Bobbas for Babies knits countries together

GILLIAN KLAWANSKY

So, she founded Bobbas for Babies, an organisation that donates baby blankets, clothes, and dolls knitted with love by South African and Israeli grandmothers to underprivileged South African newborns.

For Keinan, the project, officially launched in February 2019, is a way to give back to South Africa while promoting the Jewish homeland. At the end of last year, she went to the Kliptown Youth Program in Soweto, to distribute the latest round of knitting done by a bevy of bobbas. Once she had handed out the wares to the moms and babies, she told them how Jewish grannies from South Africa and Israel knitted them and described her own connection to the Holy Land. “Shalom”, was the response from the moms.

Keinan also brought freshly baked cupcakes for the older kids, and expectant mothers received hair-care packages. She distributed more goods outside the Nomzamo Kids Centre in Soweto.

Keinan told the SA Jewish Report how the project began. Born in South Africa, Keinan made aliyah with her family to Kibbutz Israel when she was just two years old, which makes her current South African posting a bit like coming full circle. Her mother, an active member of Habonim, was a nurse.

“Mothers and babies were my mother’s expertise on the kibbutz. She worked to guide them through the first few months.” While she now works as a cultural assistant at the embassy, Keinan herself is qualified as an occupational therapist (OT) and has also worked as a breastfeeding assistant. She’s proud to have inherited her mother’s passion for working with children and babies.

Since her nursing days, Keinan’s mother has knitted a pair of booties for every new baby born on the kibbutz. “It’s become a tradition of almost 60 years,” says Keinan. “Now she knits for the grandchildren and the great grandchildren of her friends from Habo. My mother [now in her 80s] came to visit me two years ago for Chanukah and being an OT, I tried to think of ways to keep her busy and content while I was at work.” Knitting was the obvious answer. Keinan suggested that her mother knit a baby blanket, saying she’d find a needy recipient.

“When I went to buy the wool and I saw her knitting, it hit me that this is what I could do. I could provide the wool, and distribute it to Jewish grandmothers around South Africa. Then I’d donate the finished products to the underprivileged.”

Keinan told her South African family and their friends of her plans, and word soon spread among the residents of Golden Acres and Sandringham Gardens. As Keinan got to know the members of Pretoria’s Jewish community, Jaffa came on board too.

“I started handing wool to whoever was willing to knit for me,” says Keinan. Word also soon spread to Kibbutz Israel, where Keinan’s mother kept knitting, and told her friends about the project. Naturally, they wanted to knit too. “I started sending wool to Israel, and when we visit, I bring more wool, and we bring back the knitted products.”

The initial idea was to stick to baby or breastfeeding blankets that would function as attachment objects, easing the transition from baby to toddler. “We wanted to add an emotional element, the idea was always to keep it personal,” says Keinan. Further personalising the process, Keinan ensures that each recipient knows who knitted their gifts, and that the bobbas know who received them. The project has now expanded beyond blankets. “Some devoted knitters are almost blind, so they knit what they know,” says Keinan. “I started getting hats, jerseys, scarves, and dolls too. There’s always a need for whatever they can make.”

Keinan has worked to keep distribution structured, going to orphanages supported by the embassy, and selecting organisations within a growing base of townships. Because of the embassy’s limited budget, “Bobbas for Babies” is funded by the Keinans themselves. “We wanted to create a project that combines the South African Jewish community, Israel’s people, and underprivileged South Africans,” she says.

To date, there are 44 devoted knitters who have knitted over 250 items. Ultimately Keinan plans to expand her network of knitters and distribute their creations throughout the country. In broadening the net, she’s travelled to Modimolle in Limpopo, where she met the mayor and gave blankets to premature babies at the local hospital.

“I call on every member of the Jewish community to join hands with me,” she says. “There’s often a question of who’s benefiting more, those who give or those who receive, but this is a win-win situation.

“There’s nothing like a sense of doing good. The Israeli embassy is here to do good. I’m proud to be a part of it. Projects that help others are a long-running passion of mine.”

Keinan is working to make the project sustainable. “It’s a very small drop in the ocean, but if my vision is realised, Bobbas for Babies will continue long after I leave South Africa,” she says.

• If you’d like to get involved with knitting or donating wool, please email culture@pretoria.mfa.gov.il