I have a story and it is about the impact of a small crocheted rainbow doll.
The inspiration for her began when Anne Louise was volunteering with two orphanages in Nepal. In her own country she was director of a charity and heavily raising funds for the associated costs of the children. She soon learnt that there are over 500 orphanages in Nepal, yet less than 20% of the children were actually orphans.
Most of the children’s parents were in their villages struggling with unemployment and poverty. Through research and contact with other children care organisations in Nepal it was quickly discovered that orphanages were the most corrupt and dishonest ways of caring for children in Nepal. With her husband she decided to change strategy – find the children’s parents and reintegrate them. If needbe continue supporting the family with necessities such as food & education. As a mother, Anne asked the Nepali mothers ‘Why did you give up your children?’ Their response was heartfelt, it came from love. They had sent their children away to an orphanage with hopes that their children would sleep at night with food in their bellies and days were filled with schooling opportunities. Looking for a long-term solution, Kriayt Social Business was developed with the intention to tackle the root cause of the issue by providing an understanding of legal rights, skill-training, and employment opportunities to mothers so they could support and keep their children.

The one thing Anne knew from her own family lineage was how to sew and crochet, skills passed down from great grandmothers to each generation. So a handicraft business was born in Nepal. Anne was living full time in Nepal at this time with her family so fundraising back in Australia was no longer a thing. A solution to fund at risk women and children needed to be done locally in Nepal.

Armed with crochet hooks, locally dyed yarn, 4 x treadle sewing machines and old saris no longer worn. Anne and her neighbours got to learning. Anne sat up at nights creating patterns and by day passed on her skills – upcycled Sari bags and rainbow crochet toys were born. And it was way more fun than selling raffle tickets to raise funds!

Women splashed paint on a wall creating a sign and filled the corner of their training space with a small shop. Kriayt Social Business was born and profits were used to help reunite children from fake orphanages back with their families while keeping local women employed.

Online Youtube classes at night taught Anne how to screenprint and she passed on the skill to the women and elephant bags were created for local tourists to buy. A sit down table and you were invited to come colour your own bag and hear our story over a cup of tea. Women from many countries visited us and passed on their skills as well! Of course everyone left with a rainbow doll in hand.

The women cared for their shop and every few days Anne visited other women to hear their stories. She taught women in a drug rehab jail program and listed to them as they created. Word travelled fast and she was built a brand new training centre where she taught butik (loom embroidery and sewing) not bad going as she only half knew the language and some skills were still being learnt on youtube at night. This was how she learnt to master a treadle machine – online video classes were making a huge impact. 

The shop was selling out of rainbow toys as fast as they could be made so the program expanded – women in every district were making the toys. Women sat under trees by the lake as they had no dedicated space. in another district one woman gathered women on her patio and Anne’s own lounge room was taken over with production. 

The rainbow toys were now travelling to USA, Australia, Uk & Singapore and over 100 children had left orphanage care and were back with their families. There was only one condition for support – each child had to remain in school. At risk women were also supported within the program with social workers being an important role that the toys funded.

Instead of women being in back of shop in dark corners creating – Anne encouraged local shops to have the women out front and seen while they created their products. Women looming fabrics, sewing by their crops and dying yarns over the fire in the front gardens. Stories were shared and impact was being made – Women were seen. 

Programs continue to be funded by women creating rainbow toys and upcycled sari bags, along side from international funding help. The women collect clothing from tourists no longer needing them. Small things like this come in handy when natural disasters strike they are able to send care packages out to the villages. They meet and discuss the issues and have funded temporary housing, Tarps, blankets, food and water as well. 

Small things like this come in handy when natural disasters strike they are able to send care packages out to the villages. They meet discuss the issues and have funded temporary housing, tarps,blankets, food and water as well. 

Each year the women host picnics so everyone can come together and celebrate the impact of their striped toys. Children are celebrated for exam grades, weekends are planned for playing games and roasting marshmallows. Education remains the key – supporting fees, uniforms and school shoes are sometimes all that is needed for a child to be in a classroom.

 These days Anne is back in Australia visiting Nepal a few times per year – but she is still not selling raffle tickets to raise education costs for children. She is teaching online herself with profits being directed to her charity. In 2027 Anne is inviting other artists to join her to raise funds for THEIR dedicated charities – making impact over online art classes. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
A concept that helped Anne through her many years in Nepal – online learning and teaching others.