April’s Box of Blessings featured 4 products from Sanyork Fair Trade. Sanyork is located in one of the poorest suburbs of Lima, Peru. The artisan workshop in San Juan de Lurigancho is surrounded by large factories and hillside slums.  Sanyork has owned and operated its own production facility and worked hard to keep their 66 artisan families working permanently over 15 years. They are dedicated to fair trade wages and a sustainable workplace environment that gives confidence, pride, and inspiration to their artisans. This allows the artisans to contribute to their cultural preservation of tradition, lifestyle, and dignity as well.

                                                                     

The earrings are made with alpaca silver with stainless steel posts. Alpaca silver is an alloy that imitates sterling silver. It is a non-precious bright, silvery-grey metal that is made up of copper, zinc, nickel, and sometimes iron. It does not contain any real silver, but is just another name for nickel silver.  The benefits of alpaca silver is that it is inexpensive and does not rust or tarnish.

                                               

Little wooden beads were weaved onto elastic to create this month’s bracelet. The use of 2 colors gives the bracelet a fun flower design. The bracelets vary in color so several different colors were used to fill the boxes. If you’d like to see what colors are still available, check out International Blessings Shop to see them.

      

This was the first time headbands were in a Box of Blessings!  These are made from cotton and have an elastic band to give a relaxed, comfortable fit.  These color headbands unfold like an accordion to provide many different styles of wear and fit any occasion!  More can be found in the SHOP.

                                                                                  

Each box also contained a friendship bracelet.  These colorful bracelets are one of a kind and perfect to keep or give to a friend. They have been known to last for up to a year or longer, even if worn around the wrist or ankle everyday. No need to take off in the shower or pool.  It’s crazy how durable and long lasting they can be!

                                                    

Each Box of Blessings donates 10% to a poverty fighting cause and this month our donation went to the East Africa Dairy Development Project through Heifer International.  The project is focused on helping women to develop their dairy herds to be more healthy and productive.  The stories below share how this project has empowered women and changed lives throughout communities!

Agnes Luweesi. She is a mother, grandmother, a farmer, a trainer, and a manager, and at over 60 years old, she has the strength and agility of a much younger person.  She is the community mobilizer and treasurer for the biggest dairy co-operative society in her area. Because she was quick to put her training in action, Agnes trains local farmers in how to better care for their livestock, which has led to an increase in milk production. She also trains farmers to adopt artificial insemination practices, record keeping, establishing & managing fodder pastures, and overall how to improve their breeds for higher milk yields.

Evelyn Uwimana. She is the chairperson of Gahengeri Dairy Farmers Co-operative in Rwanda. This means that she runs the day to day activities of the co-op. This co-op was set up in 2008 and has 3,071 members (1,620 are women!).  Under her leadership, this group has grown from 121 nonactive members!

Madeleine Madamu. A widow and genocide survivor, Madeleine also has 6 children. She lost her husband and all their possessions during the 1994 Genocide war, and has had to live on handouts from neighbors and odd jobs to survive. In 2006, Madeleine was given a cow through Heifer Intl. Pass on the Gift program. Her family has worked very hard to raise this cow and through the Kamirabose Dairy Farmers Cooperative, she has received trainings on how to improve milk production. Madeleine is now a community animal health provider, which allows her to earn extra income. Today, she has 3 cows, is able to sell half the milk produced, and has started growing crops. Her family has upgraded from a 1 room house to 5 rooms with water & electricity. What a difference a cow and Heifer’s program has made in this families life!!

Were you inspired by these women?  

People like YOU have helped make these stories happen. So, THANK YOU for making a difference!

What was your FAVORITE item in April’s Box of Blessings? Tell me below in the comments!