WITH big floppy ears and cute little noses, Thelma Guerin’s knitted bunnies may look like just cuddly toys, but they have been a saviour to many young disadvantaged women who otherwise would face a life of discomfort, humility and poverty.
For the past four years, the Mount Gambier resident and her daughter Denise Pratt have created the unique bunnies to raise funds for the Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation.
Although uncommon in western countries, obstetric fistula is often seen in rural Ethiopia and Uganda, caused by an obstructed labour during childbirth.
Causing incontinence and other health concerns, the condition can and is being treated and prevented with thanks to people like Ms Guerin who generously raise funds for the cause.
Although she was rarely found without a ball of wool and needles far from reach in recent years, the caring resident is almost ready to pack away the equipment and say goodbye to the bunnies after raising almost $10,000.
“Knowing that I have helped girls get their life back together is wonderful,” Ms Guerin said.
“It is moving to hear when we have raised enough for another person to have the surgery.”
Creating hundreds, even thousands of bunnies over the years, the keen knitter said whenever she had a spare moment the knitting needles would emerge.
“It was always very steady, we knitted our little fingers off,” she said.
“We have made fat ones and skinny ones, all with different clothes – they had their own little personality.
“While chatting to someone, I would be knitting, or in the car I would be knitting – it never stopped.”
Initially aiming to raise $600, Ms Guerin and her daughter have exceeded all expectations, admitting it is time to farewell the project.
“My fingers are starting to lock up a bit due to arthritis so it’s not as easy to knit the bunnies,” she said.
“Once we reach the $10,000 mark that will be it.”
Known well throughout the community for her artistic abilities and generosity, Ms Guerin has also used her knitting to help those in her own community.
“Over the years I have made blankets to give to the women’s shelter,” she said.
“It may not seem like much to some, but receiving a blanket makes a big difference for mothers and their children.
“One day I was driving along and saw a family walk out of the shelter together, a little boy was carrying a blanket along with him.
“It was touching to see how much that meant to him – it was something he could call his own.”
While the bunnies are coming to an end for the mother and daughter combo, Ms Pratt said she was grateful for the support of Ms Guerin throughout the project.
“I stitched them together but never would have had the patience to knit them,” she said.
“The bunnies really won the hearts of young and old alike.”
