A whole lot of love goes a long way

In the first of our new column from the people behind the Mirasol project, Kari and Per explain how the project came to be. In future issues they will keep us up to date with developments at the project.

It could have been a fairytale, the story about how two ordinary people decided to make a difference. But what makes this story more fantastic than any fairytale is that it is true.

A whole lot of love

Ten years ago, Per Svendsen and Kari Hestnes first met. She ran her own yarn shop in Oslo, Norway, he sold her wonderful yarn and soft, colourful shawls made from alpaca.

Slowly they built their business, importing yarn, distributing it from their own home and going around the country to trade shows where they could sell their products. The years passed and knitters all around Norway started to understand how extraordinary this yarn was compared to others. Per and Kari had to hire more people, move their business out of their living room and could see it grow more than they had dreamt of.

A little bit of magic

Through the years of establishment and growing, Per and Kari always kept in mind that they wanted to give something back to the people in the countries they were working with, as soon as it was financially possible. Then in 2004 something happened that would change their lives forever.

"On my way home from a class I had been attending in Oslo, I saw two beautiful rainbows that followed me all the way home on my one hour long drive. My teacher had just asked me if I were going to Peru, and had told me I would do something for the children there", Kari tells us and says that she didn't understand why, since she was simply going on a business trip.

Then in Peru, November 2004, driving up through the Andes, two immense rainbows appeared and followed Per and Kari's car for three hours, all the way up to the Titacaca lake. "We expected something magical to happen, this couldn't be a coincidence", Per explains. They met their business associates, and, grateful for these people's hard work and the lovely fibre they provided them with, they started thinking about how they could pay them back.

A herd of alpacas in the Andes

Watch the sun

On a walk through the arid landscape they stumbled across two children, Mirasol (which translates as "watch the sun") a 7 year old girl at the time, and her little brother, Alex. They were herding their family's 350 alpacas as their parents are away on the market. The children had sore skin and ragged clothes. Kari and Per want to help them, but money was not the answer. There nothing were they lived to actually buy. Kari had a lip balm with sun screen that she applied to Alex' cheeks, and gave Mirasol the rest.

The traditional clay huts have no insulation, no windows, water or toilets

"We didn't know what we could do to help. They needed clothes and food. And they needed an education. Something that goes for all the children in this area", says Per. "A lot of the children up here attend the local school, but it's in a lousy state. Besides it takes the children five or six hours to walk there, so they have to stay at the school during the week. For food the children try to grow some potatoes".

A traditional clay hut is the housing all alpaca herders live in

"Their teacher lives in a traditional clay hut. One day he's there, the next he's drunk", Per tells us. This made Kari and Per decide to find a way to give the children a proper education.

Fundraising around the world

Back in Norway, Per and Kari started raising money for their project: Building a boarding school for the alpaca herders' children.

Two of the children that will attend the new school

Their work soon caught the eye of the Canadian Peter O'Mully, who at the time had been working in the yarn industry for 25 years, and had started to become a bit weary. This project inspired him and he took the initiative to start an international collaboration: The Mirasol collection, several lovely types of yarn sold in Canada, US, UK, Scandinavia and the Benelux countries. 9% of the price goes direct to the project and today the school is finished.

Children and their mothers at the building start

Alex, Kari and Mirasol at the building start

This still isn't enough though. The school now needs funding to be able to run satisfactorily. Money for food and clothing for the children, electricity, furniture, books and utensils for the school, and wages for the teachers. The project is still going strong and once it is financially possible the next goal is a health care station and a dental service, so that more people can be helped.

"Support this project. It is possible to make big changes even if you are just an "ordinary" person", Kari concludes.

Mirasol, here 10 years old

To find out more about the project go to
www.dustorealpakka.com or www.mirasolperu.com