What is KAS?
According to the United Nations,
There are more than 34 million orphans in the region (sub-Saharan Africa) today and some 11 million of them are orphaned by AIDS. Eight out of every 10 children in the world whose parents have died of AIDS live in sub-Saharan Africa. During the last decade, the proportion of children who are orphaned as a result of AIDS rose from 3.5% to 32% and will continue to increase exponentially as the disease spreads unchecked.
Ronda Lowrie lives amongst these orphans in South Africa. She could not continue as a spectator to the suffering of these children. With her niece, Sandy McDonald and their families, they began Knit-a-Square (KAS) in 2009.
Their idea is brilliant in it’s simplicity. With the help of the Internet, they “shout out” to the knitters and crocheters of the world asking them to make one 8 inch square. 35 squares sewn together in South Africa make a blanket to warm one orphan. Ronda and her volunteers go into settlements and day care centers and distribute the blankets one by one.
In the last five years the plight of the AIDS orphans of South Africa has touched the hearts of thousands of people world-wide. One square is all we ask, but many people send tens and hundreds of squares along with toys, hats, sweaters and more.
All of the donations serve to warm these forgotten children, but as Ronda tells us they do much more:
“The blankets are a currency we use to tell the children exactly how beloved they are. We tell them they are the future unique and special.”
There are many ways you can help us: