Connecting people in a worldof need

Gogo Olive

Gogo Olive was set up in Mutare in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe in November 2008 to give local women the opportunity to use their craft skills to build a future for themselves and their families. They chose knitting because the materials are basic and cheap, it can be done anywhere and at any time and is a skill that is practical and profitable for the women to learn. Each knitted animal, or ‘Shamwari’ (meaning ‘friend’ in the local Shona language) is lovingly handmade with individuality and character!

Shop Now!

Browse Global Handicrafts’ full online range here or visit our shop at Crossroads Village to walk through our colourful global marketplace, with even more handmade delights from around the world, all of which care for the people who made them.

Zambia Snapshot

Zambia Snapshot

Population: 14.83 million

Capital: Lusaka

Zambia is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, with a tropical climate.

74.5% of people in Zambia live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day.

40% of children are involved in some kind of child labour

1.1 million people are living with HIV.

Cambodia: Bullet shells to Peace Doves

Decades ago, bombshells ripped through Cambodia, scarring the land and its people. Young Heang was a little toddler when his family...

Ukraine: losing everything

“Everything broke in my head, soul and body. You are alive but you don’t feel alive.” A Ukrainian military leader spoke...

Hong Kong: Once in a Century Storm

The furious downpour was the longest recorded in Hong Kong's history, leading to severe flooding and massive damage. Affected families were...

The Philippines: Under the Shadow of a Volcano

Living beside an active volcano is not for the faint of heart. It's true that there are many advantages, if little...

Francis Kidega

Each day, as stubbornly high unemployment plagues Uganda, many struggle to find any kind of work. This is nowhere more true than in the northern part of the country where two decades of war have left almost no infrastructure intact. In an effort to survive when no other work could be found, Francis Kidega and his family of eight began making jewellery out of the only thing they had access to: paper. They are now able to support themselves through the revenue these crafts bring, even as they learn how to take their new skill and turn it into a business, helping their neighbouring families in the process. Revenue gained from the sale of these products supports this family as they work, learn, grow and share.

Shop Now!

Browse Global Handicrafts’ full online range here or visit our shop at Crossroads Village to walk through our colourful global marketplace, with even more handmade delights from around the world, all of which care for the people who made them.

Uganda Snapshot

Population: 37.58 million
Capital: Kampala

Uganda is a fertile, land-locked country in East Africa, in the Africa Great Lakes region, with a tropical climate.

Great progress has been made in fighting HIV in Uganda, but 1.5 million people still live with the disease, and there are 1 million children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

39% of girls are married by the age of 18. 37.7% of people in Uganda live below the international poverty line of US$1.25/day.

Cambodia: Bullet shells to Peace Doves

Decades ago, bombshells ripped through Cambodia, scarring the land and its people. Young Heang was a little toddler when his family...

Ukraine: losing everything

“Everything broke in my head, soul and body. You are alive but you don’t feel alive.” A Ukrainian military leader spoke...

Hong Kong: Once in a Century Storm

The furious downpour was the longest recorded in Hong Kong's history, leading to severe flooding and massive damage. Affected families were...

The Philippines: Under the Shadow of a Volcano

Living beside an active volcano is not for the faint of heart. It's true that there are many advantages, if little...

Hope is the hardest thing to find…

“Hope is the hardest thing to find…” say those trying to rebuild Uganda’s northern areas devastated by two decades of war.

“Yes, the fighting has stopped, but our people don’t know how to re-start life. They have no seed to sow, no wood for carpentry, no tools for mechanical work. It is hard not to give up.”

Mama Maliamungu (pictured below) is an example. She fled Uganda during the fighting and returned ‘home’ only to find many family members dead and her house destroyed. Mama Maliamungu became the sole carer for several orphaned grandchildren.

She could have become a further Ugandan statistic, had a non-profit not come to her rescue. They taught her how to make market baskets from plastic strapping. By selling six bags a day, Mama has managed to rebuild her home and send her grandchildren to school.

She is more fortunate than most. “It’s hard to give people what they need to survive,” locals tell us. “Many have spent 20 years without education and, even if we teach them skills, how can we put the tools or resources in their hands so they can earn a living?”

That’s where Crossroads has been involved. We have often shipped to Northern Uganda and 2012 was no exception. What Hong Kong doesn’t need can literally save a life in this devastated community. Thank you for standing with us.

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Donate to a shipment like this one.

Donate Goods!

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Uganda Snapshot

Population: 37.58 million
Capital: Kampala

Uganda is a fertile, land-locked country in East Africa, in the Africa Great Lakes region, with a tropical climate.

Great progress has been made in fighting HIV in Uganda, but 1.5 million people still live with the disease, and there are 1 million children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

39% of girls are married by the age of 18. 37.7% of people in Uganda live below the international poverty line of US$1.25/day.

Cambodia: Bullet shells to Peace Doves

Decades ago, bombshells ripped through Cambodia, scarring the land and its people. Young Heang was a little toddler when his family...

Ukraine: losing everything

“Everything broke in my head, soul and body. You are alive but you don’t feel alive.” A Ukrainian military leader spoke...

Hong Kong: Once in a Century Storm

The furious downpour was the longest recorded in Hong Kong's history, leading to severe flooding and massive damage. Affected families were...

The Philippines: Under the Shadow of a Volcano

Living beside an active volcano is not for the faint of heart. It's true that there are many advantages, if little...

RWANDA: Still battling a deadly legacy

When Rwanda suffered its inimitable ethnic fighting, the result was not simply war. It was genocide. In 100 days, the country saw 500,000 people killed. Bertrand Russel called it, “The most horrible and systematic human massacre we have had occasion to witness since the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis.”

The images of death from that period are searing. So is the legacy the country continues to battle as it tries to reconstruct, train its youth and equip them for a different future. The population averages US$1.57 per day. Good employment, and the training that enables it, are therefore critical.

A simple gift of tools can help. There are training centres in the country helping young people master employable skills. The equipment they need, however, may be beyond their reach.

Knowing the depth of need in many communities, Ian Wells (pictured), one of Crossroads’ long term community volunteers, offered a huge set of tools on Global Hand, our match-making website. They were snapped up by a Rwandan carpentry centre.

With drills, saws, vices, chisels, hammers, screwdrivers and more – a treasure trove for this impoverished area – the donation was collected from the UK and shipped to Rwanda.

“Rwanda is clinically dead as a nation,” said Nigerian Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, at the time of the genocide. As better quality employment opportunities open up, this country is, increasingly, able to give the next generation a greater chance at life.

Cambodia: Bullet shells to Peace Doves

Decades ago, bombshells ripped through Cambodia, scarring the land and its people. Young Heang was a little toddler when his family...

Ukraine: losing everything

“Everything broke in my head, soul and body. You are alive but you don’t feel alive.” A Ukrainian military leader spoke...

Hong Kong: Once in a Century Storm

The furious downpour was the longest recorded in Hong Kong's history, leading to severe flooding and massive damage. Affected families were...

The Philippines: Under the Shadow of a Volcano

Living beside an active volcano is not for the faint of heart. It's true that there are many advantages, if little...

UN-business partnership: Empowering women in Sudan

Recent years have seen intolerable suffering for women in the conflict-ridden country of Sudan where they have, systematically, been victim to violence and rape.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) sought ways to empower women in this troubled country. They looked at ways of creating employment opportunities, since women would be less vulnerable with greater independence, self-sufficiency, control of their lives and, of course, dignity.

As they sought ideas for women in business, they discussed the growing of hibiscus. This is plentiful in Sudan and is an ingredient used in tea products of fruit tea blends.

There was a problem with hibiscus business initiatives, however. While Sudan is renowned for producing high quality hibiscus for teas, around 18,000 tons a year, many Sudanese hibiscus farmers have remained caught in the poverty trap. As hibiscus growers put it, “We produce the crop, then the traders come and take it on their terms.”

UNDP Sudan (3) It was a situation calling out for a Fair Trade overhaul.

A staff member from UNDP therefore posted a request on business.un.org. She asked for interested companies, dealing in hibiscus, to come together and discuss how to make trading practices fairer for the farmers. Some of the world’s leading businesses responded and the result was phenomenal. People from different levels of the hibiscus industry came together and brought significant change. This will impact the futures of at least 5,000 vulnerable women and girls in Sudan by, for example, seeing factories in Sudan becoming Fair Trade certified to ensure sustainable income for those involved.

This is a story that truly illustrates the power of partnerships!

Cambodia: Bullet shells to Peace Doves

Decades ago, bombshells ripped through Cambodia, scarring the land and its people. Young Heang was a little toddler when his family...

Ukraine: losing everything

“Everything broke in my head, soul and body. You are alive but you don’t feel alive.” A Ukrainian military leader spoke...

Hong Kong: Once in a Century Storm

The furious downpour was the longest recorded in Hong Kong's history, leading to severe flooding and massive damage. Affected families were...

The Philippines: Under the Shadow of a Volcano

Living beside an active volcano is not for the faint of heart. It's true that there are many advantages, if little...

Ghana: “Read-to-Succeed”

Though many in Africa look to Ghana as a model for political and economic reform, difficulties such as poverty, disease, and lack of basic educational tools still plague people in rural parts of the country.

Thousands of those who are more educated leave Ghana for jobs elsewhere, draining the country of adequate health professionals and teachers. Others must face the scourge of AIDS without proper treatment, and countless young children are forced to abandon their education in order to care for younger siblings and sick parents. Crossroads shipped to an NGO working in the Volta Region of Ghana, one of the poorest areas of the country. The organisation focuses on ensuring that the children in this area can attend school and learn how to read and write through their Read-to-Succeed programme. They also run vocational centres that provide tools and training for youth so they can find employment once they finish school. We were able to ship a variety of items to resource the schools and training centres as well as support the building of a secondary school.

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Donate to a shipment like this one.

Donate Goods!

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Ghana Snapshot

Capital: Accra

Population: 27 million. 45% of the population is under 18.

Ghana is in West Africa, located along the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean, and has a tropical climate. It is the fifth most stable state in Africa.
There are about 1 million children orphaned for a variety of reasons in the country.
34% of children are involved in some kind of child labour, and education is often inaccessible in rural areas.

Cambodia: Bullet shells to Peace Doves

Decades ago, bombshells ripped through Cambodia, scarring the land and its people. Young Heang was a little toddler when his family...

Ukraine: losing everything

“Everything broke in my head, soul and body. You are alive but you don’t feel alive.” A Ukrainian military leader spoke...

Hong Kong: Once in a Century Storm

The furious downpour was the longest recorded in Hong Kong's history, leading to severe flooding and massive damage. Affected families were...

The Philippines: Under the Shadow of a Volcano

Living beside an active volcano is not for the faint of heart. It's true that there are many advantages, if little...

Cameroon: An Injection of Hope

It is late at night, on Cameroon’s dimly lit streets, but young children are hard at work. Some wander the streets, trying to sell bottles of soda or newspapers to passers-by. Others work even longer hours, sold many times a night as prostitutes. It is dangerous work but they are desperate to earn enough money to survive another day.

Crossroads shipped to one Cameroon NGO that is battling this problem. They provide both a source of education for children and a voice for their rights. They believe children should not need to sell either things, or, most certainly, themselves, in order to survive. “They should be in school!” a representative said in a recent visit to Hong Kong. “One of the principle factors holding young people back is that they don’t get a good education.”

He described parts of the country where entire generations of children go through school without having access to a single schoolbook. “Books cost money,” he said, “and these communities are poor.” When, therefore, Crossroads sent them a large consignment of books for distribution in schools and libraries in rural areas, the response seemed overwhelming. “Whole villages came out at our arrival!” our consignee said, exuberantly. “It was a historic moment for them.”

These books brought an injection of hope into rural Cameroon. There is, of course, a long way to go, but our hope is to see many more such consignments to help education in the country until it is sufficient for the country’s children. The day needs to come, and may it be soon, when they will be rescued from the horrific ‘work’ options they currently face: choices no child should ever have to make.

Give Now!

Donate to a shipment like this one.

Donate Goods!

Want to donate goods for a shipment like this one?

Cameroon Snapshot

Population: 22.25 million

Capital: Yaoundé

Cameroon is in the west Central Africa region, with natural features including beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas.

Although the country as a whole has improved standards of literacy and healthcare, there is still a long way to go. Less than half of children go on to secondary education, and over 40% are involved in some kind of child labour. In rural areas, less than half the population has access to clean water and sanitation.

Cambodia: Bullet shells to Peace Doves

Decades ago, bombshells ripped through Cambodia, scarring the land and its people. Young Heang was a little toddler when his family...

Ukraine: losing everything

“Everything broke in my head, soul and body. You are alive but you don’t feel alive.” A Ukrainian military leader spoke...

Hong Kong: Once in a Century Storm

The furious downpour was the longest recorded in Hong Kong's history, leading to severe flooding and massive damage. Affected families were...

The Philippines: Under the Shadow of a Volcano

Living beside an active volcano is not for the faint of heart. It's true that there are many advantages, if little...

Tukul Crafts

The Sudanese Civil War killed more civilians than any other conflict since World War 2. Two million Sudanese people died – an incredible 20% of the population – from war or the disease and famine it caused.

For those Sudanese who managed to escape the war, home in a new nation turned out to be almost as difficult as what they left behind. Life in Sudan meant torture, forced starvation, landmines, death of loved ones and losing their homes. But life as a refugee in a new country can mean discrimination, violent racial attacks, unemployment and poverty. The tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees that settled in nearby Egypt have found it extremely difficult to get a job, and care for their families. Simply to make enough to eat, they accept work in illegal, unsafe conditions, or with dismally low pay.

Tukul Crafts, in Cairo, Egypt saw this need, and wanted to give refugees the opportunity to use their existing skills to make a fair and sustainable living for themselves. The clothes and household items that Tukul artisans produce are bright and hopeful: a reflection of the hearts of the people who make them. Their screenprinted designs are intentionally rustic and traditional, the colours bold, and the textiles sturdy and strong.

From tea towels to travel bags, from aprons to coin purses, Tukul offers a beautiful range of products that Global Handicrafts is proud and pleased to be able to offer in our online store, and in a fuller range, instore at our shop.

Shop Now!

Browse Global Handicrafts’ full online range here or visit our shop at Crossroads Village to walk through our colourful global marketplace, with even more handmade delights from around the world, all of which care for the people who made them.

Cambodia: Bullet shells to Peace Doves

Decades ago, bombshells ripped through Cambodia, scarring the land and its people. Young Heang was a little toddler when his family...

Ukraine: losing everything

“Everything broke in my head, soul and body. You are alive but you don’t feel alive.” A Ukrainian military leader spoke...

Hong Kong: Once in a Century Storm

The furious downpour was the longest recorded in Hong Kong's history, leading to severe flooding and massive damage. Affected families were...

The Philippines: Under the Shadow of a Volcano

Living beside an active volcano is not for the faint of heart. It's true that there are many advantages, if little...

Tintsaba: Weaving for Life

When Elsabet joined the Tintsaba workshop in Swaziland, it changed her life. “If I couldn’t work for Tintsaba, I think I would die,” she says.

Elsabet, aged 44, is a single woman living in a society where having no husband can leave a woman vulnerable and poor. Her single status means a lot less than it once did, though. Since she joined Tintsaba, Elsabet has risen through the ranks to become a silver smith, and a motivational trainer for new recruits!

The job has given her a dignity and independence that can’t be quantified. Elsabet’s co-worker Khetsiwe agrees. Without this job, Khetsiwe’s children wouldn’t be going to school. “We would just sit and do nothing,” she said.

Elsabet and Khetsiwe are just two of the skilled artisans working with Tintsaba, who have elevated the traditional craft of weaving sisal grass into an art form. They create jewelery from sisal, a common plant in Swaziland, and their jewelery routinely wins design awards.

You can buy the beautiful red pendant necklaces created by the women of Tintsaba in Global Handicrafts’ online shop, with more Tintsaba products available in-store!

Cambodia: Bullet shells to Peace Doves

Decades ago, bombshells ripped through Cambodia, scarring the land and its people. Young Heang was a little toddler when his family...

Ukraine: losing everything

“Everything broke in my head, soul and body. You are alive but you don’t feel alive.” A Ukrainian military leader spoke...

Hong Kong: Once in a Century Storm

The furious downpour was the longest recorded in Hong Kong's history, leading to severe flooding and massive damage. Affected families were...

The Philippines: Under the Shadow of a Volcano

Living beside an active volcano is not for the faint of heart. It's true that there are many advantages, if little...

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