Off to a great start!

Some fabulous things for our baby pack project were donated this past week, including lots of cute little vests and crocheted goodies.

In addition to other beautiful items these baby-gros were donated by http://www.daisydumplings.co.uk   Isn’t it  just such a fabulous idea to add a little ruffle collar and flower to a plain sleep suit to jazz it up! I’m not that great at crochet but if anyone who is fancies making a few flowers, I do have some baby gros that they could be added to 🙂

Plans for our travelling library are ‘full steam ahead’. Thank you so much to those who sent books in for our appeal and crafty stuff for the kids to use during the library craft sessions.

Our goal is to collect 1,000 books to start the library off- the donation of every book makes a difference, will help  fill the shelves and get us a little closer to our target!

As I mentioned previously, this year we hope to be able to assist a women’s refuge based in Algiers. We had a meeting with the director last week to find out a bit more about what their organisation does and to discuss ways in which we can help them. The women who live in this refuge have either been abandoned by their husbands or families, are  escapees from an abusive relationship or young women who have reached the age of 18 and so no longer have the right to stay in the orphanage where they previously lived. The aim of the refuge is to give these women somewhere clean and safe to stay but to also help them find a way to build a future for themselves. For example they help women find employment or training so that they can afford to live independently. At the time of our visit there were 12 women residents and 7 children although there is capacity for more.

The organisation does receive some state funding but it is not nearly enough and on one occasion last year the refuge ran out of food! It operates a bit like a normal home: the women and children share the cooking and eat together as a family. There are no cleaning staff ect the residents do all of this type of thing between themselves. As one would expect from people that have nothing materially, they are in need of everything especially the everyday items like soap, toothpaste, sanitary towels, clothing ect.

Some of the women housed also have their children with them and an area has been designated for them to play in. I can’t imagine how it must feel to be a child in this situation but I think it would be a nice gift if we could donate a toy box full of things to play with and some colourful cushions to brighten up the place a bit and make it a little more child friendly.

I will be visiting the refuge myself at the beginning of March and would love to take some things  at that time to the women and children who live there. I’m thinking along the lines of underwear, toiletries, towels and bedding plus some toys as mentioned above. Any help with that would be really gratefully appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

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