I have a visitor in my office at Portfolio, Newlands, this morning.
She is petite, has a funky ‘fro and is wearing a pretty shiny pink dress with matching shoes and gloves.
She’s far cooler and better dressed than I can ever hope to be. And her job is to spread hope, faith, love and strength for those in this country living with HIV/AIDS.
And to do so, she and her fellow ‘little travellers’ journey the world over, from Cape Town to Can
ada, Korea to Cambodia, California to the Colloseum in Rome.
"Little Travellers" are beautiful, beaded dolls, not much bigger than a pin and each one indivually crafted by women affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa. They even come with their own dinky passports to note down where they’ve been.
By making little travellers to sell,
crafters have been able to buy food and electricity for their families,
pay school fees for their children, enjoy
fresh running water in their homes and perhaps most importantly they have been able to
face each day with hope where there was only despair.
Little Travellers inspire the crafters to be creative – you can buy
mermaid Travellers and
popstar Travellers. These tiny beaded people have even inspired a fashion range and a
short movie.
You can
order them online, or if you are in the Durban area, visit us at
Woza Moya at 26 Old Main Road and select your own doll.
