SPECIAL NOTICE.......... JUNE 7, 2008 As from this date, Ken and Lyn Begley - the founders of this global knitting initiative - are discontinuing their involvement for personal reasons. On their behalf, we express their real appreciation to the many hundreds of people across Australia and overseas who've joined them in this wonderful work over the past hectic two years...knitting, planning, sorting transporting and helping to find ways of reaching into wretched and often remote and isolated areas in so many distant lands to provide these warm knitted woollens (and those wonderful dolls) to so many children in such desperate need. It's been a 24/7 challenge willingly shouldered.. You've all literally warmed hundreds of thousands of needy infants and young children......over 630,000 in fact....throughout many countries in Africa...the initial target area because of its enormous number of AIDS orphans...to vulnerable infants throughout the wider world.... in Eastern Europe (Russia, Rumania, Albania etc)....the cold Himalayas of Nepal.....South America (Peru) and the desperately needy close to Australia....in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and the islands of Vanuatu.....and not forgetting our own aboriginal chiuldren in central Australia and poverty-stricken migrant children. The Australian AIDS Fund considers itself privileged to have been associated with the Begleys in what's been an inspiring partnership. June 2008 Our latest delivery to Cambodia...to the Children's Sanctuary there..brought great joy...but see for yourselves! They send you many, many thanks!

Knitting for the world's AIDS baby orphans & needy infants

There are more than 10 million AIDS orphans in Africa, children who've lost one or both of their parents to the AIDS pandemic and, in some cases, are also struggling to live with HIV/AIDS themselves.

The decision by the international rock diva Madonna to adopt a Malawian boy who'd been put into an orphanage when he lost his mother in childbirth, focussed the world's attention on Malawi, one of the world's poorest nations...where 14% of adults live with HIV and about 10 Malawians die from AIDS every hour! There are over one million AIDS orphans in Malawi.

The Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated is probably Australia's smallest HIV/AIDS charity and it works without government or church support and has no paid staff. It's based in Frankston,Victoria (PO Box 1347,Frankston,Victoria,3199) Email address: bhaill@bigpond.net.au


When AAFI President, Brian Haill, wrote letters to the media about AIDS ravaged Malawi, supporting the help Madonna is giving to thousands of children there, he was immediately contacted by a Victorian couple, Ken and Lyn Begley of Cranbourne.They'd been working for several months with a Community House group in Cranbourne which had been moved to pity on hearing that AIDS babies in Africa were being wrapped in newspaper! The group had responded to an appeal seeking donations of wool and knitters to make little jumpers that could be sent to Africa.

The response was huge, soon overwhelming the group which simply couldn't cope..and there was the matter of finding the money to pay for the cost of sending the jumpers to Africa.The Community House group had to bow out.

Ken and Lyn were part of that original group but they hadn't the heart to see the response come to a standstill.So they are continuing with the work. Their 'phone number is (03) 599 65 957

Now they're working hand in hand with The Australian AIDS Fund, which is handling the shipping and the distribution within Malawi.

But even as the Begleys were negotiating this link- up, they had the huge task of gathering up all of the knitted jumpers that had been overflowing in their home...more than 7,000...from all parts of Australia...and shipping them to Africa.

The following are their photos of that big day in October 2006.

Now the focus is on supplying these garments to Malawi. Such a little can do such a lot!!!