A sneak peak into the new jewelry line that will be arriving soon…check it out!

What’s it like to step out of your own world and into the world of a child in Africa who is impacted by HIV/AIDS? Watch this video and find out.

To learn more about World Vision click here.
To learn more about the World Vision Experience click here.

Coming June 20-27 to Vineyard Community Church in Cincinnati is the World Vision Experience: AIDS. You don’t want to miss it.

To learn more about World Vision click here.
To learn more about the World Vision Experience click here.

While in South Africa last January we had the opportunity to do something I’ve always wanted to do a video the ladies of Beaded Hope. It was a simple experiment designed to capture the image and the voice of each artist and to see how they would respond to four simple questions:

1. What does “hope” mean to you?
2. How does HIV/AIDS impact your life?
3. What would you like people to know about you?
4. What do you know for sure about life?

Take a look at what Lydia had to say.

Read more of Lydia’s inspiring story here.

To see Lydia’s beadwork designs click here.

We asked the ladies of Beaded Hope what “hope” means to them. They contemplated the question thoughtfully and came up with beautiful answers. Listen to their responses:

The October 4th fundraising concert for the Bophelong Hospice was a huge success and we, at Beaded Hope, just want to say ngiyabonga kakhula.

Or, translated from Zulu,
thank you very much,
thank you greatly,
thank you loudly,
thank you a hundred times.

No matter how you translate it the sentiment is the same. Thank you for being a part of Beaded Hope and helping us bless the community of Mamelodi, South Africa.

My girlfriend, Debba, is an entrepreneur and the founder of Girlfriendology.com, a website dedicated to the inspiration, celebration and appreciation of female friendships.

Debba started Girlfriendology.com in response to being so blessed with great girlfriends. Through research and reading, she learned that this need for girlfriends was biological. Women have a true need to have community with each other. In fact, in the book The Tending Instinct by Shelley Taylor, it is shown how we “tend and befriend” as a natural part of our DNA.

Recently it dawned on Debba and me that we both are trying to do the same thing: honor and nurture the natural connection between women. Whether it’s grabbing a quick cup of coffee and catching up with a girlfriend or connecting with a woman across the globe through the purchase of a piece of her beadwork, we all “tend and befriend”, woman to woman.

Debba recently invited me to share a bit about my passion for Beaded Hope and women across the globe. Check out the YouTube video (and be sure to check out Girlfriendology.com!).

The children, the beadwork artists, the people on the street; these are the faces of South Africa. Photography by Sonya Hensley and Jennifer Davis, March 2008.