Putting things in perspective

I might have spent this post whining about missing out on Cirque De Soleil this afternoon after having tickets since last October
or I could whinge about certain recent health developments [ and I probably still will but not today ]
... because today I got a timely reminder that I have an awful lot to be thankful for

I spent the morning with my lovely Purl's Princesses [ SnB without the B ] over at Daylesford.
We had beautiful new teas to try in gorgeous wee Asian teapots, Robyne made cake - green tomato cake [!!! ] which was just fab-u-lous and there was so much chat that it was well nigh impossible to follow all the conversations

There was lots of Chantelle [ which is Central Victorianese for Show-and-Tell ]
including a big pile of 8" knit and crochet squares.

You see, our friend Zanny and her daughter, who hail from Zimbabwe originally, were horrified to learn that there are one and a half million Aids orphans in South Africa alone and over eleven million in sub-Saharan Africa.
The number increases at a rate of 500 per DAY [ I was told 500 a week and that was bad enough but the idea of 500 each and every day is truly horrifying ]
and many of these poor little souls are themselves born with Aids due to uterine transmission from their infected mothers.
A group in Soweto has taken it upon themselves to provide comforting blankets for these kids and need our help.
They don't want whole blankets sent - they would only be stolen en route - but are asking instead for 8 inch squares ... knitted or crocheted, any design, any weight yarn, but preferably in wool as most of these children have only wood fires for warmth and so wool is preferable from the safety angle, although all fibres are being accepted.
It takes 40 squares to make a blanket
If you can help, or would like to read further go here
The scale of this tragedy is so huge but here's a small way of helping that will snowball into something significant

If you are within reach of Daylesford, you might like to join us at our next Purl's Princess's get together on Wednesday the 3rd of June . Zoe Bradshaw [owner of Purl's] and Rare Yarns have offered to supply the yarn, all you need to do is turn up from 10.30am to 12.30 with 4mm,5mm, or 6mm needles and join us for fun, friendship and mindful knitting... and of course, if you'd like to make a square or two in the meantime, that would be great.

If you are on Ravelry, you may like to join the Knit-A-Square group there as well.