Crochet is helping to create a community in exile for Ukrainian refugees.

Stitch by stitch, the nonprofit AMOAMI teddy bear project is giving dozens of women in Spain, France and Switzerland a sense of purpose and connection plus a source of income amid Russias invasion of their homeland.

We left our sons, husbands, friends, and family back in Ukraine and we are constantly in despair to hear the latest news, fearing that our home may have been bombed or our son or husband injured or worse, said 90-year-old Tamara Sharhunand, a Mariupol native who now lives near Valencia, Spain, with granddaughter Yuliia Burlaka.

At least while we crochet, we dont think about it, Sharhunand said. It helps us evade very negative thoughts. We have to be counting the stitches and focused.