For our first project in 2013, Cuddle Craft Collective will be working with World Families Australia (WFA) to provide funds to keep a very special group of Ethiopian children in school.
BEST DRESSED 2013
Best Dressed 2013 is a “pop-up” online marketplace for handmade design happening in March 2013.
Best Dressed 2013 will be hosted via the KID independent website from 1 – 31 March, 2013.
Each day in March we will showcase a new handmade dress, crafted by a talented local Australian designer. All of the dresses will be available for purchase, with the proceeds donated to our “Keep Kids in School” project.
The money raised will be utilised by World Families Australia to pay for schooling for children from a small community in Liwan, Ethiopia. These children come from illiterate families and are among the FIRST to be educated. They are the future nurses, teachers, etc for their village and their education will not only change their own lives but the lives of their families, their local community and future generations.
WORLD FAMILIES AUSTRALIA
WFA is a not for profit, non-sectarian organisation that provides assistance to communities in need by providing water facilities, micro-loans, food, sanitation, housing, medical support, nutritional education, vocational training and education.
MAKING A BIG DIFFERENCE…
Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa, an area which is currently experiencing severe famine and drought. Common nutritional deficiencies in the Bonga region include protein malnutrition (including Kwashiorkor), vitamin A deficiency (leading to blindness), iodine (leading to a high prevalence of goiter) and zinc deficiency. These nutritional deficiencies are linked to a high rate of mortality in the under-fives and for those who do not die, decreased brain and physical development which impacts on many other development agenda’s as a result.
The Save the Children website states: The issues that children in Ethiopia face are some of the most challenging in the world. Even in an “average” year, the education, health and economic situation for millions of Ethiopian children can only be described as a crisis. Frequent food shortages and periodic famine-like conditions continue to put children at risk. With inadequate health care services, many children die before reaching the age of 5.
- One in ten children die before their first birthday
- One in six children die before their fifth birthday
- 44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old
- 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition
- Malnutrition is responsible for more than half of all deaths among children under age five
- Lack of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation currently accounts for around 20 per cent of under-five mortality
- 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world)
- Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000.
- 6 percent of births are attended by a skilled health professional;
- 1 in 4 women dies in pregnancy or childbirth
Statistics courtesy of Unicef and Save the Children.
