KasSnippets - October 2013
Reporting KAS in South Africa : KAS Helps Children outside of Gauteng
Last week you heard about Oliver and Hotel Hope and the wonderful work they do for orphaned children in South Africa. KAS also supports other organisations who do the most amazing work with children and who are only too pleased to partner with KAS in order to touch the lives of children in desperate need of help.
The first of these organisations I would like to talk about is the Lindelani Reformatory School and how they have partnered with KAS to make a difference in the lives of children in and around the Stellenbosch area in the Western Cape. Elna Otter, who is an Occupational Therapist working for the Western Cape Government at the Lindelani Reformatory near Stellenbosch, has been receiving blanket packs and other items from KAS in Johannesburg.
Elna with all the the goodies sent to her.
To read the rest of the report please Click here
For the other recent reports :
What we got up to at KAS today!
We headed to the Vaal Dam this week.....
THE KNIT-A-SQUARE SHOP
Please go to the Knit-A-Square Shop today and purchase something special to support the day-to-day operations (KasOps) directly in South Africa.
Ronda with the paper purchased via your generous donations through
"KAS REACHES GREAT HEIGHTS FOR CHILDREN"
A JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD !
This challenge is going to take us around the planet whilst reaching great heights & piles of squares - 178,000 to be precise, in order to reach the top of
Table Mountain, Cape Town in South Africa!
We are going to need 50 squares for every foot climbed!
Our very first target for members to reach is the top of The Liberty Bell in the USA, Philadelphia - 150 squares will be needed to sound the bell! Once the pile has reached the top of the bell, then we move onto The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen Harbour, Denmark therefore the total will need to reach 200 squares! Next will be Venus de Milo in Paris followed by Greyfriars Bobby, Edinburgh Scotland at 375. Then it will be the turn of the Long Walk to Freedom Statue of Nelson Mandela in South Africa at 575 squares. You've probably got the picture by now!
to
KAS has a surplus of hats & beanies, therefore please would those of you who make hats switch to squares as essentially, 1 hat = 3 squares and will help build the piles to reach our target just that bit quicker!
Here is the link to KAS Reaches Great Heights for Children
WHAT'S GOING ON IN SOUTH AFRICA?
Tumi (a regular KAS volunteer in South Africa) discovered a needy 'girls shelter' in her area and a dozen Jenny Nesbit blankets, which were specifically saved for a smaller group of older children. We will have more photos of the girls later. Tumi is always on the look-out for shelters etc and she is to become a member of the KAS South Africa Board.
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM KAS DISTRIBUTIONS
Ronda has sent some photographs from a distribution to
Ba Jabulile Daycare Centre - February 2010 - pronounced "Bah jah boo lee leh". She says, "There are some dear little faces in this batch...... I remember them like it was yesterday!
The twins, before and after!
Mama Ntombi Community Projects recently sent us the photographs of some of the 300+ hats KAS sent them in August.
Blankets - Lorinda has continued to add more completed blankets (now up to 229 from her team of stitchers since joining KAS in 2012) to The Knit-a-Square Blanket Album - you may even spot your squares!
This blanket is from Cheriel's team - one of Ronda's groups.
John Crane House for Girls
Many of you will recall our report earlier this year when KAS supplied much needed items including blankets and cuddly toys. The house is well established and the 18 homeless girls (many who had been abused) are thriving. Below is a lovely comfortable bedroom for 3 girls
The Board of the Soul Provider Trust is delighted to announce that 82% of the required funding for the Boys House has been secured and it has been decided to commence construction!
All the children will be cared for by a House mother/father and they will receive an education. It is hoped that construction will be completed before mid-December this year.
No doubt KAS will provide much needed blankets & cuddlies for the homeless boys when they arrive.
The JBay Recycling Project & Stitch Witch News
Kyknet visited the JBay Recycling Project for it to be highlighted on the TV program Kwela on Kyknet. They interviewed some of the volunteers on 14th October in the morning.
Gitta commented : The crew from Kyknet got so caught up in the project that they only left at 17h30. Exhausted and dirty, but they enjoyed themselves. The children always enjoy the dentists (not like me, I would run) and you can see that it makes a difference, because the following weeks after a dentist visit, the toothpaste and brushes fly out of the swop shop. We are still waiting for the statistics from the dentists like how many children they were able to treat and when they will be back again. Hopefully soon, because there is a huge demand. One of our 15 year old recyclers has never been to a dentist before!
The Mobile Dentist (eeek) arrives!
SORTED IN AFRICA
Here are a few of opening day photos, To see more open day photographs please go to Sorted in Africa
Flashback photo from the early days of KAS
We recently received photos taken by Madeline, a 14 year old Girl Scout from Germany - who chose Knit-a-Square as her project towards gaining her Silver Award. In the process Madeline taught 17 people to knit! We are very grateful and proud that this lovely kind-hearted girl chose Knit-a-Square.
Over the years Ronda has received lots of wonderful and charming letters from school children who want to help. We'll share them gradually that came from the 3M class, Ambleside, Tasmania Island (Australia) :
Nixon Street Primary - Tasmania Island, Australia
KAS GROUP NEWS & SPREADING THE WORD
The USA Group has been having a Fundraising Drive for Nancefield Creche and they successfully reached their goals!
Ronda hopes to purchase the tables and chairs and have them installed at the Nancefield Creche 18th or 19th November - do look out for the photographs!
Well done everyone involved, a tremendous effort that will make such a difference to that cavernous gym - making it so much more welcoming and homely for the children.
Member Sonja Shaw has been organising and sending squares for the Dept of Human Services Knitting Group in Australia for a while now. She reports this week : Today we are mailing off another 100 squares which means that around 10 of our packages are in transit and it brings us to a total of 1100 since we commenced in May this year. We will blitz through another 100+ before the end of the year. In addition we have sent through lots of beanies (and have now stock-piled the rest because KAS has beanies enough for now), vests, wool, new underwear and socks for the dear children.
While we are gearing up to summer and the expected slow-down in knitting we still anticipate being able to maintain around 100 squares a month and who knows just how much more we can do in winter next year!!
One Square at a Time can be found on the Forum menu bar KasBlog
Laurie Fortier (Canada) has generously agreed to write and update a blog for KAS which will help spread-the-word!
She writes : Knit-a-Square allows me to give in an extraordinarily personal way. I may never meet my KASKids in person, but the squares I knit with my own hands will. They will be wrapped around the shoulders of an orphaned child and she will be told, “Someone from across the world, that you don’t know, loves you and wants you to grow and be happy.”
To visit the blog click on One Square at a Time above, or to read more about Laurie, click here !
KAS MONTHLY CHALLENGES
The Un-Challenge, suggested by Dave Maltby, has proved very rewarding indeed - UFO's galore! Thanks to Mary Anne Fellows, this has certainly turned into a fun challenge, plus several members have been able to alleviate their guilt with regarding incomplete squares and projects! Here are some of items posted on the Photo tab :
The November Challenge is being lead by Laurie Fortier
"Toys and Games Squares & Knitted Teddies"
Here is the list for the rest of the year for those of you who like to snap up
bargain yarns in preparation! The list can be accessed on the Forum :
SQUARE LISTS - TALLY - ITEM COUNT
PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO ADD "NO COMMERCIAL VALUE, CHARITY ONLY" ON YOUR PARCELS - SOMEONE FORGOT RECENTLY AND SOUTH AFRICAN CUSTOMS CHARGED KAS 100 RANDS!
Square Lists for September is ready for viewing.
Received in September : Squares 10,720 (306 blankets);
Tops 213 and Beanies 615
For further details go to the discussion page Square Lists - Tally - Item Count for previous months.
Please don't forget to include your email address so that you receive an acknowledgement once the parcel has been opened! The files that Erica created for the Package Inventory to make parcel opening day easier for the team in South Africa, and for keeping track of all the items received, are in the lower left hand corner of the discussion. These files can be downloaded.
NOVEMBER PATTERN OF THE MONTH
by Linda Maltby
Teddy Bear Hand Puppets
Knit puppet pattern by Shelley Pearson (UK)
Crochet puppet pattern by Andrea Palmatier (Canada)
The children in South Africa have few, if any, play things. As well as being a toy, a teddy bear puppet can be a companion for a vulnerable child, especially one who has recently suffered loss. Puppets will also stimulate the child’s imagination and creative play.
As you can see from Michelle’s knit puppets [in the above photo] they don’t have to be traditional teddy bear colours. These delightful puppets are already in South Africa, providing great comfort to lonely children. Safety eyes and noses are very securely attached and will not fall off.
If you prefer, you may add yarn eyes and noses.
Puppets by Lisa Marie
Both the crocheted and knitted bear puppets are easy to make and will bring such joy to the children.
The puppets are two of the many patterns to be found in the
If you see another pattern you would like to try, please do!
SQUARE HEART OF THE MONTH AWARD
Edited this month by Laurie Fortier
This month the Square Heart Award goes to
Kathy Chantrell and Kathy Platts
plus Marian
creator of absolutely adorable cuddly toys!
KAS FACEBOOK PAGE
We have received an additional 125 Likes on the Facebook page so far during September/October taking our total to 6,319! We also copy the messages etc received on Facebook to the Forum for anyone who is not a member of FB.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Replies
Thank you Pam. Another interesting report. The Snippets always make me rush to my crochet hook and get stuck into the pile of yarn in my stash.
Thanks Pam. It is lovely to read all that has been going on both on the forum and in South Africa. With the 'KAS Reaches Great Heights for Children' challenge, Ronda and the team will have many many squares to sew into blankets. Which means more warm children when the African winter arrives.
Fabulous report Pam! I will have to read it again, to make sure I didn't miss anything! Thank you so much!!