Dolls bring many people great joy. Dolls can also bring the opportunity to spread joy. Aussie doll maker Julie Dodd became involved with the Uthando Project in 2018. The Uthando Project is a Perth-based charity that started 20 years ago. Uthando is a Zulu word meaning love. The dolls are made by sewers in Australia and donated to children in need in Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa.

The charity was founded by Julie Stone a child psychologist and early developmental specialist in Kia Zulu Natal. Julie was working out of a clinic. In the waiting room was one plastic Caucasian doll and every child who visited wanted to take that doll home. When Julie came back to Australia she asked all her friends who could sew, to help her make comforter dolls to gift to her young clients who were suffering from abuse, neglect and malnutrition.

The charity has grown over the years and there are now groups all over Australia. Approximately 5,000 dolls are donated each year, but there are over 11 million children living in poverty in South Africa, so there’s lots of doll making still to be done.

Julie Dodd, a retired fashion technology teacher, became involved in 2018 when she met the chairperson of the Perth branch of the charity. Julie began to enlist sewers from her community in Sydney. Some of the many sewers she has enlisted are featured on her Instagram (link at the end).

Each doll is donated with a spare change of clothes, some undies, a blanket, a handbag, and a backpack to put all the goodies in. Julie pattern makes the dolls clothes and works with a digitizer to machine embroider the dolls. Some of the garments are made in the hoop of an embroidery machine.

Dodd says she receives so many inspiring stories and photos from the five organizations who distribute the dolls in South Africa.

More about the dolls and the organization can be found at the Uthando Project Website. Also for heartwarming inspiration, follow Julie Dodd’s Instagram.