Thoughts from the Bus Stop

Knitting for new mums in Sierra Leone (Freedom from Fistula Foundation)

Mother and baby doing well thanks to the Freedom from Fistula Foundation

In Sierra Leone, the Freedom from Fistula Foundation manages The Aberdeen Women's Centre. This centre currently provides free surgeries to women injured in childbirth, runs a children's clinic, and now has a maternity clinic.

The goal of the new maternity clinic is to provide mothers in Sierra Leone with quality care during childbirth which will have the double benefit of reducing the number of childbirth injuries, as well as helping to reach the worldwide Millennium Development Goal #5 which aims to reduce maternal mortality across the developing world.

The Aberdeen Women's Centre now has the capacity to: deliver 1,500 babies each year in the maternity clinic; treat up to 500 women each year in the fistula clinic; and treat more than 6,000 children each year in the outpatient clinic.

The Freedom From Fistula Foundation has pledged to give each new baby a cardigan, jumper or blanket as a gift before they leave the hospital. They're extremely grateful for all donations in all colours* and sizes!

Completed garments can be sent to:

Freedom from Fistula Foundation
Robertson House
1 Whitefriars Crescent
Perth PH2 0PA

For more ideas on how to knit for charity, visit my Knitting for UK Charities page.

* Please avoid white, as it is associated with mourning in many African cultures.

Helping creative women flourish through microfinance

These talented ladies are the 'Esmeraldas de San Francisco' (San Francisco Emeralds), a group of embroiderers from the State of México in Mexico. They applied to Kiva, the microfinance organisation, for a loan to enable them to buy more thread and fabric to help them expand their business, producing embroidered napkins and tablecloths.

I lent them $25 (about £16) and 104 other people made loans of varying amounts, which made up the total of $3,025. Just a few weeks later, the group have repaid 5% of their loan, and eventually I'll get my $25 back and will be able to loan it to someone else who needs to borrow it.

I don't have the spare funds to *donate* much money to charity, and Kiva allows me to do a little bit to help by lending the same $25 over and over - how fantastic.

* SONG OF THE DAY: The Feeling - Sewn *

Girls discover secret of saving up for wedding bells

Found in a box of old postcards in a charity shop. A priceless piece of social history! 1960s, do you think? The CIS tower is one of Manchester city centre's landmarks, and my auntie Diane used to work there.

* SONG OF THE DAY: The Proclaimers - Let's Get Married *

Images (c) Kristen Bailey 2009

 

Pink: Stupid Girls

Video for Stupid Girls by Pink

"What happened to the dreams of a girl president
She's dancing in the video next to 50 Cent
They travel in packs of two or three
With their itsy bitsy doggies and their teeny-weeny tees
Where, oh where, have the smart people gone?
Oh where, oh where could they be?"

I just love Pink's new single Stupid Girls (lyrics here), especially the video, which is a joy.

In it she appears in many guises, including parodies of Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. It's based around a little girl watching telly, with her Barbies and her Girls World on one side of her and her football and keyboard on the other, while an angel and a devil (both played by Pink) try to persuade her which she should give her attention.

It's really funny and makes a good point very well. It should be played to six-year olds in school as a learning resource. Here's what Pink says about it on her website in a letter to her fans:

"...do not misunderstand me. I will clarify that IN MY OPINION, which is exactly what all of this is, there is nothing absolutely nothing wrong with being sexy, feeling sexy or dressing sexy. My point is only this: 'SMART' and 'SEXY' are not oil and water..."

Clever girl...

Observer: Now who looks silly? Alecia Moore, aka pop singer Pink, writes about the furore over her 'Stupid Girls' video
Telegraph: A brighter shade of Pink

Having the painters in

OK, it's getting kind of scary when my museum research gets into rhythm with me... check out this online exhibition from Sydney's Powerhouse Museum: The rags: paraphernalia of menstruation.

I particularly love this quote from Liz Giuffre in the 'Heckler' column of The Sydney Morning Herald (23 August 2004):

Despite the GST [Goods and Services Tax] classification of pads and tampons as 'luxury items', let me, on behalf of the women of Australia, let the manufacturers know that they have a captive audience. There is absolutely no need for this continued marketing push to make the products 'fun' and 'funky'.
 

24/08/2012 - edited to add: I have made an 'Adventures In Menstruating' board on Pinterest, prompted by finding a bunch of (now amusing) Tampax ads in some 1960s knitting magazines I found in a charity shop. 

Slipping under the wallpaper with Princess Su Su

'She had taught herself to sew, embroider, weave and knit because she had heard so many tales of young women… asked to do impossible tasks (to spin wheat into gold, for example) to buy their freedom.'

Must plug the new textile art exhibition at Hove Museum and Art Gallery - so good I begged my editor to let me cover it for our site.

Allow myself to introduce... myself:
24 Hour Museum A Glimpse Into The World Of Princess Su Su At Hove Museum