Crafted by Seed of Hope

Seed of Hope 'Crafters'“Crafted” is an enterprise which will allow Vision Africa to build on the skills and talents of Seed of Hope graduates and students as well as some of the older children from other projects. By providing an outlet for handmade products not only will the individuals gain income for their work, Vision Africa will receive the profits from sales to allow us to continue assisting disadvantaged children in Kenya.

Crafted Administrator, Maureen Mwende, is a graduate of Seed of Hope Nairobi who has gained retail experience in the 3 years since she graduated. Under her guidance, a team of girls known as “Crafters” create products to be sold at events, to retail outlets or as one-off designs at the request of a client. At the moment, the focus is on jewellery and clothing.

The range of jewellery has been divided into three collections. “The Collection” will run in line with the fashion seasons and will feature unique ideas at affordable prices. “The Originals” collection is based on some of the items that were given a test drive last year, along with some new twists that have been added by the first group of Crafters, as we’re calling the graduates who are involved in producing the items. Finally, the “Child to Child” collection incorporates simple necklaces and bracelets made by students and children for children. These allow our youngsters to gain experience of basic techniques, earn some money and at the same time their efforts contribute towards raising funds for the Vision Africa projects from which they benefit.

Crafted not only offers customers exquisite hand-crafted items such as jewellery, clothing and accessories it also builds the teenagers in several ways:

• Crafted allows them to gain financially.  All Crafted produce is made by graduates of our programs and they are paid fairly for their services.  They are able to reinvest this money in their own small business or savings plan.
• Crafted provides opportunities, including workshops to broaden their skills and knowledge base.
• Crafted allows them to gain experience in all areas of managing a small business and interacting with customers.
• All profits of Crafted are reinvested in the Seed of Hope Centres and Vision Africa programmes, enabling more teenagers to be trained for self-reliance.

Over time, it is anticipated that Crafted will expand its range of products and involve more of our projects. For the moment though, we’re looking for support, feedback and CUSTOMERS!!! If you are resident in Kenya and would like to suggest possible outlets or share skills in design and production of jewellery, please let us know. For more information about this enterprise of if you would like to support it or get involved, please use the Vision Africa contact form and select “Crafted” as the recipient.

Seed of Hope Girls modelling 'crafted' clothes

Vision Africa is a registered charity, No. 1091198