Over the past few months, a small army of philanthropic ladies from Shepton Mallet’s “Knit and Chat” Sewing Group have been working tirelessly to produce a beautiful range of jumpers for babies from the townships of South Africa.
The Shepton Mallet based community group, which celebrated its 10-year anniversary this week, has already raised over £11,000 for locally based charities. During the summer the group contacted SOS Africa’s headquarters in Shepton Mallet with an idea for a sewing project which would help support “Chip Shop babies” from South Africa’s poorest communities.
The term ‘chip shop babies’ began when it was discovered that often new-born babies mostly in developing countries arrived at this world and had no clothes to put on. As a result, the new-borns were wrapped in newspaper, just like a fish supper, to keep them warm. News of this reached knitters up and down the UK who developed a simple vest pattern, with additional hat sometimes, which even a novice knitter could cope with. As a result, tens of thousands of vests have been knitted and sent out to needy babies around the world.
The “Knit & Chat” group successfully completed the project last week and once the last stitch on the final jumper had been completed, the group had made over 180 beautiful baby jumpers, which will be distributed throughout South Africa, by SOS Africa later this year.
Knit & Chat member Cathryn Kingstone is delighted to expand their support to South Africa:
“We like to support local charities and feel that SOS Africa will make sure all our efforts reach the people who need them.“
SOS Africa’s Ann Crowcombe is delighted for SOS Africa to be part of the project:
“Congratulations to the ladies of “Knit and Chat for completing this fantastic project… We can’t wait to send you photos of the many babies who will benefit from your hard work!”
Are you part of a business, school or community group with an idea for a project which could support South Africa’s poorer communities? Why not contact SOS Africa today to see if we can make it happen?
