the kindness of strangers

One of my favourite charities is Operation Christmas Child, and this year I'm the rep at our church for putting out the parcel labels and collecting the shoe boxes in.

Of course not everyone is able to put together a full box so I've suggested that some of the congregation donate individual items, such as soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, scarves small toys. On Sunday I was given, amongst other things, these two lovely scarves for the boxes.

It's wonderful to think that two girls in extremely difficult circumstances will feel a bit warmer because they've been given a scarf from someone that they will never meet. It's also wonderful to think that someone here, in this small village, is prepared to give something so lovely to a stranger in a far off country.

I need to crack on and get some hats & gloves knitted this month too, as my kids each like to put together a box for a child in their own age group. I've got some lovely Rooster almerino in a mustard colour to use up (which I'd got a while ago to make J2 a sweater but she doesn't like the colour.) which will be lovely for hats and gloves- & I might add a stripe or two of some contrasting colour.

When you read the stories of the children in Serbia living under a flyover or the children in Pristina living in storage container homes (which are freezing in winter) it seems that a shoebox filled with toys, sweets, gloves, soap, pens & pencils cannot do much in their lives. But the shoe boxes do make a difference- in some places if the children do not have jotters and pencils then they cannot go to school, and their parents have so little money that toys are rarely seen.

It's such a shocking contrast to my children's lives, but at least we are in a position to help.