This is part of the third annual Knitting and Crochet Blogging Week
I thought long and hard for this one. I was going to talk about my grandmother, or her two sisters in laws. All three amazing women who have always been inspirational in so many ways.
Crafting communities are usually most generous. The knitting and crochet communities are no exception. Every time there is a crisis anywhere in the world you will find designers donating proceeds of their patterns to aid the victims, knitters donating scarves, crocheters making baby blankets and hats. There are knitters and crocheters who knit mainly for charity donating thousands of preemie hats and blankets. It touches my heart and makes me feel that the men and women are not just donating finished objects, they are giving their most precious time and choosing to make someone else feel loved by a hand made item.
There are also many projects where the knitters or crocheters teach people how to knit or crochet for many reasons, like get over illness or learn a skill. There are also the knitters and crocheters who will dive into their stashes to donate books, hooks, needles and yarn to support these projects.
But today I wanted to talk about Vera Sanon, who is not only a wonderful designer, but is also the founder and executive director of Fanm pou Fanm (Women for Women), a non-profit organization that works with some of the poorest women in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
The project is a wonderful idea in point of view, it helps women, many of whom are illiterate and have no other means of making money, make crochet bags then sells them for them. While many people would be satisfied by just donating money or things, Vera started a project that would help these women make it out on their own. She is teaching them how to fish instead of giving them a fish.
It is not easy shipping the yarn or materials to the women because of extremely high customs so it is all carried in their luggage. Because some of the women can’t read, they need to be taught each pattern until they memorize it. It is not an easy task. But I am sure that these women have a hope of better lives if they have a skill. Crocheting 3 bags a week a woman can feed her family for a week, she can still be available to care for them. It is not an easy task but it is definitely worth it.
Image from the Famn Pou Famn Blog
Please visit their blog or facebook page.
i Love your blog. You are on my daily reads now!
Thank you and welcome to the blog, hope to see you commenting again soon
So crazy that we take it for granted how much reading you have to do to knit.
Yes, I never even thought about it. My grandmother wanted some patterns to knit stuff and while she can read Arabic and French her English is not as strong so patterns in English weren’t appropriate and I couldn’t search for French patterns for her. So yes we do take the thing we know how to do well for granted
Beautiful topic. I try to balance my craft, not only for me but to give as well.
I gift a lot of my stuff and try to give some for charity too, but I love how they are teaching them the craft not just giving them something that will eventually wear away
What an amazing lady she is. Thanks for sharing such inspiration.
Yes she is, we have had a couple of conversations in private on ravelry and she is such a sweet and compassionate lady.
This is such a great post. I love to hear of new organisations and people like Vera Sanon. They are truly inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing about her and what she does!
Yes she is very inspiring and I think we need to spotlight more positive examples in today’s sad world.
What a noble endeavor! I love it when others in the world are learning real skills and getting paid fairly for it.
Yes and they also put some of the profit for the women’s kids’ tuition which is also awesome