When long time friends Kohl, Stew, and Travis learned to crochet from Kohl’s older brother (affectionately known as “The Godfather”) during high school, they had no idea what it might lead to someday. There were no future plans for the skill, it was just an easy way to earn extra money by making and selling beanies to friends and peers. But when these guys were in college they each had the opportunity to do some summer traveling abroad. They had three completely different experiences in the respective places, but all came back with one common realization: the rest of the world lives a lot differently than we do in the U.S. These firsthand experiences brought to their attention how extremely fortunate they were to be born and live in a country of freedom, opportunity, and luxury. But so many others in the world weren’t as fortunate. Many lacked the basic necessities like food, education, and parents. This realization fueled their passions and encouraged them to find a way to empower those who could not empower themselves.
Dubbed the Krochet Kids in high school, this group finally felt it was time to put their entrepreneurial spirits into practice and give back. The guys hadn’t spent any time with their crochet hooks in quite a while, so when friends suggested they teach others to crochet, they hardly considered it. The more they thought about the simplicity of crochet, however, the more it made sense. So, during the summer of 2006 Stew went to volunteer at an orphanage that a friend started in Northern Uganda, and decided to take a bunch of yarn and hooks with him to give it a go. The airlines did not cooperate, unfortunately, and the yarn and hooks never did make it to Uganda that summer. Despite that seemingly frustrating detail, Stew was able to find encouragement through discussions there and realized that he absolutely did want to take the simple skill these friends had in common, crochet, and commit to the locals. He found that the people had an overwhelming desire to work and provide for their families, but simply lacked opportunity.
As the guys headed into their junior year of college, they applied to be a non-profit. Their next step was to raise money to go back to Uganda the next year. They picked up their crochet hooks and went full force! Then they decided on a name, the only name that made sense….Krochet Kids international. Summer of 2007 Kohl, Stew, Travis, Nic and a few friends packed bags full of yarn and headed to Uganda. The simplest and most relational way to teach the women was to sit down one on one and instruct them in the art of crochet. When summer ended the guys left for America, but one remained. Nic had already graduated, so he decided to stay on the ground in Uganda to continue growing the project and figuring out what worked and what didn’t, and how best to serve these women.
Here we are just a few years later and KKi currently has an awesome program set up to help the Ugandan women they work with in a holistic, rather brilliant way. In their own words, “The Krochet Program is a revolutionary approach to economic development in Northern Uganda-a marriage of humanitarian aid and sustainable business practice that permits us to offer an unmatched quality of aid to our beneficiaries.” They offer a three-year program that includes training and mentorship in personal budgeting, savings, loaning practices and business skills. I’ve got three words for you: empowerment, empowerment, and empowerment. But economic empowerment is not the only piece of the pie. The desire of KKi is to help improve all parts of the ladies lives – relationally, spiritually, economically, physically, and emotionally. So they also receive one-on-one support and counseling, prayer and devotionals, and practical life-skills training activities. And it’s not just through American staff, but also through Ugandan staff members who understand the culture and the background of the women in a much better way.
I would love to share more stories that we heard from the Krochet Kids, like the stories of Beatrice and Doreen, but there just isn’t time for all of that. So I will leave you with an AWESOME bit of news from KKi – their beanies will be carried in Nordstrom’s starting this Fall! So let’s all join together and pray for success in this endeavor so that more and more women can find sustainable jobs through the art of crochet.
I guess it’s pretty obvious how you can be involved: BUY their super cool beanies, laptop cases, and t-shirts!
CLICK HERE: www.krochetkids.org
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Will you get mad if I quote your article in my monthly newsletter? I would think this article suits my topic perfectly. Uhmmm, thanks for posting this.
I haven’t checked in here for some time because I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are good quality so I guess I will add you back to my everyday bloglist.You deserve it friend
Hello, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam comments? If so how do you reduce it, any plugin or anything you can suggest? I get so much lately it’s driving me insane so any support is very much appreciated.
Thought at first when I saw the comercial on MTV for Krochet Kids, this is great and something worth while. However being a gay man I could never think to help a country so in the dark ages that killing people for being gay is common place… Could you guys have not found a community in need that has less HATE? (Death Penalty For Being Gay: Uganda Kill The Gays Bill Soon To Be Law?
by David Badash on May 10, 2011
in Bigotry Watch,Gay Agenda,International,News,Politics,Religion
e…Lots of information available on UGANDA
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