This weeks handmade gifts are brooches. Street boys in Luanda are everywhere, you can pick them out by their tattered clothes, skinny physiques and more often than not, by their addiction to glue sniffing. These children fend for themselves on the streets by collecting rubbish or begging. When Jess and I were working with Kipepeo we asked about the backgrounds of these children, the most frequent reasons were coming from overcrowded families who cannot afford to feed everybody and being AIDS orphans.
Kipepeo runs a program every friday to educate and support the street children of Luanda. It develops the childrens self-esteem and talents by organising football games and running competitions and it mentors them, by sitting down with them and discussing ways to structurally improve their living conditions. Then the boys are taken to the barber and given a hot meal.
Playing football
Kipepeo plans to start a tree nursery microfinance business with the boys to enable them to become self-sufficient. This program is currently running of donations from a previous volunteer from Germany but needs funds to keep the project continuing until the microfinance business is sustainable enough for the boys to support themselves.
These are a selection of the brooches, designs include; teacups, hearts, birds, cupcakes, bows and my personal favourite moustaches!
Any brooch = A donation of £2
Brooches are white, pink, blue or glow in the dark if you are very lucky
Kate wearing her glow in the dark bow
