Knitting warmth into winter

Craig Doré - Med-Lemon (GSK), Amanda Blankfield - MaAfrika Tikkun, Koketso Ramonwana and Karabo Molwantwa of Kopanong Creche at the 2008 handover ceremony.

The campaign itself takes a two-pronged approach. Firstly, it is an income generation scheme for the unemployed that pays the community to knit scarves. Secondly, the scarves are distributed to needy township children to keep them warm during the cold winter months.

Women in five communities - Orange Farm, Diepsloot and Alexandra in Gauteng, and Delft and Mfuleni in the Western Cape - have been enlisted to do the knitting. Their target is to knit 5,000 scarves this year. They are paid R40 for every scarf they knit, totalling R200,000. For many women the income provides them with much needed money for food or winter clothes for their children.

The project is coordinated by MaAfrika Tikkun, a non-governmental public benefit organisation established 15 years ago to transform communities by caring for, developing and empowering children and their families, who have been disadvantaged by poverty, disease and other after-effects of the apartheid era. During the four-month Med-Lemon Winter project, MaAfrika Tikkun manages the people and logistics in the five areas. The project is hosted at MaAfrika Tikkun centres where wool and needles are provided for the participating women.

Rita Mkwanazi, MaAfrika Tikkun project manager at Arekopaneng Community Centre in Orange Farm, says, “This project inspires community members to knit as many scarves as possible and creates a great sense of team spirit.”

Med-Lemon brand manager, Luvuyo Ngoma, says as a household name in winter care and comfort, the brand is aware of the heavy toll the winter months have on disadvantaged communities. “This campaign is a chance to support the communities that trust our brand and to reach out to disadvantaged children by helping them fight off the winter chill,” he says.

To give the project further momentum, a Med-Lemon Knitting Week will be hosted in the week of 13 July 2009 to encourage media, celebrities and others to join the knitters. At the end of the week the first handover ceremony will take place in Orange Farm, Gauteng on 17 July and the second handover in Mfuleni, Western Cape on 23 July.