No yarn: Young men do good with stitch in time

Sarah Haas MSNBC contributor • E-mail

Communicating with gestures and the help of a translator, a dozen 20-something American men attempt to impress upon a handful of Ugandan women the importance of symmetry. The women agreeably oblige. After all, when it comes to crocheting, these guys are the pros.

Strange though it may seem, the young men from California and Washington are indeed crochet experts. More surprising, though, is that they are the creators of an international charity that aims to use needle and yarn to empower impoverished women in Third World countries by providing them with a practical, economically rewarding trade.

“It’s definitely pretty comical to think about, some college-age guys crocheting with some crazy idea of changing the world,” said Kohl Crecelius, 21-year-old co-founder of the Krochet Kids International nonprofit. “But maybe it’s so unique and different, it actually works.”

Crocheting involves using a single hooked needle to stitch yarn into a variety of functional goods, and is not to be confused with knitting, which uses two identical needles to pull yarn through loops and is generally considered the more difficult of the two crafts.

Crecelius and his friends spent part of the summer in the Ugandan town of Gulu, about 175 miles north of the capital, Kampala, teaching impoverished women to crochet.

“I would definitely tell you that it’s been an experience,” said Crecelius, a senior at the University of Washington in Seattle majoring in international business.

Comfortable with their craft
“It’s obviously a huge surprise for people that there’s a bunch of guys crocheting,” said Tyler Ready, a fellow participant and a recent UW graduate. “We’re confident and comfortable enough though to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to use this tool to empower the world.’”

The idea behind Krochet Kids, Crecelius said, is to equip women in poor countries with a functional skill that allows them to make and sell items in their local communities. Krochet Kids supplies the women with the raw materials, tools and training, and pays them a base wage for their efforts. Eventually, the organization plans to sell the handmade products in the U.S., raising additional funds to be sent back to the craftswomen’s communities.

“We want to run a business, but at the same time, we want to help as many people as possible,” Crecelius said.

Big fans of snowboarding and surfing, the Krochet Kids volunteers began by teaching the Ugandan women to  make a product associated with slope and beach fashion: a skull-cap hat known as a “beanie.”  (Long-term, Crecelius said he would like to add purses, shoes and other clothing items to the program’s repertoire.)

So how did a group of sports-loving college guys decide that crocheting was the way they’d help change the world?

Crecelius’ keenness for crocheting began in the winter of 2003, when the then-teenager learned the skill from his older brother, Parc, who had picked up the craft as a freshman in college.

“We got addicted to it,” he recalled. “We started making a couple hats a day.”

The beanie look spreads
He taught a few of his friends, and soon the beanie look caught on. Before long, his high-school peers and others were buying them. Eventually, the group sold the hats to help raise money for their senior prom.

Even when the friends split up to attend colleges in Washington and Southern California, they continued their craftwork, and introduced it to newfound buddies.

About a year ago, spurred by a volunteerism, increasing business acumen and a growing awareness of world issues -- as well as a typical young-adult itch to save the world – Crecelius and his friends began talking about what they could do to help those in need.

“We asked, ‘How can we really help the best? What can we do?’” Crecelius said. “We wanted to empower a group to empower their own people.”

“Finally, we decided we had this tool to do more with,” Ready added. “We decided we wanted to take it to the next level. So, last summer we sat around and dreamed of how things could be.”

Since its 2006 inception, Krochet Kids has raised more than $20,000, mostly by selling hats and T-shirts bearing the charity’s name and through donations from friends and family, Ready said.

Print this Email this Blog this  IM this

MORE FROM GIVING

Giving Section Front

Myanmar accused of seizing U.N. aid     Video: U.N. to Myanmar: Let aid in Preemie charity strikes chord with The Feeling CEOs discuss whether giving pays 'Miracle' Marine dies Myanmar accepts aid, not aid workers Walking the talk: Some celebs are living green Economy takes toll on relief agencies Cause Celeb: 'Lights, camera, Take Action' Spanish moms in debt after calendar flop Giving Section Front   Add Giving headlines to your news reader: