This vast unfolding human tragedy is an issue for the world. It is your children Richard Stearns is talking about. Your children who will ask the question and your children who could also grow older knowing they have always been involved in making a difference.
In a world where children are exposed to much sadness and horror through the media, it may seem too much to further burden them with the plight of these children.
Yes We Can!
Children have an inbuilt ‘yes we can’ attitude. They have boundless energy. They are affected by others in more need then themselves. They are predisposed to give if we allow them to do so.
They need to be involved in tangible ways to make a difference. This project is simple. It is easy, it is achievable, it has results that are evident. It will involve your children in a community of people all involved in making a difference. It will involve them in a culture of giving. They will:
- be part of a global effort to send warmth to the orphaned or vulnerable children of southern Africa
- share in the joy of achieving a purpose by their combined efforts
- learn about giving and goodness
- feel empowered as they understand that their efforts do make a difference
- learn about, and connect to those so much less fortunate then themselves
- be part of both a team at home and a universal team.
The Youth Leadership Institute of California, commissioned by the James Irvine Foundation to investigate the effects of giving on young people, concluded that youthful philanthropy held great benefits for all parties involved.
Teaching our children philanthropic values is a primary responsibility. The value that holds us apart is our desire to give to others in greater need than us.
This Yes We Can Parent and Teacher Resource poses the question, ‘Can you imagine not having parents, a home, food to eat, a school to go to, a blanket to keep you warm?’
This serves to create empathy in your children for their peers living in these circumstances, but also to help direct the efforts of this project to the last of their needs, warmth.
While it may be impossible for children of many ages to imagine a life devoid of love, shelter, education and food, most of us can imagine being cold or lying in a bed with no covers.
Global love
Knit-a-square’s goal is to provide warmth in the form of blankets and simple knitted and crocheted garments for orphaned or vulnerable children in South Africa first, Africa second and elsewhere in the world. Along the way we aim to help create an ongoing awareness of the effects of HIV AIDS in Africa and the world on children.
Knit-a-square asks the knitters and crocheters of the world to make 8″ (20cm) squares and send them to Knit-a-square South Africa, where they are made up into blankets, and distributed to children being looked after in informal settlements.
Get involved
Can you walk away from this? Not just the project but from millions of children alone, hungry and cold. Not just one child today, but hundreds, every day way into the future.
This is about far more than knitting or crocheting a square to help make a blanket. It is the process by which your children become involved in a the life long habit of giving.
They will make and sustain a connection to the most devastated group of humans on our planet.
One square is easy to do, two or three is not much more difficult. But every single square that is knitted will go into a blanket and help make a cold child warm.
The teacher resource
The attractive resource is packed with information. It will help you to teach your children:
- About the scale of the tragedy, and what being young, alone, and perhaps sick with HIV AIDS means in terms of their most basic needs
- The history of giving and particular knitting and giving
- How to knit in order to knit an 8″ (20cm) square and send it to Africa to make up the blankets for the children.
In addition it encourages children to form their own Square Circle (knitting group).
REGISTER FOR THE UPDATED Parent and Teacher Resource
VERSION 5 UPDATE READY NOVEMBER 2018.
Teach your children the value of Yes We Can.
Harness your children’s inbuilt desire to love and do good and their boundless energy, to benefit the orphaned or vulnerable children southern Africa. Your children will learn from, and be rewarded by, the privilege of giving.
REGISTER
Please register by emailing sandy@knit-a-square.com with your details and interest in receiving the updated version of the Parent and Teacher resource, to be published on November 30 2018. Fill in the forms and we will send you the publication date. The price remains a small donation of $10US. Thank you for helping us and for your patience in receiving this resource.
