A sweater is by no means an original present. But a handmade sweater from people on a faraway continent? That's a different story.

This year, as part of a five-year-long charity project, 2,010 handmade sweaters knitted by Chinese volunteers were donated to abandoned and disabled children in five African countries. The Forever Love project was directed at disadvantaged youths in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria and Sudan. The donation ceremony took place this past August at the NGO Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.  

Speaking about the ceremony, Silas Mwaniki Kiragu, a counselor at the Kenyan Embassy in Beijing, said that the volunteers' generosity exemplified relations between Chinese and African people today. He described the project as a bridge for continued charity efforts in China and Africa, and he hoped that non-governmental philanthropy could be further promoted in the two regions. 

"It's not a big number, but the sweaters are a token of love and care from the Chinese people," says He Junyi. He is the deputy general manager at the Hengyuanxiang Corp.'s Beijing branch, which sponsored Forever Love.

Jacinta Nyanchama, a staff member at the Kenya Girl Guides Association, was responsible for getting the sweaters distributed across the continent. When she received them, she told He she felt very proud to be part of the project, even if she hadn't knitted the sweaters herself.

"Her words made all our efforts worthwhile," says He. 

With love and care

When promoted in Shanxi Province, Forever Love's slogan is "Knit a sweater with your hands and love for abandoned and disabled children in Africa." The project for Africa has been primarily promoted in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, Tianjin Municipality and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Many elderly people have participated in the project. 

Zhang Shizhen is in her 70s. Once honored as a national model worker in the 1950s, Zhang met Chairman Mao Zedong seven times during her lifetime. When she learned about Forever Love from media reports, Zhang decided to join. "For people my age, our eyes are not what they were," she says. "Most volunteers are much younger than me, they can knit fast, but I don't want to fall behind. I'm happy to be a member. If there is another charity project like this in the future, I will definitely participate."

Kindergarten children are participating, too. When one little girl learned that her mother was knitting for African child, she made a paper crane, telling her mother, "Please give my crane to the child."

Peter Oloishura Nkuraiyia, Executive Director for the NGO Coordination Board of Kenya, has said that Africans are proud people, and alms-like donations can be offensive. But the sweaters, with their delicate patterns, are received differently. They are embraced.

"Abandoned and disabled children are a group that needs more care and love from society," says He of Hengyuanxiang. "The activity is meant to show how anyone can help in whatever way they are capable."