KNITTING CIRCLES

Wednesday once a month, 7:00pm to 9:30pm, various locations

• April 9: Beltsville, MD
• May 7: Washington, DC
• June 11: Beltsville, MD
• July 9: TBD
• August 6:TBD
• September 10 (ritual):TBD

If you would like to host a knitting circle in your neighborhood, please contact Angela at angela@becomingdc.org.

OUTREACH EVENTS

OHF Pagan Band Jam, College Park, MD

• April 5

Maryland Faerie Festival, Upper Marlboro, MD: June 7 and 8

National Capital Area Pagan Pride Week

• September 6: Northern Virginia
• September 7: District of Columbia
• September 13: Baltimore

As a knitter, you are central to our success!

1. Register to participate by printing, completing, and returning the Knitter Registration Form to the address or fax number indicated on the bottom of the form. You can also bring the form with you to the knitter’s start-up meeting on Sunday, March 30. You will receive further information, an easy knitted bear pattern, and sponsor form. If you have any questions, please contact Angela at angela@becomingdc.org.

2. Set your personal goals for the number of bears you will knit and the amount of money you will raise.

3. Attend the initial start-up meeting on Sunday, March 30, 1:30pm, location to be determined, to get more information and meet other knitters.

4. Encourage friends, family, neighbors and colleagues to sponsor your efforts. We suggest you ask for at least $5 per bear you plan to knit. Don’t be afraid to ask for more! Sponsors may also choose to make a flat donation in any amount.

5. Have supporters donate online or by check. Ask your sponsors to pay when they pledge. This will ensure the most money for the survival and support of the children we are helping, and save you from making a second trip to collect pledges. Steps for submitting donations are included in the informational letter you receive after you register.

6. Gather with others to knit your bears, or work by yourself, whichever you choose. If there is not a knitting circle in your area, feel free to start one. This website will help you publicize it.

7. Attend any of our outreach events to talk about the project to the public and raise more donations.

8. Check in regularly with your progress!

In the streets of Nigeria’s cities, helpless children are accused of witchcraft by their families and neighbors. These boys and girls are then beaten, tortured in the name of “deliverance,” and then abandoned, if not killed. Extreme poverty, health crises such as malaria and HIV-AIDS, and shrinking resources of food and clean water are compounded by the manipulations of local evangelical pastors and the break-down of the extended family. Families hit hard by starvation, loss of jobs, and illness look for a scapegoat, and it is the most vulnerable who are targeted. A child accused of witchcraft and cast out of the home is one less mouth to feed.

Becoming and the Chesapeake Pagan Community are collaborating on a six-month campaign to raise funds for Stepping Stones Nigeria, a UK-based organization that sponsors a shelter and school run by Nigerian organization Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) and to knit toys of love, healing, and protection for these children. We need your help to make a difference in these children’s lives.

You are a knitter and would like to help knit bears and raise funds to help the “witch” children in Nigeria.

If you are not a knitter but would like to donate directly, use the PayPal button above or write a check to:

Chesapeake Pagan Community
Attn: Stepping Stones Nigeria Project
P.O. Box 25242
Baltimore, MD 21229

The initial kick-off meeting for this campaign is March 30, 2008. We will update this page regularly with our progress.

For more information about this project, please contact Angela at angela@becomingdc.org.

More information about this issue:
Children are the targets of Nigerian witch-hunt

Video: Child “witches” in Africa

Photographs: The child “witches” of the Niger Delta