93-year-old knits joy into bears for Ukraine
THE first thing 93yearold Murrae Scott did after an unsettled sleep was open her birthday cards; then she picked up her knitting needles in an effort to bring joy to lonely children in Ukraine.
The Dunedin woman is one of many knitters making small cuddly bears to be added to care packages.
Mrs Scott said she was desperate to help the people of Ukraine in some way, but had no idea how to do it.
That changed when one of the workers at Frances Hodgkins Retirement Village, where she lived, introduced her to the
Yuri bear initiative.
When she got started she could not stop. She had almost finished 18 bears.
She kept thinking about the lonely children and wanted to bring them some joy.
‘‘I couldn’t help it.’’
Even though she had woken at 2am on the day of her birthday, she wanted to make use of that time by finishing some of her bears.
She had seen firsthand what an impact a knitted friend could make.
Before joining the Yuri initiative, she created a few smaller, simpler bears which she gave to some of her recently widowed friends.
She encouraged them to name their bears and keep them around as company.
They all enjoyed having the bears around and became more sociable as a result.
She knew the children in Ukraine who needed a friend right now would have a similar experience with the ones sent to them.
She was ‘‘not the world’s fastest’’ knitter, nor the ‘‘most expert’’, but she could give those children a little bit of fun, which she was very proud of.
Each bear took more than a day to finish.
She taught herself to knit when she was expecting her first child.
Each bear would be accompanied by a handwritten note.
Ryman Healthcare corporate affairs manager David King said the bears would be collected and sent to Auckland next month, where they would be shipped to Ukraine, added to care packages and distributed to those in need.
ZAPORIZHZHIA: Russia is poised to annex a swath of Ukraine within days, releasing what it called vote tallies showing overwhelming support in four provinces to join it, after what Ukraine and the West denounced as illegal sham referendums held at gunpoint.
On Moscow’s Red Square, a stage with giant video screens has been set up, with billboards proclaiming ‘‘Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson — Russia!’’
The head of the upper house of the Russian parliament said it could consider the incorporation of the four partially occupied regions on October 4, three days before President Vladimir Putin’s 70th birthday.
The Russianinstalled administrations of the four provinces have formally asked Putin to incorporate them into Russia, which Russian officials have suggested is a formality.
‘‘This should happen within a week,’’ Rodion Miroshnik, the Russiainstalled ambassador to Moscow of the selfproclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, told the RIA state news agency
‘‘The main thing has already happened. The referendum has taken place. Therefore, let’s say the locomotive has already started and it’s unlikely to be stopped.’’
To annex the territories, which represent about 15% of Ukraine, some sort of treaty will need to be struck and ratified by the Russian parliament, which is controlled by Putin allies.
The areas will then be seen as part of Russia and its nuclear umbrella will extend to them.
Putin has warned he would use nuclear weapons to protect Russian territory from attack.
Residents who escaped to Ukrainianheld areas in recent days have told of people being forced at gunpoint by roving officials to mark ballots in the street.
Footage filmed during the exercise showed Russianinstalled officials taking ballot boxes from house to house with armed men in tow.
‘‘They can announce anything they want. Nobody voted in the referendum except a few people who switched sides. They went from house to house but nobody came out,’’ Lyubomir Boyko (43), from Golo Pristan, a village in Russianoccupied Kherson province, said.
Russia says voting was voluntary, in line with international law, and that turnout was high.
The referendums and notion of annexations has been rejected globally, as was Russia’s 2014 takeover of Crimea from Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sought to rally international support against annexation in a series of calls with foreign leaders, including those of Britain, Canada, Germany and Turkey.
‘‘Thank you all for your clear and unequivocal support. Thank you all for understanding our position,’’ Zelenskiy said in a latenight video address.
An agreement on the next sanctions package against Russia, or at least major parts of the package, is expected before next week’s European Union summit, an EU official said.
The US has also said it would also impose new sanctions on Russia.