Tricoteuses Sans Frontieres - the kindness of knitters

Yes, I know I only posted yesterday. So sue me - this is important.

One thing I really like about the OL knitting community is the enormous amount of goodwill and kindness that knitters show both to each other and to the world at large. I first started reading knitblogs through Ann & Kay's great afghan-o-rama over at Mason Dixon Knitting and I love things like RAOK and Secret Pals (although I haven't yet summoned up enough courage to join in). The recent tsunami disaster in Asia has received a number of responses from the knitting community but the best one I have come across is this, started by The Yarn Harlot .


TSF - the Harlot has started a movement

If you haven't seen it go here to find out how it works, and join if you can. Every little really will help those who have lost their homes and livelihoods.

I would also like to add a personal plea to Stephanies. I'm not sure how many of you know this but in RL I am the finance director of War on Want , a UK based development charity who work to eradicate the causes of poverty. We have a number of partners in the affected area and the news from them this week has been terrible - homes washed away, factories where only 200 out of 700 employees turned up for work on Monday - just general confusion and chaos. We are not a disaster relief agency. Instead we focus on helping people build up sustainable lives over the long term through things like securing more safety conscious working conditions or a decent minimum wage. This means we have a lot of experience of working in areas where the media spotlight has moved on but the issue still remains. So I know that there will be a heck of a lot that needs doing in these regions for years to come and much of it will be done quietly and out of the public eye.

What I'm trying to say is that once all the debris has been cleared up and the dead buried the people who have been affected by this disaster will still need support for a long time to come in order to put their lives back together. So as well as giving something today, if you think you might have some spare cash please find an organisation that you like which works on long term poverty related issues and send them something next month and every month after that. Regular donors are the lifeblood of most not for profit organisations and you will be doing something to tackle the causes of poverty rather than just its symptoms. Thank you.

If you've stuck it out this far I promise normal knitting-related service will be resumed shortly :)