Thailand: Knitting for charity creates a new social fabric
After watching her grandmother knit socks for soldiers, a Brit teaches Thai to make blankets for the poor.
Angela Stafford (l.) teaches a Bangkok man how to knit.
Tibor Krausz
A policeman grapples with it. A tattoo artist practices it. A tricycle rickshaw driver does it.
Knitting, that is.
鈥淎t first they all say, 鈥楴o way!鈥� 鈥� Angela Stafford explains. 鈥淏ut once they get the hang of it, they can鈥檛 stop.鈥�
A community organizer from England working at a Bangkok hospital, Ms. Stafford has recruited a motley crew of Thai volunteers for a worthy cause: to knit winter blankets for poor hill-tribe children.
Come November and December, nighttime temperatures can plummet to subzero in northern Thailand鈥檚 remote mountainous region where most residents live in rickety bamboo and rattan huts.
Soon, however, several communities will have colorful, new, warm blankets. At the bidding of Stafford and her Thai helpers, hundreds of Bangkok residents from all walks of life have agreed to knit several six-inch squares, which are then stitched into large blankets.
鈥淢y mother and grandmother knitted socks for soldiers during the war, so I thought, Let鈥檚 do it in Thailand,鈥� Stafford says.
Knitting has no tradition here, and the clickety-clack of knitting needles makes for a rare sound. Or used to.
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 seen many people knit before,鈥� concedes Surangkhana Laisakul, a young woman participating in the project. 鈥淏ut now it鈥檚 鈥榗link, clink, clink.鈥� 鈥�
The new pursuit is also helping to break down social barriers, Ms. Surangkhana adds. 鈥淚鈥檝e seen maids teaching [executives] how to knit. Normally, they can鈥檛 even talk to one another.鈥�