CAREcottage is an initiative by CaringSG to support special needs caregivers who have started enterprises to support their dependants and themselves.

This article was contributed by Esther Song, a caregiver to a son with autism, Sean Guoh.

During Covid, a group of special needs caregivers got together to learn how to crochet from another caregiver, Lavinia, as a means of coping with the lockdown and the pandemic.

This form of self-care was so effective that one of the caregivers, Cindy, initiated the idea of forming a crochet group, Crochet With Love, for caregivers to crochet on a regular basis for respite care and charity.

Lavinia and I supported Cindy’s idea and we formed the group. At that time, we did not imagine that we would progress to start a microbusiness, set up booths at bazaars and sell our crochets.

When Crochet With Love started, many caregivers expressed interest to join our charity efforts. We crocheted pouches, amigurumi and other designs to contribute to charities, both local and overseas, and the orders would give my son an opportunity to learn how to pack the crochets too.