Knit One Save One - May to July news
16 July
It’s been a busy couple of weeks in the life of the ‘Knit One, Save One’ campaign. Hats are still flowing in like there’s no tomorrow and we have now reached the 200,000 mark. That’s 200,000 colourful, woolly gifts for happy mothers and tiny babies.
As always, a big thank you to all you knitters out there who’ve made this happen. We would love to hear some of your wonderful knitting stories from the campaign; have you held a ‘knit-in’ event with friends or managed to get your local MP or community centre involved? Whatever your story we would love to hear about it so please email us at campaigns@savethechildren.org.uk.
In campaign news, we’ve received more stories and photos from our programme in Tibet who have been distributing the hats for the last few weeks. Here’s the story of Thupten Jigme who is now 4 months old and has already suffered from pneumonia.
Thupten Jigme’s story
As we were approaching Medio township clinic, Kyizom and her four-months-old baby were already there along with many other parents and children in front of the only mud brick house of the township clinic in this open pastoral area.
Even if it is mid summer, the weather was still quite cold as it was a rainy and windy day and the elder children were running about with the sheep and yaks, not only having fun but also keeping warm. But four-months-old Thupten Jigme was so tightly swaddled that he looked like a parcel ready to be sent somewhere. It was hard to imagine how he could breathe let alone generate body heat.
Thupten Jigme had come to this world just four months back. His birth took place in a yak hair tent on a mountain slope while the family was grazing their animals. Kyizom, his mother recalls that the weather was much colder than now. What caught our attention at a glance was that Thupten Jigme was not wearing a hat.
It was Kyizom and Thupten Jigme’s third visit to the clinic since the child got pneumonia and when asked about the cause Kyizom had no idea. She said, ‘I do everything to keep him healthy but he is still weak and gets sick very often’. After we put a hat on her baby’s head and explained in detail about the importance of it, she said ‘I never used to pay any attention to the relation between body heat loss and respiratory disease in small children and I am very happy to learn about the benefit of these baby hats.’
Kyizom’s dream for Thupten Jigme is that he becomes a healthy and smart boy. He will be a well-educated herdsman in the future so that they will live a happy and prosperous life.”
Here are some more pictures from Tibet including a photo of Kyizom and Thuptem Jigme. Look out for more stories from Tibet in the next update.
More cute babies and their hats
Thuptem Jigme enjoys his new hat whilst Kyizom proudly holds him.
Tibetan mothers are over the moon to receive the hats from Save the Children staff.
Father and son pose with their hats.
Far too cute to need a caption!
Whilst hats were being distributed in the mountains of Tibet, back in the UK MPs have been knitting in the House of Commons at the campaign’s cross-party parliamentary knitting session held last week.
The event coincided with the meeting of the G8 leaders in Tokyo and British MPs led by example by doing something tangible to save children’s lives.
Sixteen MPs attended and tried their hand at knitting a hat, including Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, who is a surprisingly good knitter although can’t cast on himself!
Kerry McCarthy from the Department for International Development spoke about the importance of the campaign, as did Libby Rees, Save the Children’s youth ambassador. Check out pictures of the event here.
MPs' knitting session
Ed Balls MP gets knitting advice from Libby Rees, Save the Children's youth ambassador
MPs and researchers get down to the 'knitty-gritty'
Kerry McCarthy, the campaign's MP champion, poses for photos to promote the campaign.
Since the last update shipments of hats have gone out to the refugee camps in South Africa, to the cyclone victims in Burma and to breastfeeding clinics in Kenya to act as an incentive for mothers to bring their babies in. We really are creating a warm and woolly world and helping to save the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable children.
See more cute photos from Tibet and find out more about our campaign
1 July 2008
So three months on and the ‘Knit One Save One’ campaign continues to gather pace. We now have a staggering 180,000 hats so thank you to all of you dedicated knitters out there who have contributed.
The delay at the port in China has finally been resolved and the hats reached our programme in Tibet last week. Save the Children staff have been busy distributing them in health clinics and have had a great response from mothers, delighted that their babies will be kept warm and snug during the harsh winter.
Check out pictures of Tibetan mothers and babies enjoying your hard work:
Tibetan mothers admire the woolly hats
Babies model their trendy new fashion accessories
Save the Children health workers distribute the hats in a health clinic
A Tibetan baby looks dapper in her new hat
A baby tries a hat out for size
In other news, MPs are still loving the campaign and many have held local events to celebrate the talent and dedication of knitters in their constituencies. In Stroud, Gloucestershire, David Drew MP met a committed Save the Children supporter to hand over more than 3,000 hats! We hope that MPs will continue to do their bit for the campaign.
David Drew MP with the thousands of hats knitted by people in Stroud.
On that note, our parliamentary knitting event is taking place next week in the House of Commons. It will coincide with the meeting of world leaders at the G8 and British MPs will be leading by example by doing something tangible to end child mortality. Come on G8 leaders, why don’t you do something too?
Finally, our next shipment of hats is going out to South Africa in the next few days. It’s very cold out there already and the hats will be distributed in the new refugee camps that have sprung up around Johannesburg and Cape Town since the violence against immigrants began there. We are very happy to be able to make a small difference to the lives of mothers and babies struggling to survive.
There are three really important things to remember about the 'Knit One, Save One' campaign:
- Please only send hats - not jumpers, booties or any other knitted items. If you have already sent in non-hats then we will do our best to use them but please don't send in any more.
- Make sure you complete your hat label to Prime Minster Gordon Brown and attach it to your hat before sending it to us.
- Remember that the campaign ends on 21 October 2008 so don't send any more hats after that date.
Most importantly, remember that your hat can help us save a life. Your voice can help us save millions.
6 June 2008
We are now two months into the campaign and so far have received an incredible 120,000 woolly hats!
In this update, we would've liked to have brought you news and pictures of Tibetan babies wearing your hats but, unfortunately, our shipment has been held up in Shanghai. Save the Children staff in China are sorting out the delay and you should have stories and photos of cute babies in hats by the end of June. Fingers crossed!
Excitingly, our biggest shipment of 50,000 hats to Angola is ready to go out next week where they will keep newborn babies warm and snug. Four million babies die each year in their first month and Angola, in South-West Africa, has the second highest rate of child deaths in the world with 260 children out of every 1000 (or over 1 in 4) not reaching their fifth birthday.
Over the last few weeks we have been getting MPs involved in the campaign and they seem to love it as much as you do! Many MPs are choosing to collect hats from their constituents to present to local Save the Children supporters and volunteers. Others will be attending our Knitting Circle event in Parliament. Date to be confirmed so watch this space! Check out our advert in House (PDF 223KB), the parliamentary magazine.
Our online hat gallery has now launched so you can see some of your beautiful craftwork and read heartfelt messages to Gordon Brown from knitters around the country.
Once again, a huge thank you to all those who have already taken part and given their time to help save children's lives. Our target is to get 50,000 knitters involved so do get friends and family to take part and help us achieve this goal. You can keep track of the campaign's progress using our knit-o-meter on the right hand side of this page.
Staff get knitting
A staff member proudly shows off her finished hat
Staff realise that knitting isn't as easy as it looks!
Inspired by all your lovely hats, Save the Children staff get knitting during their lunch hour.
16 May 2008
Since the launch of our 'Knit One, Save One' campaign six weeks ago, we have received almost 100,000 woolly hats from knitters all over the UK. The response has been truly overwhelming so thank you all for giving up your time to get involved in saving children's lives.
The hats are arriving in all colours and patterns and the variety has been amazing. Keep an eye out for our online hat gallery which is launching soon. In the gallery you'll be able to read heartfelt messages from knitters as well as look at photos of some of the hats.
The first shipment of hats went out to Tibet last week and we are waiting to hear that they have arrived safely. Once they have been distributed we will put pictures and stories up of babies enjoying your hard work. Other shipments to Kenya and South Africa will be going out soon. We will keep you posted!
So thanks again for getting involved in this campaign. As we have been totally overwhelmed by the vast numbers of hats coming in, we have been unable to respond to every request or question that we have received. We are sorry if your question has not been answered and will try and get to it as soon as possible. If you would like a response sooner, please feel free to email us at supporter.care@savethechildren.org.uk or call our Customer Services Team on 020 7012 6705.
Knit One Save One - hats galore!
Sacks of hats keep pouring in to Save the Children Head Office
Hats come in all colours and patterns
Hats packed and ready to go
