Two decades ago, when Children in the Wilderness (CITW) was just five years old, one of our most impactful and widespread initiatives was formed when we partnered with the Mother Bear Project (MBP).
For 20 years, children who attended our annual Eco-Camps across our African regions received a hand-knit or crocheted bear, made with love by the legions of makers who had been rallied by MBP’s indefatigable founder, Amy Berman.
Now, after some 22 years of running her programme to bring a moment of simple joy to vulnerable and underprivileged children across the world, Amy has closed the project.
But not before she made a USD 10,000 donation to our
literacy programmes in Zimbabwe and Botswana.
The milestones in our partnership are far-reaching, and never forgotten.
In September 2023, Amy celebrated the distribution of MBP’s 200,000th bear. ‘I have sent so many bears to South Africa over the past 20 years, and it’s where I sent our first batch of 15 bears. So, it was clear to me that Nelson Mandela, the legendary anti-apartheid activist who became South Africa’s president, should be the inspiration for our 200,000th bear. He had a quote that resonated with me: “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” I also knew that a long-time bear-maker, Gisela Foster, was not only a talented bear maker, but also that Mandela had been her hero for many years. I asked her to make this special bear, and I could not believe the incredible bear she sent. The Mandela bear is wearing his prison uniform underneath his tribal outfit. Gisela took great care to get all the details right, and I was overwhelmed when I saw it,’ said Amy at the time.
In a post about our enduring partnership, and how MBP all came about, she noted, ‘Sometimes people ask me, Why bears, when there are no bears in Africa? I chose to knit bears because my mother made the same knit bears for my children when they were young, and these bears evoke feelings of comfort and unconditional love that I hope the children receiving them will feel as well. I actually had to teach myself to knit to start Mother Bear Project! [In the course of our partnership], I had the opportunity to attend a CITW camp, and the privilege of seeing their important work first hand,’ she added.
From receiving our first pack of bears for a children’s camp in Botswana in 2005, to an enormous consignment of 1,153 bears sent to Rwanda (just a few of them pictured above) a year after CITW started up in Wilderness’ areas of operation in the country in 2018, and the many thousands of bears received by children in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi in between, the impact of this seemingly small contribution by the individual donors is incalculable.
Perhaps this statement of gratitude from Caroline !Gaoses, Youth Programme Officer, Evangelical Lutheran Church AIDS Programme in Namibia best sums it up.
‘Life is hard for many children in Namibia. HIV/AIDS takes their youth when it takes their parents. Your gift restores balance to damaged lives. It shows that people can be kind rather than selfish and abusive. In so doing, it gives hope and joy by pointing away from what life has become to what it can be. Please thank all of the knitters. The teddy bears make a huge difference!’
From the bottom of our collective hearts here across Africa, we extend our most profound appreciation to Amy and her phenomenal knitters. Thank you all!
