artisans
Aceh Group
In 2005, a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Indonesia, killing more than 150,000 people and leaving thousands homeless. Today, Indonesians are still trying to rebuild their homes and lives, purse by purse. Ten villages throughout the Aceh Province, including 1,000 women and 10 men, have teamed with the Aceh ...
Addis Ababa Ex Leprosy Women's Group
Before finding this employer, all of these artisans—many of whom are single mothers—faced lives of homelessness. The Addis Ababa Ex-Leprosy Disabled Women’s Work Group of North Africa may sound like an atypical name for a crafts guild, but the artisans each have physical challenges in common. Their histories range ...
African Hope Crafts
Even though 25 percent of South Africa’s population suffers from AIDS, the people of Cape Town will not let the disease destroy their hopes and dreams. In fact, a Christian job creation program, African Hope Crafts (AHC), specifically reaches out to men and women who are HIV positive and unable to find work. While ...
Aloex
Living in the dry, mountainous deserts of Pakistan, most of the Baluch women are refugees, illiterate, and confined to a mud home, yielding very few opportunities to provide for their large families of six or more children. Starting in 1992, Baluch women could join Aloex, an artisan group that exports handcrafts and ...
Anatolian Advantage
Anatolian Advantage of Turkey offers local women, many of whom are uneducated and lack access to the traditional work sector, an opportunity to work from home, earning competitive wages while caring for their children. Gifted with traditional handicrafts skills, the women make seasonal ornaments and greetings cards ...
Bethlehem Carvers
Striving for a better life in the West Bank, the men and women involved with Bethlehem Carvers skillfully find their way though political unrest and financial insecurity. Due to ongoing conflict, tourism has dwindled. This being a main source of income for artisans in the Bethlehem area, their families have suffered ...
Caucasus Wood
In a former Soviet region convulsed by centuries of conflict, Caucasus Wood offers meaningful, sustainable employment for those in poverty. The artisan group employs women and men, young and old, all skillfully continuing age-old traditions working with wood and metal. Their raw material of choice comes from a local ...
China Embroidery
In addition to helping their husbands in the fields, most Zhuang women spend their days cooking meals in their traditional stick and mud houses, watching over their children and grandchildren, and burning incense to appease their ancestors. Since they can’t obtain jobs because of their lack of marketable skills, ...
China Ethnic Crafts
Although the Miao women of China believe in tradition, they desire to break away from the cycle of poverty, domestic abuse, and the lack of education. For generations, the Miao women have embellished their clothing with extravagant colors and intricate designs, but they only began marketing their talent when they ...
Classic Morocco
More than 33 million residents make the north African Kingdom of Morocco their home. The fifth largest economic power on the continent and home to the fabled city Casablanca, Morocco is a vibrant nation. Nonetheless, it has its share of poverty and child labor, and at times is intolerant of those whose beliefs differ ...
ConneXions
In cities such as Kolkata (Calcutta), India, many young girls are forced into the slavery of the sex trade because of dire poverty. Puja , for example, was especially at risk because she had lost both parents by the time she was a young teen. But because the ConneXions artisan group was working in her community she ...
CraftAid
CraftAid, founded in 1982, provides jobs for people with disabilities (about 40 percent of current employees have disabilities.) Many of the artisans are hearing impaired. CraftAid also employs many women responsible for providing for their families. CraftAid changes lives. Raima, a hearing-impaired artisan for ...
CWJC of Rusk County, TX
Kristina came from a background of abuse and drugs. After crying out to God to save her in her early 20s, she started a new chapter in her life by joining the Christian Women’s Job Corps of Rusk County, Texas. Tutors at the CWJC helped Kristina complete her GED, allowing her to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse. ...
Dorcas
Not only do women in the Dorcas artisan group of Kazakhstan provide the only financial support for their families, they also enjoy a unique fellowship of faith that they do not find anywhere else. Their handcrafts are fashioned using traditional cloths and patterns of the Kazakh, Uzbek, and Uighur peoples of Central ...
Durimi Women
Following the Kosovo war in 1999, many Kosovo women were forced to provide for themselves because their husbands and sons, who had been the breadwinners of the family, died in the war. As is the custom, they live with their late husband’s family and take care of them, but they have little time to earn an income. ...
Ergon Handicrafts
Many girls and even women in India are viewed as burdens to their families. But through Ergon Handicrafts, women are given the opportunity to be seen as contributors to their families rather than burdens. Ergon is a handicrafts center based in Delhi, India, that seeks to empower women with job skills, income, and ...
For Such a Time as This
As their name implies, the Afghan artisans of For Such a Time as This are unified in both community and purpose. “When we are together, we learn what is going on in the world. Being together makes us brave and gives us courage to fight for our rights.” Most Afghan women learn from an early age how to work with a ...
Freeset
Each Freeset bag is more than just a stitched piece of fabric, it tells a story of freedom. For hundreds of women who were trapped in India’s sex trade it brings freedom from a life that robbed them of dignity and hope. At Freeset women are given the opportunity to choose a new job and regain control of their lives in ...
Glad Tidings
For centuries, men and women in the Middle East have stitched their stories into a tapestry or carved them into olive wood. These age-old traditions are continuing to flourish with Glad Tidings in Jordan. From each sale of an item, the artisans—who are hearing-impaired or otherwise disabled—can afford to buy precious ...
Godavari Women
In some villages of India, a woman may not remarry, even if her husband has passed away. This tradition forces women to become the sole provider for their children, even though they don’t have any marketable skills. Godavari Women, a group of artisans that creates crocheted lace items and tote bags, allows women to ...
Good Paper
The women of Good Paper (Philippines) are part of a cooperative at Smokey Mountain in Manila, which once had the notorious reputation of being the world’s largest open garbage dump. Its name is derived from the constant plumes of smoke rising from the spontaneously combusting trash. But with support from local ...
Hearts and Hands
In Yunnan Province, China, men and women with disabilities develop new skills and earn income through employment as artisans with Hearts & Hands. Those who are deaf or otherwise physically limited—who previously found little prospect for survival—now realize “plans that will prosper and not harm them, plans for a hope ...
Higher Ground
When June and Leta lost their jobs due to civil unrest in Nepal, they came to Higher Ground bakery’s doorstep. There they were welcomed and trained in the culinary arts. Yet, beneath the surface lay artisans of a different kind: jewelry makers. With little education but an abundance of talent, June and Leta were able ...
Himalayan Tapestry
Within each stitch of the Himalayan Tapestry artisans’ handiwork is a story of illiteracy, abuse within marriage, and culturally conditioned gender discrimination. While these Indian women suffer quietly, they are expected to carry the financial burden of their families. The women come to Himalayan Tapestry with ...
Igira Impuhwe
As markets open up, the women of Igira Impuhwe [i-GI-ru im-HU-we] in Rwanda earn needed income from the sales of their eco-friendly, handwoven grass baskets. The artisan group lifts women, like Mukangenzi Laurance, out of desperate poverty. She now rents a home, has health insurance for her family, bought clothes for ...
Kanzi
Kanzi offers handmade, fair-trade jewelry and crafts from artisans across East Africa. Not only does Kanzi help develop a market for these artisans, it also donates a portion of sales to support orphans and children at risk in Uganda, enabling them to get much needed food, clothing, shelter, education, and spiritual ...
Kingdom Creations
Dire poverty has struck many families in Cambodia, leaving them hopeless. Many women even sell their young daughters for a certain amount of time until they can find a way to make more money. However, an artisan group called Kingdom Creations gives the women a chance to keep their daughters and earn cash by making ...
Lao Looms
For centuries, the Lu people of northern Laos have been weaving cotton and silk by hand. Every woman learns this skill at an early age. Lu villages even grow cotton and raise silkworms to produce the necessary thread. In the past, the Lu made their own skirts and bedding for everyday use. Today they use their ...
Leather Project
In the mountains of North Africa, the Berber artisans of the Leather Project skillfully craft leather scraps from a furniture and upholstery company into smooth purses, book covers, and book marks. This time-honored tradition helps them to earn money that supplements their jobs as subsistence farmers and shepherds. ...
Lifetouch Artistry
Slowly and steadily, the Indonesian women weave their threads through dark felt circles onto two pieces of green felt that will eventually house children’s fingers as puppets. Since many of their husbands work jobs that don’t pay well, the women must earn additional income. That used to mean rolling cigarettes for ...
Love Calcutta Arts
The scarring influence of the sex trade does not affect just one generation in India. Despairing mothers often leave a legacy of poverty and prostitution to their daughters, who in turn carry on because they know no other lifestyle. ...
Lydia Cooperative
After the tsunami hit Sri Lanka in 2004, the people of Sri Lanka were devastated, losing loved ones and precious belongings. Even now, many families still live in temporary wooden houses because they are not allowed to rebuild within 100 meters of the sea. However, the artisan guild Lydia Cooperative brings the people ...
Master's Handicrafts
The cultural and artistic traditions of Central Asia have been preserved through the generations as women work together with their mothers and grandmothers creating masterful crafts. These felt, leather, and wool items are as varied as the women who make them, with products reflecting the unique designs and styles of ...
Mother Care Handcrafts
Mother Care Handcrafts helps more than 400 disadvantaged artisans earn a fair wage by using their skills in the centuries-old traditions of carving, jewelry making, and basket making. Among the artisans are numerous women who have been rescued from prostitution thanks to the jobs Mother Care can offer. Sales provide ...
Naapok-Nanyok
Although the Maasai women of Tanzania who formed Nanyok are no longer nomadic, their lives revolve around livestock. The five-month dry season kills the grass, leaving the goats to die, meaning no milk for Maasai children. Each eight-strand beaded bracelet or ornament sold creates a savings fund for new goats to ...
Noah's Ark
Noah’s Ark is an innovative network of 100 fair-trade artisan groups, representing 600 individuals, across India. Artisans work with a variety of materials, including wood, paper, and metal, to create contemporary products using traditional methods. All workshops are committed to providing sustainable income in an ...
Noorjahan Enterprises
After Sahid had his truck—his only means of income—stolen from him in the big city, he returned home to his Indian village dejected and in desperate need. At just the right time, Noorjahan Enterprises reached that village and was able to offer jewelry-making work to the ladies of Sahid’s household. With tools and ...
Parktown BC
Despite the economic crisis in Zimbabwe, the members of Parktown BC continue to create handcrafts, hoping to raise money for a new building in which their community can gather and encourage one another. The artisans sew and crochet aprons and weave baskets. Their building is close to completion, and they look forward ...
Peaceful Creations
In a small village in southwest Bangladesh, widows frantically search for work in order to take care of their young children. Because the widows are uneducated, they don¹t possess marketable skills, and this leaves them with a bleak view of their future. But for the last several years, Peaceful Creations has partnered ...
Priscilla Center
Due to the social unrest in parts of India, many traditional weavers were forced to abandon their homeland and work as hired maidservants in the city. There, employers sexually, physically, and verbally abused them. But the Priscilla Center now offers these Indian women a different option. By partnering with the ...
Proverbs 31
Widowed. Destitute. HIV-positive. These words could be used to describe the women of the Proverbs 31 artisan group in Uganda. But as they make colorful, attractive beaded jewelry out of recycled paper—you’d never guess—their hearts join together in song and their faces light up with smiles of joy! Sales of their ...
Proyecto Fe
High in the Guatemalan mountains surrounding Lake Atitlan, more than 5,000 feet above sea level, a group of Mayan women are busy practicing their art. They ponder the design and color of each original piece, carefully hand-placing each bead. The local crafts guild contact notes, “The beading on many is so exacting one ...
Q&A Handicrafts
Due to poor hygiene and wartime Agent Orange’s lingering effects, many Vietnamese people are disabled physically and developmentally. Many are uneducated and unemployed. However, Q&A Handicrafts began training disabled people in design and production of quality handicrafts such as the lavender sachet set. Now 20 ...
Rabuna Fi
With deceased or absent husbands, little education, and no job opportunities, the Sudanese women live in despair as they struggle to fill their children’s rumbling stomachs. But artisan guild Rabuna Fi reaches out to these women, encouraging them with words of hope and instructing them to bead purses and belts as well ...
Rahab's Rope
Mary grew up in an orphanage in India with a bleak outlook for her future. When time came for her to leave the orphanage she was deceived by an offer of marriage and found herself instead in a brothel. She escaped and tried to commit suicide multiple times, the last time by eating glass. A member of Rahab’s Rope ...
Refugee Beads
Fleeing persecution in their native countries, such as Sudan, Bhutan, Burma, and Egypt, refugees often encounter new and threatening challenges upon arrival in the United States. Children are drawn into crime, parents are treated with disdain and overworked in chicken factories or menial labor jobs, and even basic ...
Sauyunan Handicrafts
Sauyunan, a Sundanese word, means “working together for the same purpose.” This goal is the heart of the artisan group that makes these iridescent beaded-egg showpieces. Sauyunan Handicrafts, Indonesia, is comprised of 22 families who carefully create each pastel-colored, jewel-like egg, supporting themselves through ...
Spring Mountain Crafts
The women of Spring Mountain Crafts make their beautiful handmade products in a remote and impoverished area of southwestern China. This artisan group offers ethnic minority women a chance to keep traditional craft skills alive and provides sustainable economic benefit to those who would otherwise have few ...
Tabitha House
Through the work of Tabitha House, women’s lives are being transformed in downtown Guatemala City, Guatemala. Before finding work making jewelry and other crafts for Tabitha House, many of the women were involved in prostitution, drugs, or even selling their children on the black market. Now they can better provide ...
Tamarisk Tree
Pink lights glow in the windows of massage parlors, hair salons, bath houses, bars, and karaoke clubs—letting customers know of “special services” available inside. Prostitution in China is hidden in plain sight and traps many women who are desperate to support their families. The Tamarisk Tree workshop provides women ...
Thai Country Trim
For the past 18 years, Thai Country Trim has been a safe haven for battered women to receive emotional and financial support. One example of this abuse: a woman was constantly abused by her family until she sought help at Thai Country Trim. Her family gave her the most chores around the house and consistently told her ...
Thai Weave
Thai Weave artisan groups create many different handicrafts; each item made is designed to provide a fair wage to an otherwise impoverished craftsperson. Thai Weave seeks out those who need jobs and often hires those with a willing heart or certain need. They then train them to do the task for which they are paid and ...
The Well
The talent and tranquility of The Well artisans belies their astoundingly difficult backgrounds: one was sold into prostitution by her family as a small child; several were teenage bar workers; and another was a single mom with no resources. They have discovered their own innate talent through careful training in Thai ...
Threads of Yunnan
Although women in Yunnan, China, performed backbreaking field work all day with little rest, they only made $36 a year—not enough money to feed their children and send them to school. Now, with the help of Threads of Yunnan, they are able to use their embroidery skills to make $12 a month. Also, the artisan group ...
Thyolo Papermakers
The Thyolo papermaking and craft shop provides work for young artisans who have lost their parents to the AIDS pandemic and who now have few other income options. The shop is diligent in using all-natural, sustainable materials to make its crafts. Artisans use proceeds from their work to finish school, to send their ...
Transformation Project
Every day, as a young girl, Yani attended classes in order to understand what it means to be a Muslim, but had difficulty understanding love. Through some mutual friends, she found a job working as a seamstress, creating and designing handicrafts. Every day, the ladies would meet and sew, interacting and loving on ...
Treasures from the Heart
In Cambodia, AIDS is a growing crisis. The disease currently claims 4 percent of the population. Treasures from the Heart trains AIDS survivors to craft handmade items so they can support their families. This fair-trade organization restores self-worth to these artisans, who are rejected by their neighbors and ...
UEMS
As West Bank artisans shape and mold olive wood, they know each unique item means more than money earned. Carved by their hands, each product is inspired. And for these craftspersons, creating their art is not just a matter of shaping a piece of olive wood, it’s a powerful testimony of hope delivered from one ...
Village Artisans
As a minority group in India, Muslim herdsmen continually face discrimination, making it difficult for them to find jobs and access government benefits. Although they grow wheat and corn and raise cows or water buffalo, they only earn $1 per day. Many were affected by a powerful earthquake in 2005 and suffer with the ...
Wezandla
Living in fear of their ancestors, the Zulu people of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, continually slaughter cows, goats, and chickens as sacrifices. They even attribute any illness, death, or calamity as a mood of an ancestor’s spirit that requires a sacrifice to appease. But, the 300 people involved in the artisan group ...
White Harvest
In the rural villages of southeastern Asia men and women meticulously create handcrafts honoring their cultural heritage. Partnering with White Harvest Trading Co. allows people in these economically deprived areas to retain their culture and earn additional income to support their families. For the artisans, each ...
Women of Hope
Each day dozens of women, who are either HIV-positive or have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, gather in Nigeria to sew household items through Women of Hope artisan group. Even though the world says they should be in despair, these women have discovered great joy in making beautiful products together. Through sales of ...
