Handmade hugs

A group of volunteers from across the world, led by a stage-four metastatic breast cancer patient, have come together to offer handmade toys and words of love to children suffering from cancer in an era of distancing and isolation.

Angela Al Alaiwat, who is undergoing cancer treatment at Salmaniya Medical Complex, organised the ‘Handmade Hugs’ project in December collecting toys for children in the paediatric cancer ward.

Wanting to give back to the hospital and bring hope and a little joy to the children, she called on friends and her National Evangelical Church community for help.

“In December last year, I was talking to my daughter, Manahel, about wanting to do something for the community,” the 69-year-old retired banker told GulfWeekly.

“At that time my cancer had come back very aggressively, but I wanted to take my mind off things and work on a project to help others.”

She hoped that the children would find some comfort in the handmade little bunnies and teddy bears during their treatment sessions.

Angela has previously participated in similar initiatives, including a clothing drive last year for South African orphans and needy families. She also participated in a project collecting crocheted blankets, which were temporarily sewn together to form a portrait of Nelson Mandela in 2017, and then distributed to the homeless in South Africa. The project now holds the Guinness World Record for the largest-ever portrait-blanket.

Around 20 volunteers participated in the Bahrain project, collaborating through a WhatsApp group and sharing ideas, advice and pictures of finished toys.

Amongst the volunteers was 12-year-old Anngela Varghese, who had recently picked up the art of crocheting and decided to put the skills she had learnt to the test, making 26 toys on her own.

Angela, a Bahraini with Indian roots, knowing a thing or two about the process of creating textiles by using a hook to interlock loops of yarn, conducted a few Zoom classes offering support to those who needed help to contribute.

Soon after launching the project, one%, a Bahrain-based volunteering platform, reached out, offering to donate 50 colouring sets including copies of Bahrainuna, a newly-published colouring book featuring hand-drawn sketches by local artists.

Angela then asked children aged four to 12 to hand-write short letters of support and friendship for the young patients in the paediatric cancer ward at Salmaniya.

Children in Bahrain, the US, Canada, the UK and the Philippines reached out with heartfelt words and wishes, transcending her wildest expectations.

These letters were laminated back-to-back with Arabic translations, done by her son, Tareq, for those unable to read English.

A few of the volunteers then met to create ribbon-laced packages for the young cancer-fighters at Salmaniya, comprised of the handmade toys, hand-written letters, and colouring sets.

In the end, they collected a remarkable 80 toys, far surpassing their target of 50.

“A representative from the hospital called me, saying that they never had a project like this before and the children loved the handmade toys,” Angela said, delightedly.

“During a time of crisis where people are losing family members and we are not able to even give them a hug, this was a way of showing them and these children that there are people out there who care,” Manahel added.

“It was a way of being able to ‘hug’ someone whom you have never met before and you might never meet.

“Seeing each person contributing to the whole was another reminder that every drop is a contribution to the ocean.”