Scarf for life 2023
Action day on December 10th: This is how you can knit and help!
Bestselling author Cornelia Funke is just one of the prominent supporters of the campaign.
© Lena Giovanazzi
A strong sign of a strong community: December 10th is the day of action for “A Scarf for Life” – for a world without wars. Knit along!
December 10th is Human Rights Day
It started in 2014: At that time we asked you, dear readers, to join us and many celebrities in helping the children and families who had fled from Syria to the surrounding countries. For this we worked together with the independent children’s rights organization “Save the Children” launched our campaign “A scarf for life”. The response was so overwhelming that we are now making our appeal to you for the tenth year. In 2022 alone, you bought almost 18,000 packages of wool and around 1,840 finished knitted scarves , donated almost 128,000 euros directly, Since 2014, thanks to your commitment, an incredible 2.8 million euros have been raised – a sum that can be used to really and sustainably support people.
How: We experienced this again on our last visit to Lebanon. Just one example: School fees were paid for Wassim*, a boy who now lives with his family in the very north of Lebanon in the most modest of circumstances. The seven-year-old probably wouldn’t have received any education otherwise; But now he has become a very good student, which gives him and his family so much hope that father Hadi has the courage to open a small soap factory despite his physical disability.
Where there is confidence, there is future
Where there is confidence, there is also a future. And all the children of the world’s wars need them. 1.5 million Syrian refugees currently live in Lebanon, in a country with a total population of 5.4 million. Because the state is on the brink of economic collapse due to corruption and political failure, the situation of the people there is getting worse every day. According to the UN, 90 percent of Syrian families in Lebanon live in extreme poverty, up from 55 percent four years ago. One in two people, locals and refugees alike, are at risk of hunger. Because of high inflation, food, medicine and fuel are no longer affordable.
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The need is felt everywhere, especially when you meet the women, often widows or single parents, who have to struggle to feed their children and protect them – as well as themselves – from threats, sexual assault and bullying. We met many loving mothers and fathers who would do anything for the health and education of their children – but without the help of NGOs, without your scarf donations, they have to sell paper handkerchiefs at street intersections at the age of six or seven are exploited as harvest workers.
But what we also experienced: that BRIGITTE is a familiar word for the people who were helped by the donations. They beamed when they greeted our team, For most people, BRIGITTE is the only German word they know.
The suffering of refugee families and children continues to move you, us and our prominent supporters. Your donation, dear readers – from every scarf you knit or buy, 10 euros will go to the work of Save the Children – make yourselves helpers in times of greatest need. Therefore: Knit with us or order the finished scarf and wear it on December 10th, our day of action, International Human Rights Day, as a statement against war and as a sign of your solidarity with the children. Because: Human rights and especially children’s rights need visibility!
* Names changed by the editors
All information about wool and scarves can be found in this article: “Here you can find the wool and the scarf – designed by Guido Maria Kretschmer!”
Help without knitting
You can also donate your desired contribution directly – any amount helps (just click on the picture!).
Donation account
Save the Children, Bank for Social Economy
IBAN DE96 3702 05000003 2929 12, BIC BFSWDE33XXX,
Keyword: scarf donation appeal