Oriel - African Refugee Doll

Here's some more info on the Refugee situation in Africa ...

Burrundians returned to their country after 18 years living in refugee camps (since conflict in 1970s). 

One man and his two daughters was  lucky enough to return to his family land (with some struggle as it had been taken over by someone else).  He says, "To have a solid house and to be at home, this makes the biggest difference to me that I can think of. When I settled again here, I felt peace and happiness. Despite of all that I have lived and seen – I was finally home."

Since 2002, some 490,000 Burundians have returned home with UNHCR help. UNHCR-funded returnee monitors visited more than 14,000 families last year, often intervening to ensure the protection and fair treatment of the returnees.

Two UNHCR non-governmental partners and Burundi's National Land and Property Commission have contributed to the peaceful resolution of several thousand land conflicts. And under its shelter program, UNHCR has provided nearly 90,000 families with building materials, as well mosquito nets to protect against malaria, which is endemic along the shores of Lake Tanganyika, and plastic sheeting to provide shelter from the rain.

Kats Vintage Babe

VINTAGE BABE

Cause: Clothing/Textiles build up and wastage=Pollution

In the UK 1million tonnes of textiles are disposed of annually, between 400000 & 700000 tonnes of these are clothes that have been sent to landfill & at least 85% of this could be recycled. Almost all textiles can be respun into new fabric or recycled as new clothing, cleaning cloths or filling materials. My designer toy is here to show all those fashion crazy girls that a brand new outfit every week or so isn’t necessary & buying or swapping second hand clothes can be just as fashionable, cheaper & help save our environment.

Her story: Vintage Babe grew up in London; she never had a lot of money growing up. Vintage babe couldn’t afford all the newest clothes like her classmates, evry1 called her raggedy anne. Vintage babe took up a job delivering papers before school every Thursday, it was a hard job and the pay wasn’t very good but Vintage Babe had one thing in mind. A Sewing machine! She saved all of her money until she was able to buy a sewing machine, as soon as she got the sewing machine home she quickly took it out of the box & started to cut up & redesign all of her old clothes, she discovered a cute little opshop just around the corner from her house & would buy old clothing & materials every time she got payed. Vintage babe would sit at home most nights sewing a new outfit until one day at school a girl came up to her and asked were she was getting all of her beautiful clothes from? She replied “ they’re one of a kind pieces that I buy from the opshop & alter “. The girl asked Vintage babe if she would bring her shopping and show her how she makes old clothes look new and even funkier than all of the mass produced clothing in stores. From that day on Vintage Babe was one of the most popular girls in school, everyday she had someone coming up to her for advice on how to recycle old clothing into new.

One Day Vintage Babe was approached on the streets by a tall thin man in a very fancy suit. “Vintage Babe” he said “yes “she replied in her soft voice, “we’ve been hearing a lot about you & your new approach to recycling, would you be on our new TV show to inspire the rest of your country with your fashion recycling tips and hints?” From that day on Vintage Babe became an icon for fashion but not only that, she has showed hundreds of fashion crazy girls how to have there small part in saving there planet by recycling, reusing & refunking old clothes.

Kyande - Patch - Stitched Solutions

MEET PATCH

Here is Bear,

who is to be held when in despair.

Age doesn't matter to this little fellow,

though he is as comforting as a fluffy pillow.

Schizophrenia is a hard thing to live with,

and must be not hushed as a myth.

Here is Bear,

who you can hold who cares.

He has patches and stitches and a heart of gold,

that will fix problems no matter how old.

Split personalities hurt peoples hearts,

which is why patch shows you a new and happy start.

There is a rainbow on the other end,

and it is you who patch will mend.

Rethink.org is a charity,

that will let you have happy clarity.

So dont be afraid you've got a friend,

so let all of the stitches and patches heal and mend.

http://www.rethink.org/

Designer Toy "Global Warming Mascot" - Posted by Julie Davenport

‘Hope’ and ‘Moi’

Polar Bear Mascots

To Remind us that these amazing mammals are an endangered species!

Recently times have been tough for my character named ‘Hope’.She is a Polar Bear from the Arctic Region where ‘Global Warming’has been melting her ice-land habitat making things difficult. This spring ‘Hope’ gave birth to two cubs a boy named ‘John’ and a girl named ‘Moi’. For several days she had travelled across the icy wilderness to find a suitable place to make her birthing place in the ice. She nurtured both cubs for three weeks but ‘John’ became ill and died one night at a month old. Devastated, ‘Hope’ left, carrying ‘Moi’ for days back across the ice to see her sister ‘Faith’ whose cubs were both now nearly 2 years old and would soon leave her and ‘go it alone’. As ‘Hope and Moi’ arrived in their family’s region they met up with some large male bears hurrying in the opposite direction. She asked them what was wrong and they told her that ‘Poachers’ (Human Beings) had managed to get closer that ever before by ship to their territory and that they had killed at least 6 male bears yesterday. ‘Hope’ slumped down fearing she may know some of them, (later she found out that one of them was ‘Moi’s’ biological father ‘Johnson’) she cried. Tired from carrying ‘Moi’ she sat down on the thin ice to think and catch her breath. She feared for their lives but hoped that the ‘Poachers’ would spare the mothers and cubs, as they only wanted the skins of the bigger bears to keep as a trophy on their lounge-room floors. ‘Moi’ was hungry and tired and ‘Hope’ struggled to get comfortable to give her a feed, but she must do all in her power to make sure ‘Moi’ survives to carry on the species. ‘Moi’ snuggled up all warm and cosy as she fed on mother’s milk, forgetting her worries she fell deeply asleep. Darkness came as ‘Hope & Moi’ finally arrived at ‘Faith’s’ place. All 5 bears rejoiced at seeing each other again and were comforted by the knowledge that they were ‘all’ still alive. ‘Moi’ was doted over by one and all as she had just started to walk and looked so cute. Later on they enjoyed a meal of seal together and lay on the creaking ice and snow watching the stars and auroras lighting up the night sky and talking and dreaming of better days.