Krochet Kids International: Empowerment that Changes the World

What if with the purchase of beanie or a scarf, you could directly contribute to the wealth of a woman halfway across the world? What if your purchase did more than just provide a job for someone, but what if it empowered someone to realize their worth, to use their skillsets to curate dreams and ambitions for themselves, and to invest in the goals they have set for themselves? For Krochet Kids International, these “what ifs” make up their founding principle: to empower people rise above poverty.In the early 2000s, Gulu, Uganda gained worldwide notoriety for Joseph Kony’s endless raids in villages throughout Northern Uganda. Throughout these raids, Kony raised up an army of child soldiers, called the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA. When organizations like Invisible Children began to tell the tale of the people’s strife in Gulu, the world was shocked and left wondering how such a massive atrocity, that involved innocent children and destroyed countless lives, could be carried out without much notice. Gulu’s circumstances created a sense of hopelessness and heartbrokenness among its people and a sense of distrust between its people and the aid organizations that came and left in such a dire and desperate time. However, when Krochet Kids Int’l began to implement its programs in Gulu eight years ago, its founders were moved by the resilience of the people. Their desire to work in Gulu, then, was not influenced by Gulu’s problematic and tragic past, but it was inspired by the desire to come alongside these heartbroken people in a war-torn region who desired to help themselves rise above their circumstances.On a bright and crisp November morning, I was able to talk with Kohl Crecelius, the CEO and one of the co-founders of Krochet Kids Int’l, at their headquarters in Costa Mesa, California. He told of the beginning of Krochet Kids Int’l and of the stories that intertwined among the three founders in order for Krochet Kids Int’l to become the powerful force that it is today. The story of Krochet Kids Int’l is made up, in part, by their experiences with crocheting in high school, by founding a beanie-making business in the pacific northwest, focusing on a skiing and snowboarding clientele, and, ultimately, by learning from an early age the workings of having  brand and being entrepreneurs. The other part of their story, then, comes together with each founder’s specific and personal traveling experiences around the world. Kohl elaborates that “the whole organization and the brand that it is today came about when we had opportunities to travel internationally and see poverty in our world, and try to ask ourselves, and the people that we were trying to serve on any trip that we were on, what we could do to help.” The driving force behind founding Krochet Kids Int’l and implementing its work, first, in Northern Uganda was the beautiful message of hope and tenacity of the people in Gulu. Kohl spoke of this spirit in Gulu that they had heard of from a founder’s trip to Gulu, adding that “it was [the] people there that he was interacting with amidst all of the tragedies and rebel violence … [who] said, ‘We want to work, we want to provide for ourselves, and we want to be the ones to care for our own children; we don’t want to be dependent on the next aid organization to come through and meet our need.’”What started, in 2007, with investing in ten women who desired to be the ones to change the course of their own lives has grown today to encompass roughly 200 women in two communities in Gulu, Uganda and in Lima, Peru and an additional seventy-five staff members, who are almost completely of national origin, across both countries. Krochet Kids Int’l also works with national and local organizations in both regions in order to equip the women they are working with to rise above poverty. The goal of Krochet Kids Int’l is to graduate their workers from their programs in order for them to independently pursue their dreams and achieve their ambitions. Since its founding, Krochet Kids Int’l has graduated over fifty women from their programs and has since noticed stories of women caring for their families, starting their own businesses, and employing other people in their communities [See their Graduation is Empowerment video, here]. Their individualized and goal-oriented program, then, is an integral part of empowering women in these regions to be forces for change in their own lives and throughout their communities. Their program spans three to five years in which they equip the women they employ to be able to achieve their goals, first, through providing them a consistent income and, second, through a three-year educational curriculum that encompasses everything from numeracy and literacy to budgeting and savings to, in the financial aspect, business planning and development. Their curriculum covers more than business and financial planning, however, but it also incorporates health and family planning, diet, and nutrition. Beyond implementing an educational curriculum, Krochet Kids Int’l prides itself on its one-on-one mentorship program in which the women are able to work with their mentors to create contextualized and individual plans for what their education has taught them and for securing what their finances have empowered them to achieve for themselves. While some women are equipped to take what they have learned in order to start their own businesses before their graduation date, Krochet Kids Int’l allows their workers to continue to master their trade and sharpen their skills even one or two years beyond the three-year curriculum.It goes without saying, then, that becoming involved with the work of Krochet Kids Int’l and with the impact it is making in both Gulu, Uganda and Lima, Peru creates a lasting impact in not only the lives of the women of those two communities, but in the lives of those who are directly influenced by the women extending that message of empowerment in their own communities. For Kohl, the impact of purchasing a Krochet Kids Int’l product is the driving force behind the work that they do: “our whole mantra is that social impact is a result, it’s not an action. So, it’s not about giving something away, whether that’s money or food or clothing … but it’s the result of what happens when you do that.” Getting involved with the impact Krochet Kids Int’l is curating throughout the world becomes more personal with each hand-signed product that you receive. Kohl elaborates that this is the most beautiful way to realize the tangible change that employment through Krochet Kids Int’l brings to these women. When you purchase a product, you are able to see the signature of the woman who made it, visit the woman’s profile on the Krochet Kids Int’l website, and write a thank you note to her in the comment box. What may seem like a simple action on our part to say a few words of thanks or encouragement means unparalleled inspiration for these women who desire to positively transform their lives and their communities. Kohl elaborates that “one of those key pieces of development, and this is something we all share as people, is that idea of confidence and self-esteem … and the things that we need as individuals to be successful.” When the notes are printed and handed to the women, those notes become more than mere words on a piece of paper, but they become messages of hope and healing, and they connect human spirits all around the world. Kohl said that he always viewed those notes, and that opportunity for a customer to connect with the woman who made their product, as such a powerful tool of empathy, of putting yourself in the situation of these women and realizing the impact that your words and actions can make. When you take the time to write to the woman who made your product, and when you put yourself in her shoes for a moment, you begin to ask yourself, “How would these words of encouragement affect my life? How would these notes make me feel and how could these words even influence how I want to live my life? How could these words give me the confidence to pursue my dreams and achieve all the ambitions I have set before myself?”This idea of empowerment, then, is not just outlined in the curriculum of its educational or financial programs, but it is brought to fruition through the efforts of Krochet Kids Int’l in binding the lives of people all around the world. This level of empowerment, the empowerment that has the capacity to transform lives and provide hope and healing in spite of all the injustices carried out in social stigmas, governmental practices, and historical atrocities, is brought to life when one person buying a product speaks and affirms the worth of the person making the product. This empowerment is exponentially more powerful when lives are connected and when humanity is linked beyond geographical, cultural, or social limitations. Kohl speaks to this, saying, “Having been empowered, we have the opportunity to empower others … We have the chance to equip people and let them know how beautiful and capable they are.” Through learning, whether through formal teaching or mentoring, through traveling, through experiencing the life in our homes, in our communities, or in our nations, and through being exposed to the circumstances and otherwise unjust realities of people around the world, we have come to derive our own ambitions, discover our own passions, and sharpen our own capabilities. Through that process of becoming our own selves, of experiencing inspiration, passion, injustice, triumph, and perseverance, we have the opportunity to extend our own experiences to help enable people around the world to be the agents of victory in their own lives, despite whatever tragic or unjust circumstances that may prevail around them.This Christmas season, give the gift of empowerment that goes beyond an exchange of presents, but that creates a lasting impact of hope and transformation throughout the world. Give the gift that inspires women around the world to dream of and to be all that they can. This season, chose to empower people, because the gift of empowerment affects the world in more ways than can be realized: “What all that empowerment means and looks like, if you really boil it down, is that … we are equipping people to care for themselves and their families on their own two feet, and the pride that these women have for being able to do that … and the ways that they are changing their communities from the inside out is like, there’s nothing better, there really isn’t.”Here are a few of my picks from the Krochet Kids Int’l collection:The Winnie – Comes in three colors, here!The Becks – Comes in six colors, here!The Geneva – Comes in three colors, my favorite is the Sepia, here!The 5207.5 – For him, or her! Comes in ten colors, here!The Dawson – For him! Comes in two colors, here!The Cooper – A great bag for a weekend getaway! Comes in three colors, here!The Pike – For your Christmas wish-list! Comes in eight colors, here!The Ridgeview – Comes in two colors, here!Love Long Sleeve Tee – Comes in seven colors, here!Marni Long Sleeve Tee – Comes in three colors, here!Saturdays Sweater – Comes in two patterns, here!Portland Long Sleeve – For him! Comes in three colors, here!Colton Sweater – For him! Comes in two colors, here!