Carnia grandmothers knit to fund projects in Africa

Rosalba still remembers vividly when she suffered from hunger, delivered bread to the homes of the rich and couldn't touch it: for her, the most there was was a plate of polenta. Gina worked for up to 15 years alongside her father in the fields. Maria never stopped crocheting, an activity which, as she says, .

Rosalba, Gina and Maria are three “grandmothers of Carnia”, the mountainous area of ​​North-East Italy, located in the northern part of the region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, near the Austrian border. They grew up among woods, vineyards, fields, pastures, and small villages, but they never forgot the solidarity that is gospel in these areas, even though they have now experienced prosperity.

 Thanks to their manual skills, passed down from mother to daughter, these women create, with the most ancient technique of the knitting, hats, socks, small pullovers, sweaters. All products are then donated to the Ivo de Carneri Foundation and sold to finance projects in Africa. First of all, wells for drinking water which is lacking in areas populated by many children.

Among the many wells built in Africa, thanks to the knitting of the grandmothers of Carnia, there are also those built on the island of Pemba in the Zanzibar-Tanzania territory, one of the most neglected by the local government and international organizations, and also one of the most affected by infectious and parasitic diseases. Here, thanks to the work of the grandmothers of Carnia, near the N'Dagoni school, a well has been built from which 1.600 children can drink and washThe pride of the Friulian women who remember well when they were little girls, and ate the polenta diluted with potatoes and they couldn't even afford fresh loaves of bread.