Shwe-Shwe Poppis

A few weeks ago I bought a cute little hand-made doll named a Shwe-Shwe Poppi. The Shwe Shwe Poppis Co-operative Project is a community-based doll production project in Soweto which provides beneficiaries with skills and a sustainable income. The dolls are adapted from drawings made by kids at the Zola crèche in Soweto, one of the biggest townships here in South Africa and are sold locally through accredited dealers and internationally throughout the EU and the US. After the child's doll is sold, (s)he receives a royalty payment for the ‘design'. A trust account is opened with these funds and the children can pay for school and university fees. The project started as a small, informal charity-based project which could not expand due to market failures that hindered the business accessing finance to expand production capacity. ComMark's involvement in addressing this failure has allowed the business to flourish.

The one I bought is in the first picture on the left, although it is a bit different. Each one is unique and mine is made by a little girl named Philisiwe. The poppi (doll) is based on her drawing. She loves to play buddy with her friends. Her favorite food is rice and chicken and yellow is her best color! This is written on the tag and bag you get with the doll.

It is such a cute fair trade gift!!

Here are some of the dolls the children draw and the mother's and grandmother's sew together, it is really a hand-made product and made from Shwe Shwe fabric, the South African fabric, hence the name: Shwe-Shwe poppi.



Here you see the ladies making them just on a kitchen table and the other picture is the label that is on each bag that comes with the doll or poppi as they say here in Africa. Of course on each doll is a different picture.



Since I have so many fabrics in my sewing room I am thinking of doing a similar project with local kids and mother's here as well. I am already researching who to do it with. More about this project and other ideas I have later!

Have a great day y'all!
Mireille

I am hooked on....

Africology! Which is an ethical, natural and anti-ageing skincare brand from South Africa, practices fair trade and is currently involved in projects to help disadvantaged teenagers and provide water tanks for isolated African communities.


I've been trying out this range of products by Africology: they're fairly new to South Africa, about 2 years old and are only sold in Spa's or at their warehouse close to my house. Their sales benefit good causes as well as my skin and I like that ;-)

All products in the range contain natural ingredients with anti-aging properties are fragranced using essential oils, not synthetic perfumes. I just fell in love with the products because several of them contain neroli, my absolute favourite essential oil, which is native to Africa. The marula skin conditioning body oil, for example, is absolutely heavenly, and a real treat for skin that's looking a bit tired.

The fragrances really do have an effect on the mood, and having applied the body oil and moisturiser earlier in the day, I keep getting delicious wafts of a deep and grounding fragrance, all of which is helping me chill out a lot more than I normally would in the middle of a hectic week!


With a philosophy based on beauty that is more than just 'skin deep' Africology uses only natural ingredients, and all its products are fairly traded. The causes it helps are all based in the brand's country of origin, and based around the idea of empowerment: one is a water project, providing water tanks to isolated African communities that don't have access to running water; another supports and coaches local teenagers.

They just started selling in the UK, but not yet in the USA or elsewhere in the world, but hey they are looking for distributors, so if you want to try it out, give them a call or check out their website here.

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!
Mireille