Movers and Shakers

Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Martin Luther King. Do these names ring a bell? We need these movers and shakers in our world to shape the direction of society and be a firm voice for justice and peace. Ever wonder where you fit in to everything that's happening in our world today?

Just talk to Ellie. She's a ten-year-old American girl who started learning about the country of Rwanda and the people there. She started thinking about people in Rwanda, and how they are not so different from you and me. But then she learned that some kids in Rwanda got up in the morning and had to work instead of go to school and sometimes didn't have food to eat. What's a ten-year old to do when she realizes something like that? 

Well, for starters, Ellie knows how to knit. She also learned that in Rwanda there were merino sheep that produced high quality wool. Then she and her parents learned about True Vineyard Ministries and that a small group of widows were spinning wool into yarn to try to earn a living to feed their children and send them to school. She started talking to her parents about finding a way to sell the yarn in the States so that the widows could have a steady source of income for the beautiful yarn they were producing. 

Ellie and her family has turned this idea into reality by starting a social business called KidKnits. KidKnits sells knitting craft kids so that kids in the States can learn how to knit, and at the same time help other kids in Rwanda go to school because their moms have jobs. 

Since KidKnits began, the number of widows hired by True Vineyard Ministries to make yarn has increased from 10 widows to 21 in just a number of months! Each widow has multiple children living under her roof, and because of their jobs with True Vineyard Ministries, 134 Rwandans are directly impacted by their salary. 

Ellie is a modern-day mover and shaker. You can be one too. Find your passion, run with it, and figure out a way to use your talents and abilities for good. Shake things up in your town, city, school, place of work. Start telling stories, educate people, and do something that makes you feel alive. Be part of a bigger movement of change in Rwanda. 

Check out our page Handspun Hope to learn more about what the widows do, and check out KidKnits to find out more about how you can buy a craft kit and change a life while you're at it.