Meanwhile, in the UK, we have been preparing for Easter, making Easter treats and flower decorations in our community craft sessions. (If you're interested in chocolate...the mini egg buckets below will be sold at St Mark's Church, Harrogate, on Palm Sunday!) Our community craft workshops continue to be a source of fun and creativity in the lives of the differently-able participants. Speaking to one of our regular participants the other week, he said how much he enjoys making things and seeing everybody each week.

​Our hospital craft sessions also continue to be an important opportunity for hospital inpatients to be creative, socialise and practice their motor skills. The participants had great fun marbling paper last week, producing some beautiful results!

We've been super busy this last month creating some rather splendid Christmas garlands and wreathes. Glitter, as usual has been involved! But this year, we've also introduced some new pom-pom products. Pom-poms came into fashion this spring, and it's a trend that has stayed in the shops this summer and autumn. Now you can carry this fashion into your homes for Christmas with our fabulous new pom-pom wreathes! (Sneak peak above) We've been making them at our therapeutic craft sessions using wool that has kindly been donated to us. 

Whilst we're busy here in Yorkshire with craft sessions and events, our volunteers and employees in Arequipa have also been working hard. Fiona and Chris Courtman have now moved to work full-time at the project for the next few years, so we'll be sharing more about them and their work very soon... ​

Natasha first came to our craft sessions as a participant, but she now volunteers for us and sometimes writes articles about our work too. Here's a snippet from her latest piece of writing. Keep an eye out for this article in Harrogate newspapers! 

"I cannot believe that in 2016 people with any form of disability are made to feel worthless and face discrimination on a daily basis. With the Olympics and Paralympics still fresh in our minds, we should now hope that people with all forms of disability, whether it's mental, physical, or emotional, get recognised with their own rights, and are given the recognition they all deserve, whether they are famous or not.

My name is Natasha, I have epilepsy and a form of dyslexia. On the outside, I look like an everyday person. Alas, I sometimes have problems fitting into society. I have been known to get strange looks when I show the conductor my bus pass. Some get really big eyes when I say, “Oh mine is a Disabled pass....” "But what is wrong with you?”, they all think. “You don't look disabled.”

I am a very creative, people person, who loves to make things, help others to learn new skills and make craft goods. Not having all the skills, space, or equipment myself, I am honoured to be able to volunteer for Craft Aid International. It's one of the only places I feel accepted.

At the beginning of the craft classes, everyone bustles around, helping to unload the car, and set up the equipment. Then we have a brief meeting about what we are making today, and if needed, we’re given instructions on how to make the items. Then once all the participants have arrived, the fun begins! And we get to choose one of up to four different crafts. We make greetings cards, flower brooches, mosaics, jewellery, marbled paper and more. At the moment, we are making Christmas goods!

We will also have lots of different wools, and with the help of our friendly volunteers, you will have a chance to make your very own funky Pom-Pom. All we ask is a small donation, and for you to remember us, and tell all your friends about us! We look, forward to seeing you there to share in our excitement!" ​​​ ​

You can read the full article here.

​Guests indulged in a gorgeous, candlelit, three-course meal, enjoyed some fabulous live Jazz, and won some amazing prizes (a         holiday in Barbados, a family photography shoot, a luxury facial and all sorts of other goodies). It was an unforgettable night and we raised over £6500 through the event!  (You can order your photos of the night here.)

Every time a big cardboard box from Peru is delivered to the Craft Aid office, it feels like Christmas! It's always exciting to see all the new high-quality craft products that our differently-able artisans in Arequipa have been making. These vibrant cushions made from traditional Peruvian fabric are some of our newest arrivals.

​They’ve already been very popular at craft fairs and stalls. We’ve even been… 

​In July, we had the amazing opportunity to have a stall at Plaza Latina, “London’s best Latin American festival” with music, food, dance, art and kids activities. Our craft products may even be appearing in shops in Shoreditch soon, so keep your eyes peeled…

​We have so nearly raised the funds we need to buy the building in Arequipa, where we want to establish our craft centre. We have raised a huge amount of money in one year, and particularly over the last few months. ​We are so grateful to everyone who has given. To find out about our vision to employ more differently-able workers in Peru, watch the video.  

​This July, we ran a Craftival at Happygate, Harrogate’s new arts & music festival. This event raised money for three local charities, and we were blessed to be one of the benefiting charities! We had three bustling craft areas where visitors could learn how to produce beautiful marbled paper, make some seriously funky pom-poms, or even create their very own mosaic (if you missed the event, fear not! Watch Susie’s mosaic tutorial here.) Our disabled participants created a spectacular mosaic sign for the event, which drew a lot of attention. It was great to be able to show visitors some of the activities that we do at our therapeutic craft sessions and to share about our work with the Harrogate community.

It’s been a busy few months, and we’re excited about what’s ahead. Soon we’ll be waving off some new volunteers, who will be moving to work at our project in Peru, but more about that next time! 

At today's Harrogate workshop, I asked some of the people on my table to describe Thursday afternoon craft sessions in three words. They struggled to stop at three. As I was feeling lenient, I thought I would let them expand a little!

They all said that friendship was an important part of CAI craft workshops. "It's an opportunity to meet people from different walks of life" says Sara.

"Every week is different. You never know what you will be doing that week". "Spontaneous" was another word they used! Craft sessions are exciting and different, as well as calming and therapeutic. One lady explained how the sessions are clever, beacause you don't just learn how to make crafts, but the workshops also encourage personal growth. "It's an opportunity to learn patience and kindness."

They are illuminating, because you learn new crafts, but you also learn about different people with different stories and different abilities." Several agreed that if you ever come feeling sad, you always meet people at the craft session whose outlook on life is so positive, even though they have faced huge difficulties and struggles. "It puts in things in perspective." 

Natasha originally came to our craft sessions as a participant (see her last blog post about the craft sessions), but she now volunteers with us too and does a brilliant job. Here she writes about her experience and all the skills she’s learnt:
 
“I now not only help out at craft class, but also help at different talks, and craft stalls, where we get the opportunity to show the world the wonderful work done by Craft Aid International. We get to meet people and spread the word about CAI’s work. We write down what is sold, so that we know what products the consumer likes to buy,

I love the craft sessions too, and have now learned to always go with an open mind. I never think I know how to make everything, because I’m always amazed by all the new and exciting crafts we learn every week. So far I have learnt how to do tie-dying, how to make jewellery, felt flower accessories and paper-beads.

Some of my most enjoyable times have been working closely with the other disabled participants, giving them one to one help and support when needed. Or just, being there for them. All the smiles, laughter and joy warms my heart. The pride that you both feel when you see the finished item is priceless. I would love to bottle it all, and give it as a present to the families of the participants. I would love them to see the participants’ work. I think it would be really rewarding for them, in every way imaginable.”

We had a fantastic craft session in Horsforth on Friday: 5 participants visited for the first time, so we all made some new friends, and the volunteers did a wonderful job of welcoming everyone in. We got stuck into some crafts for our new product line (watch this space), as well as carrying on with some of our classic products too, including the flower brooches and hair accessories. The participants were so productive cutting out the felt flowers that we ended up with practically a whole poppy field! 

 At break-time, we had tea and biscuits as usual (we have a few big biscuit fans in the group...including myself) and also watched our new short film about CAI's project in Peru. We've just posted it on the website this weekend, so you can now watch it here .

This 3 minute film captures some of the stories I heard when I was in Arequipa in March. It gives just a tiny insight into some of the many hardships faced by people with disabilities in Peru, as well showing the new freedom enjoyed by the people employed at the social enterprise. Something I heard whilst I was there, which didn't make it into the film, was a sad story from one of the women I spoke to. She told me that disability is often seen to be contagious, and so employers don't want disabled people to be part of their workforce. They are afraid of being around them, in case they 'catch a disability'. This is the kind of view that Craft Aid International really hopes to challenge in places like Arequipa.  Neema Crafts Centre (set up by our director, Susie) has successfully been overcoming these sorts of false assumptions and bringing healing to people, who've spent their lives being ignored by their communities.  We're only at the beginning of this journey in Arequipa, but we hope that this new social enterprise will not only provide employment, but will also break down barriers and unite communities in a very real and powerful way. 

Ella writes: After a whirlwind of a time in Peru, we arrived back in the UK a week ago. We returned to Lima for a day after leaving Arequipa to find a few more specific beads for the jewellery prototypes (such as the one in the photo above) that Ellie, Susie and Fiona had designed during the week. In Lima, we visited a silver jewellery shop, where the lady serving us asked Susie where her bracelet was from. It was one of the bracelets we had made in Arequipa with the group of people with learning disabilities. It was really encouraging to hear that there could be a market for such a product in Peru, especially from someone who is in the jewellery business herself. 

Since coming back to the UK, we've been working on a new Craft Aid film about the project in Peru, so keep a look out for this on our website (coming soon to a computer screen near you!) Whilst we were away, the craft sessions in Harrogate, Ripon and Leeds continued as usual, and some of our volunteers held an Easter stall, selling some of the crafts made in our sessions (I hear that fluffy chicks and chocolate were a feature.)

There is lots coming up for Craft Aid over the next few months, including an exhibition at a Christian youth event and our Summer Ball. (Head over to the events page and book your tickets!) Preparations are now getting underway!

Ella writes:

​This month has been a busy one as usual, with craft-training sessions for volunteers, preparation for a trip to Peru, our Back-to-the-Blitz fundraising party, as well as plenty of other things to keep us occupied. Not that we really need to be ‘kept occupied’ in the Craft Aid office - I don’t think we will ever run out of things to do!
 
At our craft-training sessions this month, Susie taught the volunteers how to do screen-printing; everyone enjoyed getting stuck in:

And if you look closely at the photo on the right, you will see that yet again glitter is involved in this craft activity. #Glitterforever! Craft Aid's new tagline perhaps?

Susie has also been introducing some new beautiful card designs to be made in our UK therapeutic craft sessions. For the tea-drinkers (so most of the British population I imagine), we now have a very cute tea-cup design. Keep an eye out for this one, as these cards may get snapped up rather quickly…
 
One of the highlights of the month was our Back-to-the-Blitz party in aid of our project in Peru. 

There was lots of fantastic dressing up (including some great fake moustaches and victory roll hair-styles), a photo booth with some funky props, plenty of bacon baps and chocolate cake, as well as an absolutely awesome 14-piece Jazz band (The NightFlyers), who volunteered to play throughout the evening, so we could all dance the night away! They played a mixture of old and new tunes, all in a typically 1940’s Big Band-style. A huge thank you to them for generously giving up their time to join us and give us an incredible night!

Take a look at some more photos of the event over in our gallery to get a better idea of the highly vintagey atmosphere! ​We are still in the process of working out the financial income from the evening, but we have definitely raised a really good amount towards our work in Peru, so thank you to everyone who came and supported us. We’re sending a volunteer design-graduate to Arequipa very soon, which will help the project to progress further, but more about that exciting news in another post.
 
And so for now, cheerio! (The 1940’s effect still hasn’t worn off quite yet…)