About us and the history of KasCare

Brief background

Our organisation was founded in October 2008 after a family conference in Melbourne, Australia.

It is based on the grim reality of orphans and abandoned children in South Africa.  There are millions of abandoned children, orphans and child-headed families in southern Africa, who live in dire poverty. They lack love, shelter, food, education and warmth. The same can be said for abandoned newborns and babies. Young mothers, many of them teenagers, give birth with few opportunities of supporting themselves, let alone their babies.

The issue

In 1984 two close families in Zimbabwe separated through emigration. One – Ronda and Peter Lowrie and two daughters – went to South Africa. The other – Sandy and Roger McDonald and two daughters – moved to Australia.

Ronda is an active charity worker in Soweto. In conversation with her niece, Sandy, in Melbourne in 2008, she identified one of the many basic problems in South Africa as a chronic shortage of blankets, especially at altitude in the cold highveld winters. The problem is common to many other poor communities in South Africa.

The solution

Sandy and Roger developed the idea that we could start an online movement. It would call on the world’s knitters and crocheters to knit standard 8”/20cm squares and send them to her in South Africa. There, volunteers would make them up into blankets for distribution to these children. The idea for knit-a-square.com was born.

Not knowing what to expect when the website went live in October 2008, they were thrilled when a trickle of squares began to arrive in early 2009.

That trickle became a stream after American yarn giant, Lion Brand, ran a small story on the knit-a-square project in February 2009. This publicity together with other online traffic driving strategies helped drive more many thousands of knitters and crocheters to the site and boosted membership. The stream became a torrent.

With the help of a handful of inspired volunteers in the US, Canada and the UK, a series of forums was established. These allowed charity-minded knitters and crocheters to help each other with patterns, tips and communications.

Some impressive numbers

By the end of 2009, we had developed a wholly voluntary organization that had attracted more than 3,000 members from 35 countries around the world. Between them they sent more than 62,000 (52,000 documented, with an estimated 10,000 still to be processed) hand knitted or crocheted squares to South Africa, representing about 1,800 blankets of various sizes. In addition, more than 4,700 knitted items, including hats, beanies and vests, had arrived. Our forum has more than 700 members and Kaskids™ has been introduced to over 80 schools.

The decision to become a charity

Knit-a-square had been a family run, informal charity based on the voluntary efforts of half a dozen people, working part or full time.  We realised that with such a volume of squares arriving, we would have to secure the South African operation.

Following that we had to ensure that we had sufficient administrative resources to continue to run the organization and develop the KasKids™ school program, so we took the decision to incorporate knit-a-square under the name KasCare.  KasCare became an registered charity in September 2009.

As at January 2010, many members of the family still work part or full time for KasCare on a voluntary basis, while we establish the organization and seek funding.