“I can now afford to educate my son who is physically challenged. By buying my products you have changed my life, and my family’s, positively.” Refugee craftsman, Mikono Crafts, Kenya
Every good father longs to give his son a safe, fulfilling future. But for the Dads amongst Nairobi’s estimated 100,000 refugees, it’s not something they can always offer. Some of these refugees escaped wars in Somalia, Rwanda and DR Congo. Others fled starvation during the East African famine. Each of them hopes their children will have a more secure future than what they have fled.
Starting a new life from scratch, though, can be almost as traumatic as what they have left behind. Mikono Crafts exists to help refugees in Nairobi – many of whom are living in slums – learn new skills, or use the skills they have, to earn an income and become self-sustaining.
Global Handicrafts sells several products made by refugees working with Mikono, including wooden carvings, adorable soft dolls and our popular banana fibre nativity sets.
See videos about their work here.
Almost 30 years ago, a small group of displaced Sudanese people in Cairo were battling this same problem, so they started a little workshop to make some means of living.
When we buy products from Gogo Olive (and many others) for our Global Handicrafts store, Crossroads not only pays the ‘fair trade’ minimum. We pay an additional sum which the women use to invest back into their community and families. The Gogo Olive ‘grannies’ told us they had recently bought eyeglasses for some of their workers with this ‘premium’ payment. It was a joy to see photos of the proud faces of these middle-aged craftswomen wearing their new glasses, for some the first glasses they had owned.
