Gifts for children collected in Ross-shire arrive in Liverpool after starting their long journey to help hospital in war-torn Yemen
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Donations collected by a Ross-shire woman to help a children's hospital in Yemen have this month arrived in Liverpool from where they will be shipped.
Dawn Aird, of Kildary near Tain, heard about the work of Habibti Liverpool, which is organising the appeal and she decided to make a Highland contribution.
When her story featured in the Ross-shire Journal she was inundated with contributions from across the region.
Mrs Aird said: "The newspaper article was the catalyst for a local group of knitters in the Isle of Bara to become involved with the community group in Liverpool, this will be an ongoing relationship. Also a lovely group of ladies based in Kiltarlity were amazing and collected more than half of all the items I sent to Liverpool."
She collected together items such as baby clothes and blankets to be sent to the Al-Sabeen Children’s Hospital, in Sana’a, for children aged up to five years old.
Mrs Aird said that the hand knitted items donated by the group in Barra were "the most beautiful knitted items, soft and delicate blankets and clothing for babies" and added: "These will be used in the special care baby unit in the children's hospital.
"I was beginning to be overwhelmed with the volume of donations, and it was just me and my daughter Amy, aged 15 involved with sorting each item of clothing and placing it into boxes according to size and gender. When a local charity chairman got in touch offering more items and the transport to Liverpool, I was emotional and so very grateful."
In total the collected items weighed around 500kg, they filled about 30 boxes and bags, and they arrived in Merseyside earlier this month – they will be loaded onto a ship in the port which is due to set sail for Yemen next month.
While she was collecting items Mrs Aird was helped by Mairi Crow, the Mercat Centre manager, where the items were stored.
She said: "The local community centre were incredibly kind, storing all of the items people donated locally, and the local Logie and Kilmuir Church of Scotland were also very kind in generous donations of beautiful hand knitted items, along with pre-loved clothing.
"I was very humbled to have been part of the community effort and proud to have been brave enough to start the collection without knowing how it was all going to come together."
Yemen, one of the Arab world's poorest countries, has been devastated by a civil war since 2015.
The conflict, which they thought would only last a few weeks, has its roots in the failure of a political transition supposed to bring stability to Yemen.
Louise O'Brien, from the Liverpool group, said they were "completely overwhelmed" when they received the donation.
She said they were also happy to receive cash donations because it cost £1 per kilogramme to ship items over to Yemen. "Donations towards that would be wonderful," she added. "Money from Liverpool goes to support the hospital three times a month at the moment.
"The money pays for doctors and nurses to get to work – don't forget, salaries haven't been paid for nearly five years now – and sometimes they sleep in the hospital or in their cars outside if they can't get home to their own families.
"Money is spent on paying for the beds in the neonatal unit and nurses in the intensive care unit. We also pay for medicines and investigations for the children whose families can't pay. And we contribute towards food being available for the staff to eat during their shift. It is a real team effort."
To make a donation visit here.
