The Glad Heart Knitting patter may be purchased at Ravelry and at Payhip.
Discerning Heart may be purchased at Ravelry or at Payhip.
Purchase Merry Heart at Ravelry or Payhip
How I thought of the charity patterns for Tenwek Hospital
About two years ago on Valentine’s weekend, Dr White from Tenwek Hospital spoke at my church. He was excited about the new Cardio/thoracic unit. I wondered how I could help. I had started a heart motif like the Nicondo scarf, reversible and made of decorative increases and decreases in a mostly solid fabric. I’d iterated a few swatches, but it needed a lot more work. Then I realized that publishing heart patterns on Valentine’s Day, to benefit a Cardia/thoracic unit, made a triple pun!
On Valentine’s Day 2025, I’ll be publishing three hearty charity patterns. It’s taken 2 years, 20+ iterations of test swatches, advice from my internet designer friends, Corrina Ferguson the sweet but truthful technical editor and 14 test knitters. The knitters who buy the patterns will cover the approximate Ravelry and Paypal fees, but the rest of the pattern price is going to Tenwek Hospital in Kenya.
Tenwek Hospital's Thoracic Residency Program counters, "brain drain"
According to Google AI there are 20 Cardio/thoracic surgeons in the whole of the country of Kenya. By the time a surgeon has finished his or her residency, they tend to stay in that same country to pay off debts, and keep up the connections their families have made in school and town. It’s a hard time of life to move (again). Tenwek is a resident hospital for cardio/thoracic surgeons, so East African surgeons can finish their education in East Africa, have less debt, and work in East Africa.
I used to have a poster on my fridge of the Tenwek surgical residents. I tried to pray for them with my kids when we started homeschool but I don’t think I managed it very often, because I remember this, and my kids do not. In prayer letters from Dr White, I see those resident’s faces matured, and taking over various roles in the surgical roster.
The cardiac program touches my heart, because my Grandfather Clark had rheumatic fever as a child on Shelter Island in the 1920’s, before Penicillin. This lead to his heart attack when I was in kindergarten. He did live to be 80-something. He was so active that 6 months before he died, the governing board at the retirement center where he worked as a chaplain suggested that he cut back to preaching only once a week instead of three. Many of the young patients at Tenwek need surgery because they also had rheumatic fever.
Where you can donate directly to Tenwek Hosptial
If you are interested in Tenwek Hospital, you don’t need to buy any of my patterns, here are some links. But if these patterns do appeal to you, it will be fun to raise funds for Tenwek together!
Keep your eyes open for the patterns on Friday.
The Glad Heart Knitting patter may be purchased at Ravelry and at Payhip.
Discerning Heart may be purchased at Ravelry or at Payhip.
Purchase Merry Heart at Ravelry or Payhip