Hope Art started in July 2009, when the need to help orphans in Western Zambia became apparent. A group of impoverished and mainly HIV positive Zambian widows came together to uplift local orphans and rise above their own circumstances through creating beautiful, hand-made paper beads. Hope Art has grown and expanded beyond paper beads to fashion bags and stuffed animals, hand stitched from socks. In August 2016, Hope Art launched a second location in South Africa. Most of the Hope Art artists are the sole providers for their families and through earning an income now, their lives have changed dramatically with a new sense of self worth and purpose.
These unique products are sold worldwide with 100% of the profits being invested into the lives of vulnerable and orphaned children in Western Zambia. To date, Hope Art has been able to invest over three million into the Zambia Project providing clean drinking water, food, shelter, education, and healthcare to these children. Many orphans are now being cared for and their extended families uplifted, thereby benefiting the community as a whole.