NEXT STEPS TO TEACH WOMEN IN UGANDA TO CRAFT

On behalf of the children and women your Small Act will help, and for registering with CreateCare Global as a Small Activist, THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

WHAT’S INVOLVED NOW?
Thank you so much for electing to be one of 12 knitting or crochet craftspeople to join our Mbale Crafting Co-op beta group.

We hope that you are prepared to give a few hours of your time initially, and in the first instance to donate US$15 to buy the first 6 balls of yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks and a small pair of scissors.

CreateCare Global will be asking others to keep the donations coming, so the women can complete the blankets. If you wish to continue helping with yarn, we would be delighted.

WHAT’S NEXT?
We ask you to either design an 8 x 8inch (20 x 20 cm) square or choose your best pattern and send it to Sandy McDonald (CEO and Founder of CreateCare Global, and co-ordinator of this project at small.acts@smallacts.global

Your patterns may be complex in stitching (knitting or crochet), or teach the women how to incorporate images into the square.

We would encourage you to make a short instructional video for them, to both introduce yourself and to assist with any difficult parts in your pattern. These will go into the learning library to share with the others.

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CRAFTER
Once Robinah has received your details and designs, she will assign your square to one of the women and let you know the name of who you are teaching.

The women will start work immediately as they receive the patterns.

If they encounter difficulties which Robinah or Joyce cannot help with, Robinah will email you to organise a one-on-one Zoom session to show them how to overcome the issue.

Depending on the complexity of your pattern, this may involve you in more than one zoom session.

THE INITIAL GOAL
The aim is for each woman to make 35 squares using your pattern, and then sew them together to make a blanket by the end of February 2022.

In celebration and to showcase their work, we will organise a joint zoom in which they’ll meet all of you, the caring crafters and you’ll meet all of them.

The women can then choose another square pattern to make another blanket, and so learn different knitting and crochet skills. Along the way, they’ll receive help from those who have learned before them.

You can see how important your initial teaching of the skills will be as they continue to practise their craft.

At the celebration, you will see some of the street children receive their beautiful home-made blankets in your pattern.

THE LONG TERM GOAL
You will also witness the women turning into skilled craftswomen with the ability to make a small income that can fund the yarn and make a small profit by selling their crafted items.

You can become more involved in any way you choose. We encourage you to adopt this as their cause, create your own mini-not-for-profit among your networks, and continue the relationship way past this initial program.

WHAT IS CREATECARE GLOBAL’s ROLE?
Our job is to tell the story and inspire other compassionate, caring crafters like you to get involved. We will also co-ordinate the whole project and keep everyone in touch with each other.

OUR DREAM

Long term we envision a crafting co-op. When the world is once again Covid free, we imagine crafters from around the world travelling to Uganda to do masterclasses and work with the crafters on bigger projects, perhaps installations that might attract funding and local government participation.

That is the dream, will you be part of it?

KIDS HELPING KIDS

If you are a teacher or a parent and are considering involving your children in creative problem-solving to raise the money for yarn to support this Small Act, we greatly encourage that.

You can download our School Program for free here. Or for a small donation purchase our Teacher Resource to teach your children to knit for Knit-a-square.com.

Share your Big Impact stories and photographs of the ideas you and your children came up with to help feed the children in the village communities in our Facebook Group. We cannot wait to hear them.

With deep gratitude from all of us at CreateCare Global.

ANY QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS WITH DONATING PLEASE CONTACT US DIRECTLY AT <SMALL ACTS