While I was in Uganda I taught Lyzette and about 6-7 other ladies how to crochet. They all loved it and picked it up really fast. Even the little boys wanted to get in on the fun and were asking me to teach them!
I taught them how to make hats and scarves while I was there. Yes, they wear these things any time it dips below 99 degrees...ok, below 70! They love to put hats on all the babies so each hat was put to good use.
While Lyzette was on a 1 week trip to Congo she went with 2 partial skeins of yarn. She made four hats and a head band while there. She was able to bless 2 ladies with hats for their babies. One of these women said that she has to walk a long distance to work each morning and it's cold at that time. She was so grateful to have that hat for her baby who was only a couple months old.
Before I left, I explained to Lyzette that she can use the internet to find more patterns. Within 2 weeks of me going home she learned to make a doily, two kinds of baby booties and a beautiful little baby dress. She has been able to bless several more ladies and their babies with these gifts.
The only problem is that yarn is impossible to find in Uganda (as far as I know... if you know different please tell me). When Lyzette asked me to bring them yarn and teach them to crochet I thought that their yarn selection would be low, but I didn't realize it would be nonexistent!
So in order to keep Lyzette going I've been sending her yarn. Yarn runs about 3-6 dollars a skein, so I've been using coupons and watching sales. The shipping is also pretty expensive, though so it's costing me quite a bit to send her as much as I would like her to have.
I have had people suggest that we ship a spinning wheel instead so that they can make their own yarn. I already thought of that while in Uganda, and I spied lots of goats while I was there. However, none of them appeared to be fiber goats, they only have meat and dairy goats and since they don't get a cold winter they don't get that nice fluffy winter undercoat. I have heard of people making yarn from plant materials(corn husks) so in the future we might look into options like that, but for now Lyzette needs yarn! (If you have any information on this I'd be happy to see some links or books on the subject)
If you would like to be a part of this project, you can donate yarn, or help with the cost of shipping. You can give me a check, cash or make a donation on Paypal. The yarn doesn't need to be new. Partial skeins are great, too. I'm not affiliated with a non profit organization for this project, so I can not give a tax deduction for this.
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