Circle Of Light

Kenya & Vanuatu. Sept 2011.

jowanna — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:00:28 +0000

How the year has flown!
Its been a quietish one up until recently for COL. We have continued to give away hoops randomly throughout the year, but none to specific organisations or kids groups until this month and Ive been a bit lazy with updates.

A couple of weeks ago I was thrilled able to send 25 hoops down to Sydney hooper Karina for her to take over to Kenya. She will be visiting another Sydney hooper there who works for the red Cross there and they will deliver the hoops to children, though at this point Im not sure exactly where. Hopefully they have all arrived safely and there will be photos from the trip at some stage.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have a little helper help make some hoops. It was lots of fun and we finished the first 8 in no time!

Today I have finished making the rest. In total there are 22 hoops to go to a school in Vanuatu. My friend Marie and her sister payed for the materials to make the hoops and she will deliver them in 2 weeks time. I hope for pics from this trip too!

Hoops, Skipping Ropes, Dolls.

jowanna — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:05:30 +0000

After the hoops I made reached St Albans school in Uganda I heard that there is a real shortage of girls toys there, so over a period of a few months I bought a couple of skipping ropes each week when I went shopping. I figured theyre cheap and also small and light to send over, but still a fun toy to have. I also randomly found 4 small rag dolls, so I included them too. They have been passed on to my friends family who collect and raise money for the village in Uganda where the school is situated, and Ive been told theyre on their way now (-:
Im not sure why, but the pic wont post directly below this written bit. Please scroll…

Two lovely friends of mine Kate and Emma made donations to COL recently (! money and 1 roll of polypipe & connectors.) I heard a local charity appeal on the radio last week asking for toys for kids this Christmas. Apparently some kids havent had Xmas gifts for up to 5 years which is terrible! I matched the donations and have made 35 hoops to donate in a range of sizes. This isnt the best photo – but Im not the best photographer!

Im not sure if there will be more hoop making before 2010 is over. I wish everyone happy holidays regardless of what you may or may not celebrate. Stay safe & have a good time!! (-:
xox

World Hoop Day 2010.

jowanna — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:20:00 +0000

Well its not far off now and still I have no set plans.
I had 20 hoops set aside to give away on the day, but I decided a few weeks ago to give them away early to local kids in my neighbourhood & suburb where I live on the Gold Coast. It was quite funny. I wasnt sure if the kids where I live would like the hoops or not when I walked out with them and half expected there to be no takers at all. Instead I had a moment where I thought I was going to be mobbed for the hoops and walked back into the house empty handed haha. They hoops were so popular I ended up giving away 26 locally over the period of a couple of weeks, and it seems there is still room to give a few more lol. Im really stoked about seeing the kids using the hoops though, its really lovely!!! One of the boys made me the most fabulous thank you card ever which I now keep on my book shelf and shall do for a very long time! (-:

I am planning on making more hoops to give away on the day. It has been hard to organise anything for the day as I have been away from home & interstate a lot and there were a few communication problems which meant my original idea didnt come to anything – and I didnt find out for certain for ages! I was hoping to have some sort of do for WHD on the 9th October as am also celebrating my 40th birthday on the night before World Hoop Day so it would have worked in well with that and maybe tided over. I and am not so keen of being committed to anything on the actual day which might start early. Only this year though, next year WHD is in Nov lol.

Mid-year update, Uganda.

jowanna — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 12:57:08 +0000

Earlier this year COL were pleased to donate 20 hoops to St Albans Church Book Fair in Sydneys Blue Mountains region. The hoops were sold to help raise money for Ibulanku Health Centre and St Albans School in Uganda.

The bookfair is held each year by my friends family who also make visits to the village taking supplies with them.

Afterwards, courtesy my lovely friends mum who paid for the cost of the hoops and took them with her. It was arranged for 20 hoops to be sent to St Albans school in Uganda and they have arrived safely and are being used by the children there which is wonderful!!!

We hope to send more in future – and of course if you would like to help out, please get in touch or donate (-:

2010, off to a nice start.

jowanna — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:39:59 +0000

Well 2009 was a very slow year for COL and not the best year generally in many ways (not that I have anything to complain about!) For much of the year I found myself in one state and all of my hoops and hoop making supplies in another. Things started to come together towards the end of the year though and therefore 2010 has gotten off to a good start. Today I donated 30 hoops to a local youth group on the Gold Coast, and Im sure they will make good use of them. I have another 30 hoops ready to be donated to a youth centre somewhere in Sydney next week, plus a few other random hoops going out to friends and friends of friends which will bring the total up to 70. I dont know why, but I dont like giving out odd numbers of hoops, it has to be a multipul of 5 or 10 lol.

I then plan on making a few dozen more hoops and sending them out far and wide. I am not sure where yet exactly, so please leave a comment if you have any ideas (-: I would love to send hoops to outback communities especially!

Im kind of hoping the World Hoop Day project will catch on a little more in Australia this year too. Its such an easy thing to do!!!

I hope you all had happy holidays and that 2010 is a fabulous year for everyone!!!

jowanna — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:14:21 +0000

I cant believe it already half way through the year already! I have not achieved too much in terms of hooping & hoops this year. In short its been quite a stressful year with several unplanned and unforseen problems. Anyway with World Hoop Day on the horizon again I think I really need to set some time aside to make some hoops to donate. Im not sure where I shall be for the day yet, I have not heard of any events for the day within Australia, so if anyone knows of anything happening please share (-:

A new year comes.

jowanna — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:59:43 +0000

Ive been a bit quiet for the last few months. Ive mostly been interstate with only mobile phone access which isnt good for serious internet use but I have been on the slow side as far as hoop business goes too. On the plus side it now looks like the problems I was having finding connecters should be over. I have a man with a grinder so I will be able to grind down the common hose connecters which are available pretty much anywhere if I cant get my more favored connecters which need no work at all!

I have a number of hoops ready to go though. I plan on giving 12-15 away on NYE and another 15-20 locally in the new year. Now the connector problem looks to be over I shall be able to resume hoop making as I travel. I resolve to learn some more hoop tricks and practice more often in this coming year too!

I hope the new years is good for all. Have fun. be safe & happy hooping!!! (-:

Blog no 1.

jowanna — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:49:17 +0000

First of all I have to say a big THANK YOU to Will for setting up this site for me and for making a very generous donation to the cause! (-: Ive been a bit scared to log in and do anything myself as I am not very computer compitent and was worried i might delete the whole thing by mistake!

This week I have made a few hoops with what supplies I already have. Unfortunatly I have run out of hoop connectors and am having problems getting more in the correct size. In the meantime I have some substitutes which I can use, but they require filing down to size so it is a bit of a tedious task. Hopefully my search for the perfect connector will be over soon! Since I have been waiting somewhat on supplies I decided to have a play around with making some novelty type hoops, covering themwith different materials than the usual tape. I havent produced anything too spectacular but its been fun experimenting and I shall probably play around some more.

World Hoop Day is only a couple of weeks away and as yet I have no deffinate plans for it and dont even know which city I shall be in. Im hoping the weather warms up slightly for it though – I have been wearing so many layers of clothing the past coupleof days hooping seems out of the question, lol!

Something Positive

jowanna — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:19:16 +0000

I have applied this weekend to become an ambassador for World Hoop Day – anyone can do this, its not a job application, its voluntary. I really think its a good cause though – and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE making hoops so it seems like a perfect thing for me to do!

It struck me when I was in Broome that it would be so easy for me to donate hoops as I travel. I had a heap of hoop material with me left over from a personal hoop I had made because id had to buy bulk. I had met three really lovely girls on my first day in Broome and thought I’d make some hoops for them before I left. Only when I went back hoping to find them I didnt. It just so happened that The Aboriginal land Council was really close by and so I thought Id drop in and see if theyd take the hoops. They seemed pleased though rather surprised. I guess its not everyday some chick with floor length hair walks in with an armfull of hula hoops (6) I thought to myself – i can do this anywhere to all sorts of organizations!

Ok so Im not meeting 3rd world kids on my journeys but I still think I can put smiles on faces. Its nice to give and hooping is fun, cheap and healthy!

I am going to continue to fund myself but I am going to look into finding some funding for supplies also. I shall sell hoops to people (adults) who can afford them or maybe some would like to make a donation. I have a couple of other ideas too for down track. Im quite excited about it!

Oh yes, Ive also decided (finally!) on the name “Circle of Light Hoops” . I liked Darkstar Hoops but feel that COL is a way more positive name – and it annoyed me how no one associated darkstar with astronomy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! COL seems to reflect my outlook on life (I think anyway, lol) and although i like quirky names like Coola-Hoops and Hu La la which is brilliant, I dont feel like being quirky about it so there
I think im pretty happy with the name anyway – I certainly havent come up with anything else, and yes those two quirky examples are taken (-:

http://www.worldhoopday.com/

Since 2007, World Hoop Day has been dedicated to bringing hula hoops to underprivileged children living in extreme poverty and underdeveloped neighborhoods of our world. Founded by Annie O’Keeffe, World Hoop Day is a not for profit organization that uses a community-based approach to provide durablehoops. The adult-sized hoops can be used their entire life as a simple and effective way to bring joy to an otherwise devastating situation.

There are many aid organizations who provide food and medical relief, but what about the mental welfare of a child who grows up too quickly and hardly has a reason to smile or play or just be a child? To date 1,100 hoops have been given away, and a total amount of $1,500 has been raised. The simple hoop has positive physical and mental health benefits, stimulates imaginations, and enables feelings of pure joy and bliss.