Introducing the People's Crafts

In 2006 the People's Church established a small card-making business, the People's Crafts, which has created employment for 3 members of the church, Poppy, Nadia and Irene. You can see Nadia in action making one of the cards. Regular employment is so difficult to find here, and when you add to that the fact that many people were unable to complete their education at secondary school, you have a large group of people who struggle to find work outside of the annual grape-picking season.

So for these three women, regular employment that they can rely on is such a life line for them and their families. In the last week, Nathan and I have started to help with the day to day running of the business. It had been a real need in the church after the previous managers finished their work with us at Christmas, so we were so pleased to know that we could help with something so necessary. You can see one of the cards in the pictures - they are really beautiful! There's a further 5 designs, all with an African 'flavour', that we sell at local tourist hot spots but also in the UK through our agents over there.

We'd like to ask you if you could get involved by placing the cards somewhere that they can be sold? May be on your desk at work, or at church? Can you think of anywhere else you could place them - at the doctor's surgery, a school reception, a bookshop or cafe? If you can help the People Crafts in this way, or if you would like a more active role in selling the cards, we'd love to hear from you! Just leave a comment on the blog with your contact details, or email us at sarahandnathan@btopenworld.com . As the business grows our hope is that we can offer much-needed employment to many more of our friends over here.