After seeing the impact of global poverty firsthand, Emmy® Award-winning actress Patricia Heaton partnered with World Vision to create a wearable reminder of the power of hope this Christmas: the Hope Bracelet by Patricia Heaton.
With every donation of $100 or more to where most needed in the Gift Catalog, donors can choose to receive the Hope Bracelet by Patricia Heaton — made by fair-trade artisans in India — as a meaningful memento of their gift. The fund addresses specific, urgent needs in World Vision’s humanitarian work that might otherwise go unmet.
“The Hope Bracelet by Patricia Heaton reflects my personal style and keeps my World Vision sponsored child, Gracious, in mind,” she says. “When I met Gracious in Zambia, I saw how one act of generosity can light up an entire community. My dream is that the bracelet will ignite that fire in others.”
To make the Hope Bracelet by Patricia Heaton, World Vision partnered with Gifts With a Cause, a fair-trade organization that provides a sustainable income to artists in developing countries. Each employee receives fair wages, a safe place to work, business development training, and opportunities to build long-term business relationships in their community. In addition, the artisans receive health insurance, profit-sharing through the sale of their handmade crafts, and education for their children.
Artisans in India find hope from fair trade
Shamim Jahan says she’s lucky — she learned how to be an artisan in India’s male-dominated culture.
Her father was an artisan, and because she was an only child, she often watched him work as she was growing up. When Shamim married, her artisan husband encouraged her to help with his work and become his partner.
When Shamim started working with her husband, they worked for a mainstream exporter who purchased large quantities of their products but paid less money for each piece. There was also a long lag between payments. Now they work for the India Fair Trade Artisan Organization, which provides them with a steady income, advance payment, and most importantly, fair wages.
World Vision partnered with Gifts with a Cause to find artisans to create the Hope Bracelet by Patricia Heaton. Shamim was selected.
The money she earned from cutting and bending the wire on the bracelet is paying for her father’s medical bills and also sent her daughters on a school camping trip over Diwali, a Hindu festival of lights celebrated every autumn.
Today, she’s more confident about her skills and more independent because she can help provide for her family, especially her aging parents.
Shamim says that since their work is now fair trade, they were able to buy a house and became more open about sending their daughters to school, an opportunity she never had. The India Fair Trade Artisan Organization also provides them with insurance, a share of profits, and the cost of their children’s education.
