Joining together

I have been very preoccupied with the needs of others recently. I wrote a post about knit-a-square a while back and I have been absorbed in knitting for them. There was a July challenge - knit a whole blanket to keep a newborn warm and I decided that I would do that. It is taking me so long, it is now August! But it is satisfying, sitting, thinking, whilst making each stitch, about a baby who would be wrapped in the blanket soon. My five-year-old son asked me what I was doing and I explained that I was making a blanket for a baby in South Africa. He asked why they didn't already have blankets and when I told him that they didn't have money or families like we do, he said after a pause, "I have a great idea mummy, I could send some money to those children so they can buy blankets!". I was really moved that my little boy could not only empathise with these children who are so far away, but also realised that he could do something to help.

I thought that it would be good to look into sponsoring a child. I had been thinking about it for a long time, but my son inspired me to act. So I found a French charity called Un Enfant Par la Main (a child by the hand), and we requested to sponsor a little boy. We were so excited when the envelope arrived from the charity and we learnt that we were sponsoring Muthukumar from India. We have to wait a month before writing our first letter to him but we are looking forward to it.

I posted this on Facebook because the charity encourage you to invite others to sponsor a child. I had several comments in return, one from a friend who said that she sponsors a woman through Women for Women International. I looked them up. They are an amazing charity, based in the USA, who work with women who have survived war and their programmes help these women set up businesses and become strong members of their communities. I was so moved when I read the testimonies on the website. I am going to try to find a way to raise the money so I can sponsor a woman too. (Having already committed to sponsoring Muthukumar, it is difficult to find the funds to do both.) So, I have decided that money from anything I sell on etsy will go towards sponsorship with this organisation. So please take a look and see if there is anything you'd like to purchase!

Thank you and bon dimanche. x