Abu Dhabi: In the true spirit of community activism, a group of women living in the UAE have devoted their free time and talents towards helping children living in orphanages and refugee camps through the simple act of knitting and sewing, with all of the clothes they make, donated to the children. Founded five years ago, the community group Rags to Riches UAE, has 140 active female members with 5,000 followers on social media. Meeting every week, the women sew, knit and quilt fabrics into clothes such as shirts, shorts, hoodies, tracksuit bottoms and dresses.
“We’re just a group of women who have a hobby for sewing, knitting and quilting, and so we’ve all come together and decided to put those efforts towards a good cause,” said one of the group’s organisers Ceri Rocca, from the UK. “All of this activity is done in our spare time, we don’t ask for any money as we’re not a charity, we just make the clothes and collect them together and then send them off to orphanages or refugee camps,” she added. Rocca explained that the group receives monthly requests for clothes from international humanitarian organisations such as Bring Hope, keeping them busy with their volunteerism. Latifa Ghezala, an Algerian member of the group also spoke glowingly about the shared unity between women in the group. “It makes me the happiest person on Earth to help these young children. When you make something yourself after hours of knitting and sewing, there is a special feeling behind that as you know a young child is going to be wearing those clothing items to stay warm during the cold winter months,” she added, feeling pride in her activism. (gulfnews.com)
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