While our first craft-training projects are still in a piloting phase, many of the mothers are already earning a living from the sale of their exquisite paper bead jewellery. In fact, we cannot keep pace with the demand, but hope to soon offer it for sale on the website with the creation of more groups around Botswana. We are even starting some groups in South Africa. The initial workshops, run in Selebi-Phikwe and Serowe, have been so enjoyed by the mothers that they now regularly meet in each others' houses to make their beads together. They have benefitted from the social interaction, sharing their problems and the excitement of turning throwaway items into objects of beauty. Alchemy in action.

Some of our products include earrings, bracelets and necklaces made from scrap magazines and cardboard packaging and below you can see a selection of the jewellery proudly modelled by one of the mother's orphan granddaughters, Oratile (see Our Projects for more product information)

And while the mothers work on their beads, another of our mother's young charges becomes absorbed in the pile of magazines a Phikwe resident has just donated to the project.  And the pile of beads, of all shapes sizes and colours, keeps growing.........

A group of Basara women was selected by Sister Soro of the Catholic mission in Serowe as being in urgent need of support. Two of our experiencied Phikwe mothers therefore travelled to Serowe with the Mothers for All coordinator, Jenny Dunlop, for the first training session. These women live in very impoverished circumstances (see below) and it is hoped that they will soon be able to earn a living wage and provide the  orphans and vulnerable children under their care with some of their basic needs.

And finally Mothers for All is starting two trial groups in South Africa in two disadvantaged settlements in Cape Town, Crossroads and Imizamo Yethu. There will be more news about these groups soon.