Looking towards ’67 blankets for Mandela Day’ 2015

OWN CORRESPONDENT

PHOTOGRAPHER ILAN OSSENDRYVER

Suggested in jest by Steyn’s friend, former President Nelson Mandela’s long-standing personal assistant, Zelda la Grange, toward the end of last year, the project has taken on a momentum of its own, reaching as far afield as Cyprus, the UK and Australia.

A few months ago, the SA Jewish Report piggybacked on this laudable project which yielded an enthusiastic buy-in from members of the public, businesses, and members of the public, our readers, who have so generously brought in both squares and blankets.

Culminating in a series of blanket distribution events around July 18, which has formally be renamed Nelson Mandela Day, initiatives all over the country have been distributing new and used and magnificent handmade blanket to the needy in the country.

Operating on a different model is the registered NPO Warm the World, also a knitting-based initiative, coined by Justice Sharise Weiner and Ruth Ginsburg. They have placed facilities for the knitting and collection of squares in a variety of places, including doctors’ waiting rooms, hairdressing salons and the like. Their aim is to warm the world one square at a time. Their website is www.warmtheworld.co.za.

Both initiatives are keenly aware of the value of the gesture, and both will be continuing into the year ahead, supporting the production and distribution of blankets to South Africa’s poor, in the lead up to July 18, 2015. Keep knitting/crocheting!