Do You Knit?
I was asked to bless about 150 baby caps knit by four women in my congregation as part of the Caps to the Capital project of Save the Chidren.
http://www.savethechildren.org/campaigns/caps-to-the-capital/malawi-and-bangladesh.html
How am I going to keep from crying? Did you see that photo of that tiny baby?
http://www.savethechildren.org/campaigns/caps-to-the-capital/malawi-and-bangladesh.html
How am I going to keep from crying? Did you see that photo of that tiny baby?
posted by PeaceBang at 3:35 PM
4 Comments:
PB, I do knit, though I haven't taken up the crusade of Social Action Knitting yet. I was too busy knitting nine pairs of socks for family members for Christmas. (It took me most of the year, especially as I added in a baby sweater, a scarf, and lobster booties as needed.)
Got a book "Knitting For Peace" for Christmas. My daughter, a 2nd grade teacher in NYC, will be teaching an after-school knitting class to elementary age kids (older than 2nd grade, thank goodness!). She was inspired by the afghans and other very simple projects, and will probably engage her after-school class in a communal knitting project.
Wonderful that the knitters in your congregation asked you to bless the baby caps. What did you say?
Thanks for asking! This is what I'm planning to say tomorrow morning.
"What can a group of crafty ladies do with leftover skeins of yarn?
What could they knit that might make a gift of love and outreach to someone else who needed it? This was the question that ____, ________, ______ and _______ asked themselves earlier this year.
Through an article in the UU World magazine, these knitters learned about a project called Caps to the Capital, sponsored by the Save The Children foundation.
Four million newborn babies all over the globe and especially in developing countries – die within the first month of life. Half of those die within the first 24 hours. Simple measures, like keeping the baby warm and dry, can help save their lives.
Through the Caps to the Capital project these caps going to be sent on January 2 to the president in Washington DC as a message from Americans that they care about the fate of children in developing nations, and that they would like to see this concern reflected in the federal budget.
All the caps will be donated by Save The Children to babies in all the countries where Save the Children works ( I think especially Malawi and Bangladesh). Our knitters are contributing close to 150 caps.
We offer this blessing upon these :
Dear God, send these little hats out into the world with our love.
They are but a small token of care and solidarity from the world’s wealthiest nation to our less privileged brothers and sisters on this earth.
Bless the hands that created these woolen embraces for tiny heads,
And bless the babies who will wear them. Humble us now in the awareness that we are one people, one family, and that the fate of one should be of sincere concern to all.
May the Spirit of Love bind us together. Amen,and amen."
Every time I hear about how those dang little hats stand between life and death for so many infants in the world, I just want to break something I get so mad.
Another quick fix for the infant mortality rate in the developing world is the promotion of breastfeeding. getting each baby up to temperature and introducing no artificial foods for the first six months of life would save untold numbers of babies.
babymilkaction.org is a site that explains some of the ways formula companies conspire to put profits before the needs of infants in the developing world (like, by promoting in hospital formula use in places where there is no money to buy formula and where the water is unsafe for mixing formula. If it is started in the hospital, there is very little likelihood that the mother will be able to produce enough milk.) Historically workers for the companies dressed up like nurses and peddled samples, and the advertizing suggests that formula is a status symbol.
Sorry for the tirade, but this is an issue close to my heart. Blesssing the hats is a great thing to do.
Rant away, Madge. Thanks for weighing in. Those hats were the cutest things ever. I put one up on the pulpit while I preached just to be near one.
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