

We received this great photo from Frances Kitchen, a women of many talents, knitter, chef, broadcaster and journalist. Thank you Frances and for the delightful baby blanket you have sent KAS.

Hot of the press
Sally Goldenbaum, a member of our KAS forum is a published author of a series of knitting mystery novels, (which fall into the narrative greed category – you just can't get enough!). She has just had published today her third novel in the series, the Seaside Knitters Mysteries, called Moon Spinners. I believe the charity our heroic knitters knit for may be KAS! Look forward to a wonderful discussion about the book in the forum, so dash out and get a copy soon.

 

US$3RECURRING DONATIONS
We have had over a hundred people generously subscribe to a recurring donation to help us put in place an operations manager in South Africa so that we can get more blankets onto more children. Our appeal in April explained that our amazing and remarkable volunteers have done a truly brilliant job so far, but we are growing and cannot ask more of them than they are already giving freely of their time. It is time to move to the next step to ensure that your work can continue effectively to warm more children.

We are asking for just a small recurring donation to help us do this. In doing so, we recognise that you already give of your time, effort and money for postage, so accept that this can only be made if it is within your means and does not put your already substantial contribution at risk. If you are able you can donate here.

 

 

SQUARE LISTS!
Here are the square lists for the period February 27 – April 22 (there are three of them so far and another two will be posted tomorrow). Each post office collection adds another fantastic hill of boxes and parcels to the mountain collected in the last 3 months.

 

Although we have tried to ensure that older parcels are placed at the front and newer ones toward the back, this is not always possible, so do not despair if your parcel is not yet catalogued. They are there. Here is Gloria from Bryanston Post Office, the collecting office who has become a friend and supporter of KAS. She takes great pride sorting and organising our huge collections.

We have had to accept that for the moment post is arriving faster than we can open, sort and catalogue it, but PLEASE do not stop sending. Part of our planning is to ensure that we get through the backlog urgently, catalogue the arrival of the parcels immediately and streamline the process.

Parcel opening is a truly wonderful experience. Wandile says you get addicted to it. She is right, we miss it already and we were only able to open on three occasions. Imagine my delight at opening this parcel to discover it was from a family friend in Australia, Margaret Griffiths, although you all seem like family friends to us now – another hidden aspect of the joy that KAS delivers! It is a joy that we will spread further as we organise more volunteers to join with us. And another reason to make sure you keep sending.

Next ezine – mid May: Plans for South Africa revealed; Remarkable Oliver; Soweto Gospel Choir Blankets and Nkosi Haven; Erica's Parcel Database Software.

Until then, look after yourselves. Thank you as always for your continuing and amazing contributions. Bye for now, Sandy

The Orphans’ Lament

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Our dear KAS friend,

At the end of this Christmas Video is The Orphans' Lament.

At this time of year, when children are so at the forefront of our minds, through its poignancy it reminds us that there is always hope.

It comes to you with our heartfelt gratitude for all you do to help the children.

When you've watched it, please join us here in the forum to take part in next years' challenges.

We greatly look forward to your company in 2013. You a very valued member of this remarkable KasCommunity and we wish you a wonderful Christmas and a New Year full of goodness.

Sandy, Ronda and the KasTeam worldwide.

PURCHASE OUR 2013 KASCALENDAR
You can purchase our new KasCalendar here.

BECOME A KASCOMMUNITY MEMBER
You can join the Square Circle KasCommunity here.

THE KASPATTERN BOOK
Select your patterns from the KasPattern book on the forum to ensure you send exactly what the children need to keep them the warmest.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE FROM SOUTH AFRICA?
Join us for a discussion on donate a small amount of $5 or more a month to help us keep the operation going in South Africa.

 

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK GROUP

Knit for orphans in Zimbabwe

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Six cousins, several nieces, mothers, fathers, daughters and an aunt. A world of generous, caring, talented stitchers and 2.4 million orphaned and vulnerable children.

Contents
Zimbabwe knit-a-square • A bit of family history • Special needs kids – Amahle Day Care Centre • April Flag Challenge • What's in a size? • News from the forum

Many months have flown since the last edition of Square Circle. Since then, tens of thousands of hands have been busy making squares and stitching blankets so that many thousands of children will be warm this winter in South Africa, who would otherwise have been freezing.

Now, we have some very exciting news!

But first, on behalf of us all, we welcome our new Square Circle members who have joined since last December. You are part of a very special community of people around the world, who care deeply for the plight of all the children left to face a harsh life alone.

Zimbabwe knit-a-square

We are soon to expand our operation into Zimbabwe, officially the poorest country in the world and the birth place and ex-home of the family who founded KasCare and Knit-a-square, its primary program.

While South Africa has the awful tally of an estimated 1.9 million children orphaned, abandoned or made vulnerable as a result of HIV/AIDS and poverty, Zimbabwe's ratio of orphaned children is infinitely higher.

With nearly 1,000,000 orphans alive in 2009, Zimbabwe has the highest number of orphans, in proportion to its population, than any other country in the world, according to UNICEF.

As many as one in four children in Zimbabwe are orphaned as a result of parents dying from AIDS. *Avert.org

The deterioration of this beautiful land and the suffering of its people is of great sadness to the founding family of KasCare and Knit-a-square.

We were all born in Zimbabwe during a time when the ravages of this disease, combined with the rampant poverty of today, were not evident.

It's also deeply painful to those family members who continue to live there and who witness the dreadful degradation of life facing these small children.

We are so heart-warmed, to be able to introduce our world-wide community to the children of Zimbabwe, and to garner your concern, care, love and crafting skills, to help warm and comfort them.

They are among the poorest children in the world and have been most terribly neglected as a result of the political and social situation they've been born into.

A bit of family history
To introduce the family in Zimbabwe who will be working to put blankets around children, let me give you a potted history, especially for those of you who have recently joined or who may have come to the project through channels other than our website.

Ronda and her family live in South Africa. They immigrated there from Zimbabwe in 1984.

Together with her core team of dedicated volunteers and board members, Lindiwe, Wandile, Wendy and younger daughter, Erin (when she can escape from her busy working life and two young children), Ronda runs the day to day operations of knit-a-square in South Africa.

They collect, open, sort and bundle the squares, record their arrival and then organise the stitching and distribution of blankets.

Many other special people have volunteered and continue to do so. Ronda is indebted to all of you who find your way to her home so regularly to open, catalogue and sort the parcels.

Our whole KasCommunity would like to thank you for ensuring their work is so lovingly handled.

Ronda is the youngest of four children. The oldest Zanny (short for Rozanne) is my mother. Roger, my husband and I, left Zimbabwe also in 1984 and moved to Australia with our two daughters, Kalai and Cressida, followed shortly by Zanny.

Kalai currently works two days a week in an administrative and communications capacity for KasCare (the registered charity here in Australia) and Cressida was responsible for developing most of our KasKids™ program (knit-a-square in schools).

Zanny and Ronda's sister, Charmian, lives in the UK and she and her husband Patrick are among our most substantial yearly donors.

The three sisters' brother, Peter, whose untimely death in 2010 prompted one of our most colourful challenges in the forum, has five children, three of whom live in Zimbabwe.

Peter would be entirely delighted to know that the challenge in his honour has been well and truly superseded by our current April Flag Challenge . More about that later, but please make sure you join in, it's fantastic.

Back to Zimbabwe.

Tracey (left) the oldest and Jessica (right) the youngest of Pete's daughters, are preparing to start knit-a-square in Zimbabwe.

The full history of how we started knit-a-square explains how Ronda's visit in 2008 to the our family living in Australia inspired the spark of an idea which resulted in the website and the building of this remarkable community, of which you are one.

There's more detail here, and although this page is just a bit out of date, it has some pictures of Kalai and Cressida as a children and it explains a bit more about how knit-a-square all started!

Like everything that happens in KAS, it's an organic process.

Many threads have been woven together toward this next, but necessarily small step.

Karen from the Methodist church in Atlanta, Georgia wrote about the possibility of of sending squares directly to their Church contacts in Zimbabwe.

The South African branch of the American company Cummins, a global leader in design, manufacture and servicing of diesel engines contacted Ronda to express interest in helping our work. Our hope is that this will eventuate in transport of the squares to Zimbabwe, volunteering and spreading the word through their USA branch and help in Zimbabwe through their Zimbabwean branch.

Wendy and Ronda are meeting with them again soon in Johannesburg.

Girls from Chisipite Senior School, ex-school of Zanny, Jessica,and me, have offered to stitch the first blankets.

Tracey and Jessica have made contact with an orphanage in a small town called Chitungwisa (chit-en-gweez-a) home to 20 children, around whom we can wrap the first blankets.

Erin to show the ropes
To help Tracey and Jess get started, we are hoping to fly Erin up to Zimbabwe to work with them to put together the processes that lead from squares to blankets to distribution. She will also take with her a repaired camera, so that Tracey and Jess can capture the results of your work and help tell the stories of the children.

This will allow us all to continue to spread the word about the dire situation that faces so many children in Zimbabwe.

We really need your help!

We hope that this appeal to help us warm the children of Zimbabwe will be met with your generosity. We hope too, that it will assist us to pay for Erin to go to Zimbabwe to get the project under way.

We would also like to give some special support to Amahle Day Care Centre, as explained below.

You need only add a dollar to the amount of your monthly donations to help us achieve that. If you don't yet donate, please consider a small monthly amount of $10 (the price of just three cups of coffee a month), to help us continue our work in South Africa and get the Zimbabwe project underway.

You can donate here.

A small recurring monthly amount will make an enormous difference to what we achieve on the ground in South Africa, if you make the commitment to help today.

Amahle Day Care Centre

Amahle (A-ma-lay) is in Protea South, opposite this tiny church, first shown in our ezine Hats on heads and snuggly wrapped children.

Amahle is special in terms of the creches we have distributed to and we would dearly love to make a very particular effort to support it and Ntabiseng who set it up.

As she has a Downe syndrome child of her own she started the day care centre with the idea of taking on as many special needs children as possible.  There is precious little support for these children and even less if they have lost a parent.

When Ronda, Wandi and Lindi went to distribute the blankets to Amahle, they wrapped blankets around small children who were autistic, had epilepsy or Downe syndrome.

Ntabiseng is so proud of all she has managed to do, although she told Ronda that more than half the carers cannot pay for the children.  She works very hard to give the children nutritional meals every day, although it is a struggle financially.

Ronda wrote with a heavy heart that she was fearful that Ntabiseng may not be able to continue without support. This little oasis for these heavily disadvantaged children requires our special attention. We greatly hope everyone reading this will see it as an opportunity to give generously for a specific cause. You can donate here.

Ntabiseng was absolutely filled with joy at our gifts for the children, the blankets, hats, vests, toys and some stationery as expressed in this video.

 

As an aside, Ronda has mentioned we are low on stationery. Our 'slip-in' mission has done so wonderfully to ensure that they are usually able to take pencils, paper, books and other bits of stationery whenever we distribute. The carers are always so delighted for this support.

Humble Little Achievers Day Care Centre
The photographs of this distribution are so touching of the children with their toys, wrapped in their beautiful blankets, we have posted the whole album on our Facebook Group and many more of the Amahle distribution as well.

You can spend ages looking at each little face, so often redolent of an emotion which is part joy, part sadness. When they smile, their little faces light up and in doing so they remind us so poignantly of why what you do is so valuable.

KasCuddles

Ronda said these little ones in their KasCuddles were like dear little caccooned creatures, wiggling across the room!

April Flag Challenge
No one who loves stitching (knitting or crochet) should miss this challenge. Look at this work of art!

The challenge is being run by Mary Lokken, one of our moderators and a very generous and talented contributor. It is generating the most amazing responses. Flags from all over the world, even the most obscure little islands are being lovingly made. The children will be kept warm and have a geography lesson at the same time!

Please come on in and join us. Joining the forum is free, it's great fun and the KasCommunity is warm, vibrant, creative, caring and just plain extraordinary. We are continually in awe of what they do, how they help us, each other, and of course, the children.

It is so much more than knitting or crocheting squares, as beautiful as they are. The community experience is greater than that as Pam Antink, administrator in the forum explained: " The international aspect of the Flag challenge has made people look outside their own country and engage with others – this is brilliant and will continue the process of breaking down barriers between nations."

What's in a size?
Ronda has been troubled for a while now about the tiny weeny hats we are receiving in abundance. The reality is that the size of children's heads are almost as large as adult heads. She has sent this photograph as an indication of the correct size.

Also there a current Wish List in the forum you may wish to review. Linda Matlby and Carol Playford (moderators from Canada and the UK respectively) are compiling the definitive KasPattern book and we hope to bring that to you sometime soon.

News from the forum
Pam Antink has been doing a great deal of work behind the scenes to gather KasFolk from all around the world to help us do certain tasks on the forum and in general where we can identify a specific need. She is still working through the process, but we will publish a list of everyone involved and tasks they may have agreed to undertake on the forum soon.

Monthly newsletter
Pam has also undertaken to keep the community informed of monthly KasNews in a broadcast newsletter of the same name. You need to be a member of the forum to receive this, so please join up today.

Links to photographs of the distributions, the challenges, special photographs or videos in the forum and knitting patterns will all be included over time as well as member stories. If you are running an event for KAS or have introduced it to your school or community, please let Pam know in the forum.

Joining The Square Circle Forum is truly a great contribution you can make to KAS over and above stitching.

The more members, the more we will be found by others. The more activity on the forum, the more Google will reward us by ensuring the forum is found by other knitters and crocheters looking to knit for charity.

Remember, every last stitch, every cent on postage, every appeal, newsletter, photograph, event, challenge, indeed every effort by KAS or on behalf of KAS is done for the children.

All For Orphans
“The silence that surrounds children affected by HIV/AIDS and the inaction that results is morally reprehensible and unacceptable. If this situation is not addressed, and not addressed now with increased urgency, millions of children will continue to die, and tens of millions more will be further marginalised, stigmatised, malnourished, uneducated, and psychologically damaged.” Carol Bellamy (a former Executive Director of UNICEF.)

This statement has prompted my return to posting in All for Orphans. The hope is that I can be less sporadic as I will explain in the first article after some time to be posted on Wednesday 11 April.

Their are so many hopeful stories emanating from all over southern Africa as remarkable people set about addressing this dreadful tragedy. It will be a joy to report on these for you. If you want to follow this news about the children we care so much about, please visit the site and click the subscribe button.

Every child around whom we wrap a blanket on your behalf is told, "You're unique and special and you have a role to play in your country."

We cannot return their parents, or cure them of disease, nor can we ensure their safety, but we can warm and comfort them. By continuing to grow our currency of hope, build our community and raise awareness of the issue, we make a difference one square at a time. And we can do yet more.

Please consider our two appeals this Easter Monday and give as generously as you can afford. We are, as always, indebted to you, our beloved and remarkable KasCommunity.

Sandy

Why would you name a bunch of boys after a weed?

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Why would you name a bunch of boys after a weed?

Welcome, firstly to our new members since last week and secondly from this, the first of the Square Circle Updates.

Jabulani Khakibos Kids looks after a group of 35 resident boys who were previously street kids and some 120 homeless adults as well as feeding up to 30 children a week who live in the hills nearby. Recently Ronda went with Stephanie Burnett, the founder, to visit the home in which the boys live and to find out what the KAS community can do to help.

 

SQUARE CIRCLE UPDATE 1
August 28 2009
The Jabulani Khakibos boys
The kids in the hills
Interview with Ronda
Great thread in the forum
Postal Strike

 

I hope you will read this story. We are all greatly excited at the prospect that this could be a very meaningful challenge for the KAS community to take up.

So why would you name a bunch of boys after a weed? Khakibos is a weed in South Africa, which nobody much likes, it’s considered useless, smelly, ugly and a pest. However it has medicinal qualities and also secretes an oil which can be used as a carrier for perfumes – so it is in fact very useful and has beautiful qualities, when one makes an effort to discover them.

This is why, as Stephanie explained, she named the organisation after this weed. The analogy is clear, people think of Khakibos as they think of street children, wanting neither.

Ronda wrote to say that she was hugely excited about this whole project. She met Stephanie and they headed off to Berea where the home is. "Talk about mean streets, wow! I was advised to hide my handbag and camera in the boot and keep my cellphone out of sight until we got there, although it was an uneventful trip and I didn't feel threatened for a moment."

While Stephanie has been involved with homeless kids since 1994, this operation has been going for about 6 years. In 2005 they were gifted a home in what would once have been a reasonably select area and they were donated a LDV Ford Ranger. While they are a registered charity, government funding is dwindling and they have had to reduce staff drastically to cut costs. But they are, as Ronda says, cheerful and accepting and they do a fantastic job despite needing so much more for their boys and other charges.

"We rejoice, sing, dance and celebrate because the children who were regarded as disposable, unwanted, "onkruid" (rubbish), inferior, "malundi" or a nuisance to society (like Khakibos), have now become a sweet smelling perfume – sought after, a pleasure to be with prized, valuable, welcome citizens of our Rainbow Nation" From Jabulani Khakibos Boys website.

Ronda visited during the day and the boys were all at school except for Anathi, above in his bright new beanie, a 12 year old who is very new to the centre and has not yet been registered in school. Ronda wrote: "He immediately asked if he could wash my car, even though it was sparkling clean already. Of course I said yes, and he did a lovely job – soap and all!"

The Jabulani Khakibos staff from the left, Stephanie, Anathi, Ellen (in black and white stripes), 3 lady volunteers, Ekani (care-giver), Thepo (counselor and social worker) a woman carer and Fundi.

Fundi, in the kitchen – she cooks up a storm as you will see by those huge pots of stuff like stew and soup !

 

Stephanie told Ronda that since they had to let their driver go for financial reasons, the children have to walk to school and back – 5kms a day – and complain of cold heads and ears, so she was thrilled with the hats you had made, some of them pictured here.

Below to the right is dining / recreation / homework / meeting area – recently covered with an awning thanks to kind donation. It must, none the less, be very cold at night and in the early mornings. Wouldn' t this be the perfect use for the GO-OVERS, which are a fabulous stash buster by the way!

The garage is current TV lounge – a little dank and dark. Ekani and Thepo explained that they have just finished a renovation of some rooms courtesy of a donation, but they daren't put anything of value in them until they could afford a full security system. You may just notice the razor wire security around the perimeter of the house in the photograph of the staff.

Stephanie leading the way to the ablution block. She says the area of soil either side of the pathway becomes a swamp in the rainy season – they are desperate to have someone put in drainage and cement the area for them.

On the right, one small homework nook for rainy days. This is where their precious computer sat, and now it's collapsed in a heap, much to everyone's misery.

 

The front garden above. Stephanie told Ronda nothing will grow under the trees but she is hanging onto them at all costs, because the boys love to climb them. She has wonderful ideas of installing a pizza oven and building a boma for the boys to use over weekends.

 

There are prayers and Bible quotes all over the walls of their dormitories … all the boys go to church.

 

These young boys have been given an opportunity that many of the orphans and abandoned children in the shack settlements have not. In fact, Jabulani Khakibos are rightfully proud that two of their graduates are being sponsored through University and one young man, who passed Matric last year with good marks, is waiting for someone to sponsor his university education.

They are none the less parent-less, abandoned or from abusive backgrounds, and living, for the moment, still in poor conditions despite the wonderful work that Jabulani is doing to care for them.

We believe that KAS can, by providing them hand made blankets, give them an even greater sense of homeliness. A GO-OVER each would certainly keep them warm in the dining and recreation room and on their 5 kilometre walk to school.

Ronda did take 26 blankets but soon realised they were too small, as she said, these are BOYS and need boy blankets, hardy, thicker and made out of boyish colours.

She wrote to ask, "can we do a special project, a TEEN BOYS BLANKET project, similar to the Ten Thousand Homes challenge – with GO-OVERS as well?" Ronda believes we can get all the boys names and sizes from Stephanie.

She also suggested we consider a street kid project (starting with the kids in the hills, see below). The best solution for this would probably be felted squares. What do you think? I will start a discussion here in the forum and hopefully we can get consensus in time for September.

Christmas
Ronda was also very excited about for Christmas Boxes for these boys and despite our discussions lately on the difficulty of administrating boxes, I can see why this would work well as we will know well in advance exactly who we may be supplying gifts for. Again a subject for discussion in the forum here.

How dynamic are these different experiences? Each one so completely unique in the way in which, and who, we can help.

We really cannot know in advance at this early stage of knit-a-square what we may be confronted with and so while we are trying to do the best planning around what we do know, when an opportunity like this presents itself for us to make a meaningful difference, we believe you would want to help do the best for these young boys.

It would be a privilege to follow their progress and hope that they all manage to create a better life for themselves with the support of Jabulani Khakibos and perhaps, from others like the KAS community. Is it too much to imagine that if they did, their blankets would still be precious to them?

Kids in the Hills

After her tour of their JKK residence, Ronda set off following Eloise who is their outreach manager and looks after the homeless people. There are apparently dozens of homeless kids living under bushes and behind rocks on these very hills. This road is about half a kilometer from Johannesburg's premier sporting stadium, Ellis Park, down into the Bez Valley.

Ronda was a little nervous when they stopped here but Eloise is well known and she assured her that everything would be alright. These old, once gracious, homes are abandoned and occupied by squatter families.

Eloise called a young street/hill dweller out of the bushes at the back who Ronda gave this hat too before he ran away again. Imagine this young child in his bright purple hat, lives alone but for the company of the other children in the open in these stony hills. It almost defies belief.

Eloise says she feeds 20 or 30 kids in this area every week. The rest of the children wouldn't come out because they had seen a new face, Ronda, and they are apparently frightened of the possibility of a police raid. This happens from time to time and the children are rounded up and put into into state orphanages. One shudders to think how bad they must be, if these little children prefer to run away to live in these hills.

Ronda wrote: "While I was standing with this child, Eloise went towards the nearest house and handed a young woman one of the hats. She asked the young woman if she would pose for a photograph, with which she immediately ran away, screaming. I got the fright of my life, but Eloise explained that she was just terrified I was connected to police, and might use a photograph to get her taken into custody again. It was awful. These people are so traumatized.

Eloise called out to them that I came with messages from Australia and around the world that I was taking photographs to show the people overseas how much they were suffering, so that something could be done to help them. Some of them nodded their heads slowly and one gave me the thumbs up and a hopeful smile – which made me feel more choked up than ever.

It was surreal to think that if I ever tried to go there on my own it might endanger my life – they are that desperate. Amazing experience – so humbling.

There's so much we can do here with the help of Stephanie and Eloise. I truly hope we can do a "challenge" before next winter which will see a hundred PLUS big, preferably felted blankets go to these people. Food for thought ."

This is back in Athlone, which is where Eloise lives. These ladies gather every day outside her house, to be given some bread or yoghurt or something small to eat. It's their only sustenance, although I thought they looked positively affluent compared to the people we had been with just a few moments beforehand. Eloise (on the right with her little grand-daughter) is obviously a SAINT – as I was driving behind her I noticed so many people waving to her and smiling along the road … so lovely."

 

 

Teacher Resource

The Teacher Resource has sold 21 copies which is very exciting, if you think about the idea that there may be 21 schools who are going to be introduced to knit-a-square. For argument's sake, you may like to imagine that each school could produce 200 squares – that would be 4,200 squares, just this year. But should any of them achieve as Cedarwood did, that would be 84 000 squares.

Please, if you are involved in a school in any way consider this Teacher Resource both to get the school children knitting and to support knit-a-square. Thank you.

 

 

 

Interview with Ronda.

Many of you have expressed an interest in finding out more about how Ronda views the work she does for knit-a-square. So Roger, my husband, who is an ex-journalist, interviewed her recently using a very nifty little microphone devise while they were both on cell phones. Ronda was on her way to Tshwane Place of Safety in an area she did not know, so there are places in the conversation where she is a bit distracted! Given the places she is now visiting on behalf of knit-a-square, much of the interview was very relevant to this story.

If you go to the top left hand side of your HOME page (first item on the left of the menu bar) by clicking on this link, you will see under Music box, three icons named 1-Ronda, 2-Ronda, 3-Ronda. Start with 1-Ronda at the bottom. If you are not a forum member, you may need to join to listen. It is free and easy to do, with no obligations. I do hope this works, some technology tests me beyond my skills.

Ronda has also been a contributor recently to the very popular 'Pooh's Corner Group' on the forum!

 

Uncache your creativity for AIDS orphans AND become a published author

Don't forget to send us your submission for the KAS community ebook which we hope to publish in time for Christmas. There are some simple guidelines for you to go by in the forum here.

 

Monthly challenges – GREAT thread in the forum.

Elizabeth, a member in the forum wrote in the challenges discussion yesterday:

Another thought that I had might be 'knit a square in honour of someone else'. Let me explain. My granddad is now in a nursing home with severe dementia with very little idea of what is going on around him, and has been like this for several years now. He doesn't recognise anyone or anything, and most days he doesn't even open his eyes. We always struggle with what to give him as a Christmas gift, as there is nothing he needs or that would bring him joy, but yet I still cant bring myself not to give him a gift. I thought that for this year I would knit some squares for him, and send them off. He was/ is a very kind, caring and generous man, and I know that this would have made him happy. If my grandma, aunts and girl cousins and me all knitted two squares each, that will be 22 squares. If we can get the boys on board too, then that will be 44 squares. (We have an exact gender balance in our family! At least we did until I married my husband, but he can't knit, so we won't count him LOL) I digress..

I know if my grandpa was aware of the squares, that it would bring joy to him that a small child or two were being kept warm. He was a surgon who used to visit India to teach doctors there about effective, low cost treatments which could be done in poor conditions (eg wiring jaws together to prevent a tooth abcess, how to keep woulds clean with no running water etc). He would understand the difference that a warm vest for a baby or a blanket for a sick, cold child would make, and I'm sure it would please him that we had knitted these squares in his name.

I just thought that perhaps this idea might help those people who wanted to give a gift to a loved one who either doesn't need or want anything else, or wouldn't notice what they were given. Perhaps people could also knit squares in memory of a loved one who had passed, too?

This might be a challenge that is technically simple and therefore not overwhelming, but will still encourage and sustain the knitters/ crocheters. Thoughts?

Jeanne added: " "In Memoriam" month would be superb. It gets my mind going immediately. Would I make a GO-OVER in honour of my mom and all the sweaters she knit for us down the years, or would I make a blanket in honour of someone like Nelson Mandela? (yes, he's still with us but there are living memorials too right?)"

We think this is a fantastic idea. We could produce a card in which you could share with the recipient of the square/s who they are dedicated to and why. Look forward to your feedback and ideas. Thank you Elizabeth.

 

Heritage Blanket

39 people have purchased Heritage Blanket. Thank you very much for your support. If any of you are currently knitting or have completed a blanket, please share your results with us as they should all be works of art. You could post your photographs on the forum photos page here. You will also get to enjoy the wonderfully creative efforts of others, especially around the August in Africa theme.

 

 

Postal Strike

There is a postal strike in South Africa. While it is giving Ronda and the SCC ladies a chance to catch up, she is preparing for a veritable deluge in a week or two's time. She has asked me to communicate this to you incase she is late with the data for the next ezine.

 

So much for the quick update! I leave you with this lovely photograph of a go-go (grandmother) in a GAP hat! She is a reminder to us of the burden so many grandmothers in Africa bear, having lost many of their children. Among the many generous and creative ideas for challenges being discussed in the forum, is Anne's idea that we do something for the go-gos. Could be a grandmother hat, or a prayer shawl challenge perhaps? Look forward to your thoughts.

Have a lovely weekend everyone, happy knitting and crocheting, stay well and safe, Sandy

PS – for those of you who may not have received the epic Square Circle Issue No: 13 last week, here is a link to the back issues.

Newly orphaned children in your blankets

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Newly orphaned children in your blankets

 

Each month we are joined by dozens of new members both as subscribers and in the forum and ravelry group. It is an absolute joy each day to see the new subscriber notifications and know that means a growing community and more and more squares arriving in South Africa to help warm our children. Thank you all and a very warm welcome to knit-a-square.

SQUARE CIRCLE ISSUE 17.1
October 26 2009

 

A plea from us!
FEATURE STORY: Diepsloot–blankets for children who have recently lost their surviving parent AND our first GO-OVER™ finds a home.
Currency of Hope
6th Anniversary, Jabulani Khakibos Kids
St Michael's School embraces KAS
What has 'Death by Cashmere' to do with KAS?
Crochet, Knitting Heroes tele-seminar series
Anne 'Squares Off' and raises money
Debbie's Sit and Knit event
Two acts of kindness
The KAS/Keiskamma knitting tote
Spread the word – KAShair!

SQUARE CIRCLE ISSUE 17.2 October 30
Lots of your wonderful work
A video to gladden your heart
Glossary of ideas from the forum to consider.

This months ezine is broken into two issues – today's with all the news and Thursday's with loads of your amazing work and Ronda, Lindiwe, Sonya and Anne's beautiful layouts.

Also, please watch the Jabulani Khakibos Boys video (the link is in the story) between now and then as I will have to take it off the site in order to load the heart touching snippets of our children singing their thanks to you for next Thursday.

Although they are both short, the video's size prohibits both videos being up on the website at the same time. The quality is a little shaky, but they are, none the less, both well worth watching.

 

 

 

A plea from us!

 

I must beg everyone's kindness a little further. This month we were troubled to learn that a very young contributor who had organised a huge volume of squares had not heard from us, or that her sizeable efforts had arrived safely in South Africa.

Our current system relies entirely on you, who already spend hours knitting and crocheting, reading Square Circle in order to click through to the lists we post on the site of the contributors.

 

So many of you are now sending incredible contributions of hundreds of squares, singly or within groups, often with gifts for the children and with thoughtful and loving letters. Ronda photographs all the contributions and letters and sends them to me. We read every one with a joy and humility. By choice we would write a letter of acknowledgement to every one of you for one square or for hundreds.

 

At the moment this is just not possible –
if only we each had parallel weeks! So for now, could I ask any of you who are part of a group (church, community or school) to contact me through the website here, if you have made a very special contribution. We would like to acknowledge it by sending you a certificate of appreciation.

 

We will work toward a different system in the future when we have more resources. In the interim, I implore you to join the forum. By being in communication with the others who contribute, you will soon understand the weight of your work and the difference you are making.

We are greatly indebted to you. Your work brings to all who are involved great joy, a growing sense of the goodness of humankind and a belief that together –
we really can make a difference, one square
at a time.

 

Parcels and boxes ready to be opened in the last two weeks!

 

FEATURE STORY:
Diepsloot – blankets for children who have recently lost their surviving parent

 

Despite the overwhelming need of orphans and the poor generally evident everywhere, it is not always as simple as just walking into a shack settlement and handing out blankets.

To do justice to your lovingly made squares and the work of our volunteers who stitch the blankets, we need to find ordered means by which we can fairly distribute the blankets. We can not always know the status of the children as they wander the streets, neither would it be possible to guarantee that children randomly handed blankets would get to keep them.

This is the benefit of working through parishes and charitable organisations at this point. We will continue to seek those gatekeepers and custodians of the extreme poor to help us in all the settlements. Wandile in Protea South walks the streets searching for children in situations of neglect, abuse and illness and Heloise, who we introduced you to last month, continues to feed homeless and orphaned children such as the Hill Kids.

So recently Ronda was delighted to be reminded of a friend from her Parish, Seghonto (right), who she had met some months before. She rang him immediately and that very same day he organised a distribution in Diepsloot Shack Settlement through the good auspices of Sister Cecilia Sato who runs an organisation called the Vuselela Centre.

Seghonto is employed as a Peer Education Officer there and teaches drama to the children cared for by the centre. Ronda had 50 blankets completed ready for distribution and lots of hats and pullovers. It was also a particularly chilly day.

So within a few hours she was off to meet Seghonto at the main entrance of this vast settlement to be guided to the Centre.

The centre's care programs are listed as peer education, support groups and home based care among others. Basically, they are called to deal with situations involving destitution, sickness, death, abandonment or where underage children become orphans.

Sister Sato is a strong, Christian woman who is fiercely protective of her charges. She started the centre on her own several years ago.

 

 

Ronda said the number of blankets she had was horribly inadequate in terms of the children that were there, but they gave blankets to the most desperate children of all ages who had "most recently lost their surviving parent".

Just reading that makes one's heart ache.

 

After that she distributed pullovers and beanies. She wrote: "My most fervent prayers were answered when there were 6 beanies left over at the end. I just could not have borne it if any of those children had received nothing – they were aching for a present, bless their little hearts."

Nomsa, the SAW (Social Auxilliary Worker) called them up in family groups which is why some of the children are 16 or 18 years of age. So young, but parenting their siblings and other orphaned children.

Sister Sato in the background.

Sister Sato has asked whether she can call on Ronda in emergency situations when people are dying and need blankets or warm clothing. It is good to know that we can extend your kindness to help children at a the time when they may be losing a loved parent.

These photographs really do justice to the quality and beauty of your work. So I have featured as many as possible hoping that you will recognise your squares, hats and beanies.

if you do, you will be delighted to see how well they grace their new owners, particularly the children with the blankets who have been newly orphaned.

Lindiwe wrote down a list of some of the children who received blankets, but the situation did not easily allow Ronda to put the names to the actual photographs.

Still it is lovely to know that these are some of the children whose blankets contained the squares you made and sent.

Tomata, Thulane, Cassandra, Thapelo, Phako

Sanele, Ndevhuwo, Gugu, Mojalefa, Viola

Paulina, Knowledge, Surprise, Thandeka

Xoliswa, Nthokosisi, Nondumiso, Karen

Mluleki, Petros, Nkosinathi, Ismael, Nodiwe

Nkazimulo, Maxoba, Percy, Amokelang

 

Lots of warm little heads

Three absolutely gorgeous sweaters and don't they look fabulous on their new owners.

And here are two larger size square pullovers which look delightful on these two young girls.

Bradley on the left made himself known to Ronda as they left and gave her a hug. He is much younger than he looks.

 

Some of these faces are etched with sadness. In most cases these very young people are heads of families now. One young woman to whom we gave a blanket looks after 15 children.

And yet, this young boy displays his innate rhythm and sense of joy after being given his warm new pullover.

We look forward to working with Sister Sato over many years to provide the children she and her Centre care for with warmth and recognition of what they suffer.

The first GO-OVER™ finds a home

The GO-OVER™ is a pullover made out of squares. The protoypes were created by Anne Powell and Zanny Blew in response to Ronda commenting that most pullovers were too tight to 'go-over' other clothes. It is most fitting that this, Anne's first crocheted prototype GO-OVER™ has found a new and welcome home with this young boy.

You can find the patterns for the GO-OVER™ here.

 

 

 

Currency of Hope

 

As you know we are now incorporated, although we still await the precious number which will allow us to unfreeze PayPal! November 3rd we are told. In the meantime we have been sending out fund-raising proposals around the world. We will let you know of our success.

Funds are essential for our survival and growth and to ensure that we meet our goal: "warm every orphan and raise awareness around the world of their plight."

We have always thought of each square as a 'currency of hope'. So in an impromptu think thank this week, we had the idea to give a square a notional one dollar value. Could we then ask companies to fund 10 blankets at 35 squares per blanket for $350? It is such a modest amount, but the difference that 10 blankets on 10 children makes is undeniable, so perhaps many companies would think it a worthy cause.

We would love your feedback. Better still if you work for or know of an organisation you know would consider such a charitable donation, could you let us know. You can either contact us on theforum or if you have any ideas about this, please visit the forum in the IDEAS thread.

You can support us in the interim by purchasing anyone of these books, including Roger McDonald's Heart Yarns and LIz Raad's Knitting for Profit. One hundred percent of all sales go directly to support the work we do for the children.

 

KAS has their first corporate sponsor

 

 

Zanthe and Megan from North Balwyn Chiropractics have been ensuring for years that our whole family can continue to work the hours we do at the computer.

Anyone who works long hours on a computer will understand the body issues that plague one as a result. We weren't really made to sit hunched over a little screen for days were we!

They have a gold coin collection for philanthropic purposes and to our delight, decided to dedicate it to knit-a-square. Thank you so much for your support North Balwyn Chiropractics from the whole KAS community. In essence, you are our first Currency of Hope donor.

 

 

Jabulani KhakiBos Kids 6th Anniversary party

 

Ronda and Erin were invited recently to attend the 6th anniversary party of the Jabulani Khakibos Kids. A great deal of work had been done by the boys to entertain their guests, including a welcome in each of the 11 official languages of South Africa, a drama, the singing of the very poignant South African national anthem, Nkosi Sikelel i'Africa and, self taught, the famous South African Gumboot dance.

All of which you can see snippets of in this video here. For those of you involved in the September Challenge , making GO-OVERS™ and blankets for these boys, this will be very poignant as you recognise a few of the names.

The drama entailed the drunken patrons of a pub being robbed of everything, even their shoes and later on an armed robbery. Ronda commented that it is a sad reality of their previous backgrounds that violence features highly in their imaginations, but as she wrote: Happy ending – the Holy Spirit is called upon and renders the firearms useless …. PHEW!

How inspiring that these boys who came from truly perilous backgrounds, now have a home, food, kindness and education as a result of Stephanie Burnett's efforts. And soon they will all have beautiful warm blankets and GO-OVER's as a result of our September Challenge.

Here is a link to the video of the boys entertaining on the occasion of their 6th anniversary. it will only be up on the site until Thursday 30 October.

 

Christmas idea

We have not been successful so far at finding computers for the boys, but we will keep trying. In the meantime, Erin has has promised to help to have three of their broken windows repaired.

Ronda says their calendar is very busy this year and she and Erin suggest it would be appropriate to do Christmas boxes for each of the boys rather than a Christmas Party. We will post a list of desirable items on the KAS Wish List in the forum if you would like to contribute. Erin's friends have committed to at least 10 boxes, so we would need additional contributions for up to 25 boxes.

This is the lovely youngster, Anatjie, who had just arrived at JKK and washed Ronda's car the first time she went to Jabulani.

She said it was wonderful to see how integrated he is now with friends all around him.

We are also going to donate some of the soft knitted teddy bears that Gary from Daylesford, Australia knitted to JKK, because we were told that when the little fellows arrive, they very much need a soft cuddly toy to help them settle in.

 

 

 

St Michael's School, Melbourne embraces knit-a-square

Cressida and I were treated to a service on Friday 23 October, which was deeply touching.

Margaret Fernon introduced Claire Hicks, a teacher at St Michael's School, Melbourne to KAS through an article in the local Archdiocese magazine, Kairos. Between them and with the blessing of Geraldine, the principal, they introduced knit-a-square to the children, their parents and some of the parishioners who set about teaching the children to knit during their school breaks and knitting themselves.

The service was in the beautiful St Michael's church next door to the school. The whole school and many parents and parishioners were there. The children had prepared poems, letters and drawings all dedicated to the orphans and knitting blankets to keep them warm. Groups of them took turns in reading the poems and letters while others lit candles at the base of the altar. Then the children and the community were asked to come forward and lay their squares before the altar. Some of the children looked as young as 5 or 6.

We were greatly moved and wished you had all been with us to witness this warm embrace of the work we are all doing.

Afterwards I gave a short presentation which told the story of knit-a-square and the work you are doing featuring many photographs of the orphans and their blankets. Then it was back to the school for a picnic and more knitting.

Thank you St Michael's School and Community for your involvement in knit-a-square. We hope very much that you and other schools will continue to contribute over the years and in so doing teach the next generation of children about the plight of the orphans in Africa.

 

 

What has 'Death by Cashmere' to do with KAS?

 

What indeed? Sally Goldenbaum, author of the Seaside Knitters mystery series, contacted me recently to say she was appearing at the Boucheron Conference, a yearly event held this year in Indianapolis in early October and attended by most major mystery writers and lots of readers.

She wrote: This year they have invited some of us who write 'craft' mysteries to host one-hour sessions during which we will talk with readers while everyone does a craft. For my session, I am going to have attendees knit squares for your project and also hope to hand out information about your program." We were thrilled as I am sure you are too!

I was doubly delighted when a copy of each of Sally's books arrived, beautifully inscribed.

As I later wrote to Sally, Nell Endicott, aunt of Issy Chamber's who owns the irresistible Seaside Knitting Studio and her friends Birdie and Cass became fast friends in the two short weeks it took to read both books.

I felt bereft when we were forced to part ways on the last page. Sally ensures me we will be re-aquainted in the future, but I will leave her to tell you the really exciting part for knit-a-square.

She wrote of the conference that knit-a-square was much thought about and the workshop was great. "There is a mystery buyer for Barnes & Noble, himself a knitter, who has asked for a kit! And most of the participants are taking the info back to their knitting groups at home."

 

Crochet, Knitting Heroes Webinar Series

Roger and Cressida are currently involved in arranging an online webinar series.

The idea is that we invite fascinating knitting and crochet personalities to be interviewed online.  We hope to schedule five interviews starting in about three weeks and running one each one night for five weeks for our first series.

Our plan is to invite the world’s knitting and crochet heroes, those with influence, talent, passion or who are just plain fascinating because of who they are, to be interviewed online, one at a time.

Once the interviews are complete we will transcribe them into an ebook and audio product. They will then be sold, or given away in exchange for a donation to KasCare, to raise funds for knit-a-square.

We would like to kick off the series with the following who have already shown a strong interest:

• Liz Raad (author of the successful ebook, Knitting for Profit. )

• Sally Goldenbaum (Penguin author of knitting-based mystery novels.)

• Susie Hewer, (holder of Guinness world knitting records.)

• Sandy McDonald (founder of knit-a-square.com).

Others who have been approached and we are waiting to hear from include:

• Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably (legendary color and textile artists, teachers and authors. They have expressed interest in the project.)

• Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (The Yarn Harlot, globally renowned knitting sage, author and humorist)

• Jan Eaton (crochet pattern designer and author)

• Brett Bara (editor, Crochet Today magazine and Stitchy TV host)

• Jess and Casey, (co-founders of the Ravelry website)

• Amy Clarke Moore (editor of Spin-off magazine for yarn spinners).

Invitations to this online event would be sent to everyones’ members by the participant, with a view to exposing each to a greatly increased and highly targeted audience and KAS to hundreds or thousands more knitters and crocheters.

You can listen to these knitting and crochet luminaries as they talk about their work, their craft and careers. Time will be set aside at the end of the interviews for questions online from the audience. The webinar is expected to run for a maximum of 45 minutes.

 

It will help achieve our second goal which is to raise awareness of this mostly hidden and terrible human tragedy and introduce more knitters for more squares and clothes.

Please feel free to suggest other notables on the knitting and crochet stage. People have told us they love the idea. If it proves popular, we will make it a regular part of the calendar.

 

 

The first St Paul's Leaskdale 'Square Off"

 

From Anne Powell, Uxbridge, Canada

October 18 2009: Today at our church, we asked the congregation to participate in the knit-a-square project. Several women in the church have been knitting – and so we appeared this morning, with 670 squares, two blankets, 14 hats…. seeking help with sponsorship for the postage costs.

I had prepared a very short power point presentation to be shown during the service – just a brief explanation of KAS and loaded with some of Ronda’s wonderful photos.

We asked for 50 cents per square, for each square a family wished to send knowing that some of the heavier squares would cost more to send, but knowing too, that given the generosity of folks at St. Paul’s, we would likely “oversubscribe” a bit and this would offset the cost of the heavier squares. We provided a note to be enclosed with each Ziploc of squares – “Made with love by the members and friends of St. Paul’s…. postage sponsored with love by the ________ family”

The squares and a KAS display were set up in the foyer and people chose their squares at coffee time between the two services. Even the children participated – a basket was set at the front of the church and the kids were invited to drop in a dollar or whatever they could to help keep their little African brothers and sisters warm…. and some were brought to our table by their parents to choose the bags of squares they wished to send.

This little event not only has paid for the postage – it has made so many other people aware of the project – I know we have now enlisted several other knitters, people who don’t knit have promised to tell friends who do, I was asked to go speak to our local senior’s group, most of whom are knitters……and as I sat in church watching the congregation during the power point presentation, I could see an awareness of what we are trying to do dawning on a lot of faces, as they looked at the tin shacks and then at the smiles on the blanketed children.

 

Anne's initiative is inspirational. I hope all of you who are part of a church of a community will take up this idea and be as successful.

 

 

 

KAS Sit and Knit

From Debbie Posmontier, Philadelphia

It was a glorious, sunny, fall day here and the Sit and Knit at the Arcadia Flea Market was a success. Lots of people took rulers and fliers and said they'd send squares. A few people sat to knit but most were busy shopping! I found out about 2 knitting circles in the community that I will visit to share information. I also discovered that Arcadia University, where I am an alumni, has a knitting and crafting group. They are interested in KAS and will spread the word.

 

Two acts of kindness

 

Two acts of kindness came our way this month. We received this exquisitely handmade card and knitted teddy bear in the most minute and immaculate GO-OVER™ from Karen Fontana, a moderator in the forum. She sent the gift for knit-a-square's first anniversary which has been nominated as 19 October, the day the home page went live. Thank you Karen. They make us smile whenever we pick them up.

The $200 Australian dollars was given to us by a great personal friend. She wanted to help with postage for the many hundreds of donated squares, teddy bears, scarves, baby blankets and other assorted items that have been piling up in the office and in my mother's spare bedroom over the last months. We are thrilled that they will now be winging their way to the children, courtesy of her kindness.

 

A reversible knitting tote benefits everyone, especially those with HIV AIDS

We have a good friend, Gay Staurup who is a talented felter. She has spent a year, and more, working in a little town called Hamburg on the East Coast of South Africa, with multi talented women in a creative sewing and felting project, run by the Keiskamma Trust.

Keiskamma's vision as a community organisation is: "to foster hope and offer support for the most vulnerable. We strive to address the challenges of widespread poverty and disease through holistic and creative programmes and partnerships. It is our guiding principle that the battle against HIV/AIDS in rural South Africa cannot be won by medical intervention alone."

The women embroider and felt the most incredibly beautiful art pieces, mentored by great embroidery artists from around the world. They created the magnificent Keiskamma Altar Piece which has toured the world.

 

Gay suggested I talk to Florence Danais, the Art project Manager and ask if they would be interested in making knitting totes for the KAS and wider knitting community. We were delighted when they agreed to become involved in the project.

Gay and I set about making a prototype knitting tote which is reversible using lovely African fabrics and in its final form would feature some beautiful embroidery on the front pocket by the women of Keiskamma. Everything went well until I joined the straps the wrong way round – more like a pinafore then a bag! Gay assures me the ladies of Keiskamma will sort out this rather pivotal error.

Florence has received the bag and so fairly soon we hope to see a 'real one' and be able to offer the knitting tote for sale. The benefits are obvious. Both organisations will benefit financially which means we are supported in the work we are doing for those affected or infected by HIV AIDS and you get to own a magnificent hand made and embroidered knitting tote.

 

Spread the word!

 

Where else are you forced to sit for 45 minutes with both hands free? How often have you itched to do something constructive with that time?

Our local hairdresser now offers knitting needles and yarn and KAS rulers so that you can wile away the time while your hair is coloured, by knitting 8" /20cm squares.

Ron Petrucci of Zucci's has agreed to trial the KAShair program for which we are very grateful. He gave me the opportunity to talk to the staff early one morning before the clients arrived and 10 days since then at least 8 squares have been knitted. At that rate one salon could produce at least 8 to10 blankets a year.

imagine if every hair salon in the world took up the program. You could use the Introductory Letter on the resources page to approach your hairdresser.

It was quite a thrill walking past the hair salon on our way home one evening to see through the window two women busily knitting squares.

 

Your Squares arriving

GRAND TOTALS by 22 October (10 month mark) Squares: 38,290, Baby Blankets 220, Sweaters: 573 Beanies: 1784 Vests: 340

Here is the list of all the squares that have arrived between 22 September 09 and 22 October 09. There is are still boxes and boxes arriving, so please do not be concerned it your squares have not yet arrived.

Don't forget you to have a look at the new KAS book review page. A hundred percent of the proceeds from the sales of any of these ebook or physical book products go directly to support our work with the children.

Thank you all for patiently reading this far. I hope you will enjoy part two on Thursday with all your fabulous work. Have a good week until then. And take care, Sandy