Twas the summer of looms…

The kids in Dembi Dollo, Ethiopia just loved their loom bracelets, the craze has definitely struck.

Children (and their parents!) in Northern Ireland have been so generous with their new hobby that we were able to give a loom bracelet to all the kids in our Ethiopia, Dembi Dollo Abdi Academy programme plus the other local kids who were curiously standing by watching. And what’s more, we have a big batch of loom bracelets going out to Burma in November too!

It is very rare for the kids in Dembi Dollo to have any toys waiting for them at home, one day we found a couple of boys playing with a homemade football, stitched up with old rags and stuffed with mud and straw, it was very inventive! So you can imagine how they felt when the team arrived and gave the children school bags containing writing supplies, biscuits, bubbles, balloons and loom bracelets! The kids could hardly contain their excitement!

A big thank you to everyone who has helped, especially to Browns Coffee Shop in Ballyclare who went to great efforts, collecting bands for our kids, selling some of their own creations to raise funds and have been holding a ‘guess how many bracelets are in the jar’ competition which winds up this week.

In the age of ice buckets and no makeup selfies, it’s great that charities like us have been remembered amongst the trends. And behind all the razzle-dazzle of neon loom bands are kids that have been on some extraordinary journeys before they got to a place where they could smile and enjoy the simple things in life. Thank you for helping them on their way.

Laura is continuing the loom band making fun for our children in Dembi Dollo, support her on her loomathon challenge by visiting her ’Laura’s loopy’ project page here.