By Emily Miller

SALT LAKE CITY—Looking for a service project that’s fun for all ages and will bring joy to others? An organization called Coafrica, in Salt Lake City, is collecting friendship bracelets to give as gifts to children in African communities where the organization builds community classrooms. 

Coafrica director Marci Romney is heading up the friendship bracelet project, ahead of a planned trip to Africa in April. Romney said she’d visit between 5,000 to 8,000 students in communities throughout Africa where Coafrica has built classrooms. 

“I have daughters, 7 and 9—prime friendship bracelet-making age,” Romney said. “They wanted to do something that I could take with me.”

Romney said that if she starts handing out bracelets in a community, it’s important that she has enough for every student in that community. 

“I can’t show up at a school community without enough for every child in that community,” she said. 

Romney recognized that friendship bracelets weren’t a typical need for children in the “mostly very rural and impoverished areas” Coafrica serves, but that the gifts fill an emotional need. 

“There’s a need for clean water and food, and very basic needs in a lot of these areas,” she said. “But there’s also a need for connection and love.”

While friendship bracelets might not seem like much, Romney said they will be cherished by the children in the communities she plans to visit. 

“Some of these children have just a handful of possessions, and they treasure each one,” she said. “For a lot of us in the U.S., it’s just another thing. But to them, it’s huge. It would be a very nice possession for them.” 

Romney said there were a couple stipulations that were important to note before making bracelets. The bracelets need to be lightweight and not bulky. Tied bracelets made from embroidery floss are preferred, but Romney said “Rainbow Loom” style bracelets would also be accepted. Large beads would not work, but smaller seed beads could. 

Coafrica requests that each group making bracelets send them a photo at info@coafrica.org so Romney can show the children who their gifts came from. 

Bracelets should be mailed to Coafrica’s main office in Salt Lake City by April 1 to make it in time for Romney’s trip. They can be mailed to:

Coafrica,

3546 S Millhaven Circle

Salt Lake City, UT  84109

Coafrica, founded 20 years ago, has built community classrooms throughout western and southern Africa, with two more underway in Malawi. Romney said each new facility is based on a basic design featuring 4 classrooms and an additional flex space, but that the facilities can be customized to meet the needs of the community. 

For more information on Coafrica, visit their website at Coafrica.org. 

If you need help getting started on your bracelets, check out this handy video tutorial on creating tied bracelets with embroidery floss.