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[Reposted from the December Challenge thread by request.]

My December Project...

The December 2010 challenge caught my attention in a way that none of the other challenges had. Like most people, when someone asks "What does the world need most?", the first words which pop into my head are "World Peace". (Thanks, Miss Congeniality!)

But that didn't really feel enough for me. It's not something tangible, it's not something which I have any direct control over, and most importantly, it's only an end goal. End goals are great, but it's strategies which get you there, and I really wanted to come up with something that was a bit closer to a strategy.

What I really wanted, and what I really felt the world needed, was for every person in the world to have their minimum needs met, so that they are able to be the best possible person that they can be. That's a tall order, and I'm neither a social scientist not a philosopher, so I decided to have a hunt around for some inspiration along that theme. Eventually, I stumbled across Manfred Max-Neef's Fundamental Human Needs. It is a list of nine things which are the basic requirements for all human beings to be happy. They are universal, in that they are not based on one particular culture or economic system. They are not sequential; you don't meet one then move onto the next, they all interrelate. They are also, conceptually, quite simple. They are ideas that everyone is already familiar with.

So I now had a name and a framework for my world wish. I wanted all people to have their fundamental human needs met, according the Max-Neef's nine points. The next challenge was to figure out how to craft that. From this came my actual December Project:

I would create one item or set of items for each of Max-Neef's nine Fundamental Human Needs. Each item would achieve the following:
- Represent the concept behind of that need
- Be of practical use to an orphaned or at-risk child in South Africa
- Be small enough to post, but significant enough to be worth posting
- Contain some major hand-crafted element, which I would make myself

And then the real kicker...
They must all be done by the end of December. Eek!

With only a few ends to weave in, and a whole lot of packing up to do, here's what I ended up with.

Subsistence
Most of the work KAS does is in the area of subsistence. Subsistence is all about having food and shelter, physical and mental health. It is also, traditionally, one of the most fundamental of those fundamental needs.

To represent subsistence, particularly in the context of KAS, I made a blanket. Blankets can keep a person warm when it's cold, and they can provide padding from the hard ground. They're also simple. Subsistence is all about having the simple necessities of well being..

The blanket was machine knitted in 8 ply on a Bond (bulky gauge), but could just as easily have been hand-knitted over a longer time frame. It was made in four long panels of stockinette, each joined using the sew-as-you-go technique and ending with a folded hem.



Affection
Affection is about the ability to love and be loved. This need reminded me of a story posted in one of the KAS newsletters, which described some of the younger kids in the creches getting their own toy. The children took those small toys and treated them like babies, carrying them on their back like mothers did with their own children. That spoke volumes to me about the childrens' need to express affection.

To represent affection then, I made several small toys which I nicknamed 'snuggle squares'. They borrow from KAS's 'square' motif, but turn those squares into soft, squishy, lightweight little characters that children can hug and carry with them. The snuggle squares are hand-knitted in 4 ply sock yarn, with eyes cut from felt and hand-sewn on.

Understanding
Understanding of the world and about ourselves starts with simple curiosity, but really flourishes with education. It comes from having access both to formal education in schools and informal education from family and community. For a lot of these orphaned or at-risk children, both formal and informal education must come from the same place, the creches and orphanages where they spend a lot of their time.

To represent understanding, I machine sewed a simple, child sized satchel for a school bag. It's made from double thickness cotton fabric, which should make it strong but also keeps it lightweight for little arms. And because a school bag is no use without school supplies to put into them, I might have slipped in a few exercise books and lead pencils somewhere along the way.

Protection
To be able to live confidently, one must feel safe and protected. In the western world, people in high-danger situations wear strong kevlar vests to protect them, but for a child at risk in South Africa a warm, tightly knitted vest affords a different kind of protection; protection from cold and sickness.

To represent protection then, I made a child sized vest. The main body of the vest was 4 ply baby yarn machine knitted on a Singer (standard gauge). The ribbed collar was hand knitted, and the sleeves were crocheted. The vest is longer than it is wide, so that it can afford its protection to a child's whole trunk.


Participation
Having responsibilities, relationships and a sense of involvement in community are all key to the participation need. It is about being a part of groups and communities in a happy and healthy way. This need reminded me of another story which came from the creches, about how the carers used hand puppets as communication tools with small children.

To represent participation, I made a set of felt hand puppets. The great thing about hand puppets is that they are an activity that works best when playing with others. Even more importantly, they let children play out social scenarios in ways which helps them to understand socialisation in their world. The puppets are made by cutting shapes from sheet felt, then hand sewing a running stitch around all the edges. The faces are made with black yarn and stick-on eyes, and the hair is glued on novelty-yarn.

Creation
The need to create is something very familiar to all crafters. It is that desire to be able to turn imagination and inventiveness into something real. To fulfil this need, people need to have the skills, materials and freedom to be able to express their ideas creatively.

To represent creation, I collected a bag of crafty bits and pieces suitable for small children - pipe cleaners, stickers, wooden beads and blue tack. To fulfil my part of this task and include something I created myself, I included small samples of yarns which I had hand-spun.

Identity
Everyone needs to know who they are, to have a sense of belonging and a place in the world. Identity is all about that sense of self, both personal and as part of a families, communities and cultures. It is, by its very nature, a very individual thing, which makes it hard to find something to give away that will build a recipient's sense of identity.

To represent identity, then, I machine sewed a fabric wall hanging for a creche or orphanage to hang up. The main piece of the wall hanging is a single fabric panel with a map of the world on it, illustrated with famous, cute and cuddly animals from various geographies. It has a pocket at the bottom, which allows it to be weighted down with cheap plastic rulers (which I have included), but these rulers can be slipped back out again if the wall hanging needs to be cleaned. It is bright and cheerful, which makes it great for kids, but it also gives carers a way of introducing their charges to idea of a whole world community.

Leisure
Fun and games aren't just fun and games. Having access to leisure can mean having time to play, or it can be time to rest, or having the opportunity to imagine. For kids in particular though, play is a vital part of development, and one of the best ways for kids to learn about their world.

To represent leisure, I made several felted woollen balls. These start out as pom-poms, which are then wrapped in wool roving or tops, tied up in the toe of a stocking, and washed until they felt into great, soft, lightweight balls. The balls are sturdy, and soft enough that if they get thrown at someone they won't hurt. Give a kid a ball, and they'll come up with a dozen different games to play with their peers, affording them both creativity, interaction, and of course, a whole lot of fun.




Freedom
Freedom is all about having passion about things, and the autonomy do to something about it. This was easily the hardest of the lot to figure out an item for.

To represent freedom, I made a hand-knit pair of socks. While these socks won't do much but keep a little person's feet warm, they symbolise the ability to go anywhere and do anything a person wants.



In some versions of the list of fundamental human needs, there is a tenth 'unofficial' need added to the list: "Dream"

To my mind, this was a reminder that while we create lovely things for children and send them over, some things are limited by more than our ability to imagine and hope for better things, or even to hard work in achieving them. Some things, like the ongoing KAS operation both in South Africa and in Australia, are also limited by their funding.

So to represent Dream, I have made a financial donation to the KAS organisation, so that they can use it to help realise everyone's shared goal of a better life for the kids. I'd encourage everyone who's read this far to consider making their own donation to the KAS Dream as you start the new year.