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THE FIRST KFL KNITTING, TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

A long held dream that despite enormous challenges is now becoming an exciting reality for our hardworking knitting community in Chatsworth, Zimbabwe.

With the greatest gratitude to the Australian DFAT DAP grant and the generosity of a special friend of Knit For Life who purchased the land that allowed us to create this headquarters for Knit For Life Zimbabwe.

This building represents so much more than a place to knit, to train women in skills that will allow them to earn an income with dignity, to commune and to work. This building represents hope. It represents the possibility of a brighter tomorrow for our knitters and the women of Chatsworth and surrounding areas. This building represents a stepping stone to possibility, education and income generation. This building represents the realisation of a long held dream.”

DAP grant win

In 2019, before the Covid pandemic, a group of our senior knitters took part in a business skills course sponsored by Knit For Life. We plan to further these study and skills building opportunities, especially once the Knit For Life Centre for Training and Development is completed. Construction of the Centre will commence shortly with digging of the bore hole to provide essential access to water currently underway. Thanks to an Australian Government DFAT grant this long held dream is becoming an exciting reality.

Our knitting community in rural Zimbabwe developed a number of micro business initiatives during Covid to generate income using those business skills and the skills acquired from their work with Knit For Life. With your support we look forward to developing initiatives, working with our community to create new opportunities, guiding and supporting them in working towards sustainable outcomes.

Library

Together with our partner Aussie Books for Zim we were awarded a grant of USD 15000.00 by Better World Books https://cares.betterworldbooks.com/literacy-grants/aussie-books-for-zim/ to build a fully functional library to serve the needs of the wider community of rural Chatsworth, where the Knit for Life community is based and where a library has never existed before. The library is now complete and stocked with over 2000 books, library furniture and laptop computers and it is estimated that up to 1000 children in the wider community will have access to the library. The library represents hope  for future generations to come, and empowers a entire community of children and adults through literacy and education, the essential tool in breaking the cycle of poverty..

Solar lamps

Together with our partner Solar Buddy, www.solarbuddy.org we have been able to positively impact the lives of 1000 primary and secondary school children and their families in neighboring communities living in energy poverty. These children will for the first time be able to safely study with a Solar Buddy solar lamp after dark. Up to now people in the community have had no access to electricity and have relied entirely on kerosene lamps, candles and wood  which impacts negatively on health, education, the environment and perpetuates the cycle of poverty. Solar Buddy is generously donating a further 1000 solar lamps in 2019 so that every child in the wider  community and their families will have access to safe lighting after dark. Knitters from the community will be able to continue working productively, enhancing their income earning capacity after dark and families will have light to cook by , whilst their children can study and read. This is a truly life changing outcome for the entire community.

Dyed Yarn – Building entrepreneurial opportunities for the knitters

Together with our partner, ( a generous Australian donor who wishes to remain anonymous), the knitters have received 500 kilos of dyed cotton yarn from South Africa worth AUD12 000. This partnership will ensure continued long term sustainability for the project. A group of 40 knitters have completed a training course in Basic Business Management skills gaining certification. The Knit for Life team in Australia will guide and assist in transitioning the current model back to complete ownership and responsibility by the knitters to manage and grow their own small business collaboratively.