Aid Worker's Details

Krochet Kids International provides income-generating opportunities and education for impoverished persons in post-conflict northern Uganda. Through seminars and workshops that teach sound business practices to local merchants and entrepreneurs the organization seeks long term stability and economic benefits for a generation of persons who have suffered through some two decades worth of fighting in their country. KKI’s crochet program, by which women learn to crochet and receive income when the products they create are sold, provides a steady job for persons whose business prospects are otherwise limited due to the constraints imposed by their environment. The primary beneficiaries of KKI’s economic development programs are women who head households. These participants have proven adept at instilling in those around them the belief that with discipline and persistence, their community can truly transform itself for the better. There has been no shortage of progress directly related to KKI’s programs; crocheted items sold both in Africa and the U.S. have put food on tables and paid school tuition, and small business ventures have created jobs for many in the community in which KKI works.

Some 20 years of violence wreaked havoc in the lives of so many in northern Uganda, and the level of poverty in the country is staggering, with 85% of the population living on less than $1 a day. KKI’s contributions seek to turn the tide from hatred and pain to healing and hope, and the organization uses economic development as a vehicle to move in the right direction. Now, each day 10 women in Gulu, Uganda, gather in a brick hut to make hats that represent a better way of life for themselves and their families. The economic gains from hat sales and strides made by others in the community who participate in KKI’s economic development seminars and workshops have transformed lives. KKI’s initiatives in northern Uganda aim to inspire persons to help themselves and those around them while meeting the immediate needs of persons who have long suffered, but are determined to rise to new heights. Aid Worker History Krochet Kids International began its work in 2006, when three American friends decided to use one of their acquired skills – crocheting – to help empower some of the world’s neediest persons. Crocheting struck them as a highly efficient way to produce a steady income. After all, all that is required to craft marketable clothing products is a hook and a bit of yarn. The trio adopted a business plan to sell the products, mainly hats, in the U.S. and then taught ten women with whom they had become familiar with on previous trips to Uganda to crochet.