Ella writes: It's taken a little longer to write my first blog post about our travels than I intended, because not surprisingly everything has been so busy over the last few days. We flew through Amsterdam and Paris and finally arrived in Lima yesterday, excited, but also very tired and slightly disorientated. We stayed over night in Paris with an amazing view of the sacre-coeur, so it felt very surreal to find ourselves in Lima later the same day!

Our first day in Lima has been really exciting: all the new sights, sounds and smells of the city! The architecture is very beautiful and the bead shops here are incredible! So so so many different colours and types of bead, elastic, thread etc. We spent the day visiting some of the many bead shops in the centre of Lima and buying a huge amount of very good value beads, so that Ellie, our new designer can work on some new jewellery prototypes for the project, as well as continuing some of our popular items. Ellie also made her first attempt at haggling. It was so successful that the shopkeeper congratulated her!

I also found myself asking the question: "have we found any llamas yet?" I think that is only a question you would ever ask in Peru. We were in fact looking for llama charms to put on bracelets, rather than the real thing, just in case you were wondering if craft aid was planning on changing its stock to something a little more agricultural.

It has been a tiring, but very satisfying first day in Lima. We have another day of bead shopping ahead before we fly off to Arequipa.

One more thing before I sign off: In Peru, I have noticed that the practical and the spiritual are not always separated in the way they might be in the UK. In the shower this morning I noticed a label, which had the slogan of the shower company in Spanish, something like "quality that endures" and underneath the phrase "Dios es amor", which means God is love. That made me smile. 😊

Here's a snippet from Natasha's fantastic article about Craft Aid International from the Fabrications Quilting for You magazine:

"My name is Natasha and I have epilepsy and am dyslexic. Craft Aid International is the only place I feel accepted. It's also where I volunteer, near my house in Harrogate. People there see past my disabilities and some people forget I have any.

I once went to class with a black eye, so I wore big glasses to cover it. I was treated exactly the same as usual until it came to break time, when we all sit around a table and have a drink and a catch up. One lady said, 'It's like sitting with a famous person, because of your dark glasses". I felt so at ease that I took my glasses off. No one said a word. Well, I couldn't see through them!

We all have so much fun working together to make beautiful crafts; flower brooches, mosaics, greeting cards, jewellery, marbled paper packs, and wrapping paper. We try to use recycled materials when possible, and 100% of all the money raised goes straight back to the charity. We never want class to end and wish that time would stop. Then we wish time would go quickly again so we can attend our next class!"

Ella writes:

I am now 6 months into my internship with Craft Aid International, and I have learnt so much. Some highlights include learning about...

• The joys of the sizzix machine. This is a key piece of craft equipment we use in our therapeutic sessions. Kind of like magic! Maybe even better than a wand (although my experience of wands is limited…)
• What a larch cone is.
• How to tweet! (i.e. online communication, rather than speaking bird language…)
• How to cook 360 rashers of bacon in a few hours.
• The names of fonts. Oh how I love a good font. 
• How to take phone calls. I bought the tray below for Susie this Christmas, because I use the phrase on it a little too much.

The participants, who come to our therapeutic craft workshops in the UK, learn new skills, make new friends, and have the chance to work together to serve others. However, their participation goes beyond the craft workshops. They have also been involved in selling their products. Several of our differently-able participants worked at our stall at the Knitting and Stitching Show last year. One of the participants explained it was the first time he had had the opportunity to do a whole day’s work. He proceeded to work at the stall every day that week. He wanted to prove to himself he could do a full week’s work and he did! “It was amazing!”, he said. Another of our participants, Natasha Nathan who originally came to learn the crafts, now helps others at our sessions and volunteers for us. She played an important role organising our stand at the Knitting & Stitching Show and has now written an article for Fabrications Quilting For You magazine. We’ll be sharing some of it in our next post.
 
And it is not just the participants in the UK and Peru who have had their lives changed by their involvement with Craft Aid, the volunteers have also been inspired and had their lives enriched too. At one of our recent volunteer-training sessions one lady exclaimed, “There can’t be many 85 year olds who’ve learnt how to do screen-printing today. Never stop learning!” There are so many more quotes I could write here as an example of things our volunteers say they've have gained from their time at Craft Aid.
 
And then there’s my own experience: I graduated from uni suffering from exhaustion and feeling low. Since moving to Harrogate to work with Craft Aid, I have been recovering and regaining my health. My internship has reenergised me and has helped rebuild my confidence. The participants and volunteers have really made me feel at home.
 
We often thank our supporters and volunteers with the phrase, “Thank you for being part of the picture”. For me (and I don’t think I’m alone in this), being part of the picture has been a massive privilege. As a Christian, I believe that God welcomes us all, whoever we are. And I think Craft Aid displays this inclusivity wonderfully.
 
(More on inclusivity from Natasha in our next post.) 

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…)

Ella writes:

Sorry we’ve been a bit quiet on the blog-front recently – life has certainly not been quiet at Craft Aid over the last few weeks. Lots of exciting happenings….
 
On the 21st November, we held our first ever candle-lit concert with acclaimed vocalist and harpist Lucy Bunce. Glimmering tea-lights, angelic singing, heavenly harp music (pardon the cliché, but ‘heavenly’ does describe it well!) and a sparkly Peruvian jewellery display, along with other Craft Aid goods, made for a very beautiful evening. All this sophistication helped raise money towards the Peru project and awareness about the work of Craft Aid International. Susie also sang a few songs with Lucy. The music was so moving that at one point a whole row of the audience were in tears!

The following week was spent preparing for the Knitting and Stitching Show, which ran from Thursday to Sunday (26th-29th November). If you haven’t heard about it before, the show is not a theatrical production starring needles and thread… it is the biggest craft fair in Europe and we were very grateful to have a stand at this year’s show in Harrogate. It was an amazing experience.
 
Thousands of people came to Harrogate from all over the country especially for the show. Our volunteer Natasha (read a bit of her story here) did a brilliant job of helping prepare everything for the show and organised some exciting raffle prizes, including a signed book by British fashion icon, Zandra Rhodes. Differently-able participants from our Harrogate craft sessions helped behind the counter and worked on the stand, teaching the public how to make beautiful fabric flower corsages. Some participants volunteered at the stand every day, and even toured the show, giving out flyers and selling raffle tickets, which is a massive task in such an unbelievably huge venue. There were halls and halls of different craft stalls!
 
The Craft Aid products sold really well, and the other exhibitors were so helpful and supportive. We were even told our stall resembled Harrods! We also had several customers asking for advice about setting up craft sessions for differently-able people in various parts of the country. It is so encouraging to know that there are people all over the UK, who share CAI’s heart to empower people with disabilities, and who want to be trained and equipped to make this happen.

As well as a harp concert and the show, we have also had stalls at two Church Christmas fairs and Susie has been at several jewellery parties and given talks for different groups of people. Even as I write, she is travelling back from a weekend of events (including another concert, a jewellery party and various talks) in Cambridge. Meanwhile, the craft sessions continue to run, and the employees at the project in Peru have been busy keeping up with the large stock demands.
 
Just want to end this post by saying a huge huge thank you to everyone who has made all of these things possible. Sending you all lots of metaphorical gold stars from CAI! (sorry we’re not sending all our volunteers and supporters real star stickers…Maybe one day…)

Ella writes:

"​It’s Friday morning, and I’m on my way to a CAI craft session hosted by a traditional Anglican church. To the eye of the outsider, it might appear to be a sleepy one, but my experience of Friday morning craft sessions proves this to be far from the truth. If I arrive feeling a little sleepy myself (my usual state on a Friday morning), I certainly don’t stay that way for long. Within the first few minutes of my arrival, one of the volunteers is urging us to set up the crafts and get going. Even before all the participants arrive, everyone is already busy at work, cutting and sewing and glittering. (If you haven’t already picked up on this, glitter is a key feature of Craft Aid International’s work!)
 
A morning of sewing, chatting, and tea and biscuits (tea-breaks are another important ingredient of CAI community life!) might have the air of the mundane about it and the women who volunteer on Friday mornings might seem like ordinary ladies of the older generation, but every week that I come, I am impressed by this extraordinary group of women. As I sit listening to their chatterings, I can’t help thinking that there are so many stories here just waiting to be told. The wannabe novelist in me is itching to use all this raw material!
 
Anyway, I won’t be writing a novel quite yet, but I thought I’d just share a tiny snippet of some of the conversations I’ve had with these fun, sparky, determined ladies, who always seem to bubble with enthusiasm. They are an important part of Craft Aid’s story; they are both a blessing to us and a reminder of the blessing that Craft Aid International is to so many people. These Friday morning craft sessions not only benefit the participants with disabilities, but they have had a surprising impact on the volunteers involved, and the whole of the church.
 
One volunteer tells me that she always looks forward to Friday mornings. “It’s so friendly. Everyone’s welcome and there’s always laughter. I’ve always done craft, but I’m not good at motivating myself at home. Here I’m given something to do, so I don’t have to think about it.” As she describes some of the beautiful and impressive-sounding creations that she has made at home in the past, I get the feeling that I’m talking to a talented artist. The simple joy that she takes in helping others with sewing and glittering is humbling. Craft Aid is so blessed to have skilled, artistic people serving as part of the team. However, even those who aren’t naturally creative enjoy getting stuck in. “I’m not crafty to be honest, I was just going to make the tea”, admits one lady, “but I’ve been involved with the craft for two years now.” Another volunteer tells me how she misses the sessions over the summer.
 
These fun Friday mornings led some of the volunteers to embark on an adventure on the other side of the world (read Susie’s blog-posts from April for more info). Five of the ladies, all in their sixties and seventies, visited Craft Aid’s new project in Peru, where they trained the employees with disabilities to make different craft products. There were many keen supporters from the church who didn’t go on the trip, who nevertheless helped with the fundraising, waved goodbye to the volunteers early in the morning and supported them all the way. Those who went really enjoyed their time in Peru. “It was fun, emotional and exhausting. We had to have a get-up-and go attitude.” Another lady explained how it changed her perspective, “When I came back, things that mattered before I went didn’t matter any more. I realise what’s important now.”
 
The vicar of the church says that the craft sessions, as well as the Peru trip, have helped the church become more dynamic and have been an important part of their journey as a congregation. The work of CAI has had a “profound effect. It has given us a another way of being a more outward-looking community.”
 
I will end my little storytime here, but I am sure that there are many more fascinating tales to tell. I remember one volunteer telling us that when she was a child, she and other children were encouraged to collect conkers for the war effort. Little did she know at the time that these conkers were used to manufacture explosives. Whilst CAI clearly doesn’t want to be explosive in this kind of way, I can’t help thinking that this story is a good metaphor for the lives of those involved with CAI. Just like a little conker, an ordinary Friday morning can lead to much bigger things. And I don’t just mean exciting trips to Peru, but everything that these volunteers enable to happen. These women are all part of the explosive effect of CAI, which is changing lives around the world, one precious person at a time."
 
 

Ella writes:

We want this blog to be a space where we can share the stories of the many different people we work with. So every week, we will introduce you to someone who is part of Craft Aid International’s story. This week, I had the chance to speak to Darren, a participant at one of our UK craft sessions. Today we had fun glittering larch cones for Christmas decorations. And we were both very sparkly by the end of it! Here’s what he had to say:
 
How long have you been coming to the craft sessions?
Longer than anyone else here! I’ve been coming since the beginning.
 
What is your favourite thing about the craft sessions?
I used to do some craft at college. We got our work displayed in the window of Betty’s Tearooms in Harrogate. Now I get to use my creative ideas here.
 
What’s your favourite craft?
 All of them!
 
Tell us a bit of your story:
I have been in a wheelchair since I had an accident when I was ten. I couldn’t speak at first. But a fun fact about myself is that when I learnt to speak again, my first word was “Budweiser”. There was an advert on TV for Budweiser, which had frogs in it. And I loved the frogs!
 
How would you describe Craft Aid International in three words?
Creative, Inspirational, Different
We do something different every week!

Ella writes:

"Recently, at one of the UK craft sessions, I asked one of the volunteers what her favourite craft activity was. Even if she had no intention of being particularly philosophical, her answer struck me as very profound. She explained that she liked the crafts where they reused materials that would normally be thrown away, such as turning pieces of broken china into mosaics.
 
Since then, I’ve been thinking about the beauty of this craft idea and it seems to me (with my great love of metaphors) to be a wonderful picture of the work that Craft Aid International does. People with disabilities are so often disregarded by society. Like broken pieces of china, they are often thought to be without potential and swept to the side. And I think this metaphor is applicable to everyone. Whoever we are, whatever our abilities, whatever our, race, gender, sexuality, culture, education etc., if we are truly honest with ourselves, we find that we are all broken.
 
But my hope and belief is that God’s love has the power to transform our fragile, imperfect, messy selves into something gloriously new and beautiful. And Craft Aid International’s history (which began with buckets of elephant dung!) gives us a wonderful glimpse of this reality, as people’s lives are being changed. Individuals are being empowered to realise their potential as a unique and beautiful part of their community."

The keen-eyed amongst you will have spotted a new face in this picture, taken on Friday at our latest Jewellery Party and fundraising event. Her name is Ella and she's standing on the far right of the picture. 
Ella has come to work with Craft Aid International as an intern for a number of months and we're really delighted to have her on the team. She's already made a huge contribution in her first week, working on publicity materials, fundraising leaflets, general admin and organising events. She even sourced elderberries for the authentic Peruvian cheese cake for Friday's jewellery party. (Well beyond the call of duty!) Ella writes:  I've had a fantastic first week with Craft Aid International. It's been pretty busy, but great fun and very varied (as you might have guessed from the fact that I spent one morning this week picking elderberries in the sunshine!) The jewellery party we held at St Mark's Church on Friday was definitely a highlight and not just because I got to sample some very delicious Peruvian desserts, although I do love desert, (especially when chocolate is involved!); but the atmosphere was also really great. The church was beautifully decorated with Peruvian bunting, the tables were laid with sparkly blue pebbles and tea lights along with fancy-looking desserts, and the Craft Aid stall was adorned with vintage-looking storm lanterns displaying the jewellery (another one of Susie's great creative ideas!) About 40 people came and enjoyed indulging in the various deserts and browsing the stall. We also raised a really good amount of money towards the project in Peru. I realised again on Friday how blessed I am to have a chance to be part of the work that Craft Aid does. And I am very excited to see how the Peru project progresses this year. ​