Children in Common: Helping Orphans Face Life
Eastern Europe can be a bleak place for orphans, but Children in Common is working to build them a brighter future.
When your whole world has fallen apart, a warm sweater, a hat, or a pair of knitted socks can make a big difference. That's why Children in Common distributes its gifts in orphanages in Russia and Lithuania, where conditions are especially dire.
SOCKS, VESTS, AND SWEATERS, OH MY!
Karen Porter was one of the first Americans to adopt a child from Russia -- in fact, she might have been the very first. As such, she saw firsthand how bad the conditions were in Russian orphanages.
Despite the best efforts of administrators, the orphanages get little money from the government to help the children in their care. Life is often bleak, and, in the winter, bitterly cold, since most institutions are underheated.
Children in Common started out as a way to provide medical, educational supplies, and clothes to the orphans. In 1998 they added knitted items. That year, Karen put her lifelong knitting skills into action when she knitted an amazing 144 woolen hats just before a goodwill visit to Russia.
The orphans appreciated the hats, but there was a problem -- there weren't enough. So Karen put out a call to Knitlist, an online knitting community, and Children in Common was born. Since then, the organization has sent many thousands of warming knitted items to these most impoverished of orphanages.
OK, OK, OK!
While knitted gifts help, it takes more than that to shift an orphan's life to a more hopeful track. The folks who run Children in Common know this, which is why they teach their charges to knit, too. There's an old saying: give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; but teach a man to fish, and he will eat for life.
That's why Children in Common operates under the principal of OK, OK, OK! The first two OK's stand for Orphan Knitting and Orphaned Knitting, which encourages knitters to dig up unfinished projects and finish them to help the kids.
The third OK is for "Orphans Knitting." In addition to giving them warm garments, Children in Common volunteers teach the orphans how to knit. That way, they'll be able to clothe themselves, and have a useful skill when they face the world alone.
LET'S HELP THEM BLOSSOM
Socks, sweaters, and vests are the items Children in Common needs the most. You can find patterns for these and other items at the Children in Common website.
It doesn't really matter what colors you use, as long as the items are warm. That means you'll need to use yarns containing at least 80% animal fiber -- wool, alpaca, llama, and the like.
Children in Common also needs knitting supplies to help teach the orphans to knit for themselves. Yarn and needles size five or smaller are welcome.
