We're on a mission and a really special mission. We’ve started a heartfelt Dictionary Drive for the local children in our little community and we’d love you to get involved. We’re trying to collect as many dictionaries as we can to donate to all the schools in the local and surrounding areas. All this started because of one very special 16 year old boy called Edward – who practically lives alone and looks after himself. He told us that the one thing that he really wanted with all his heart was a Dictionary – and his wish truly touched our hearts.

There are so many other special children out there that also need school books and dictionaries. So we thought we'd try and help them. . . with your help of course. If you have any dictionaries or other learning material lying around gathering dust at home we'd love you to donate them to heartfelt so that we can help the children of Makapanstad better their education. It's easy peasy. Simply post your book(s) to: Martha Letsoalo, The Heartfelt Project, P O Box 642, Makapanstad, 0404, North West Province, South Africa. Or alternatively make a heartfelt donation here and we’ll go and buy the books on your behalf. If you'd like to find out more information please do not hesitate to email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Together we can change these children's lives.

We feel so honoured and blessed to have had our Christmas angels given as gifts to the Karabo girls – who work at a similar social upliftment project called the Karabo Cards Project, in Mamalodi (not very far from Heartfelt). The Karabo Cards Project is part of Just Cards Direct - an exciting business that imports and sells handmade greetings cards from Africa and printed cards from around the world. It was started by a group of friends in South Africa and the UK as a way to fund full time ministry work involving training churches and communities in the area of Healing and trauma counseling. The Karabo girls, who started in August 2007, are very special indeed and they all have their own heartfelt stories to tell. This year alone three ladies lost their mothers in car accidents. This meant one of the ladies had to stop her studies and another one had to postpone her wedding. Another lady, Violet lost her daughter and Lydia’s son was murdered – a great deal of sadness to fit into one year and the Heartfelt ladies have sadly experienced something similar. So, together we feel we can really benefit from supporting each other in our respective communities and will all meet up early next year to share stories and ideas.

We've been so busy we nearly forgot to tell you that we were nominated to take part at the first Platinum Province Craft and Design Awards 2009 in September. Martha and Cecelia went along to this Gala Event in Potchefstroom - spending the night there and networking with other crafters in the province. This wonderful event was put together by Theresa Jacobs and her team at the North West Craft & Design Institute. We were honoured to take part and would like to thank them for helping to promote Heartfelt, not only at the event but also at Aardklop. On the evening Heartfelt was nominated for an award in the Corporate Gifts section, winning a certificate, as well as a creative course at the School of Communication Studies.

DID YOU KNOW? An estimated 40 million people around the world are infected with HIV and AIDS. Every day, 8,000 people die of AIDS and it's killed 20 million people to date. Approximately 22 million people are HIV positive in Africa, 8 million in Asia, 73,000 in the UK and over three million in the Americas. Three-quarters of young adults living with HIV in Africa are women. One third of pregnant women in South Africa have AIDS. And sadly, only five percent of people in the developing world who need life-saving antiretroviral drugs for HIV receive them.

1st December is World Aids Day. Something close to all our hearts here at Heartfelt. We have a very special lady who is HIV Positive (she can't be named due to the 'stigma' still surrounding the Virus in rural communities). She needs a lot of love and support. Help us by supporting her and the women and children in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the Makapanstad community. Simply place an order today to get involved Or make a donation. Your contribution will go directly to our lovely lady & A re Aganeng Health Services. Both desperately need our help – people don't need to suffer with the virus. We need to help them live with it. Let’s make a positive difference together! Ke a le boga. Thank you and god bless.

PINKY PLACE

WELCOME TO PINKY HOUSE COME ONE, COME ALL 
There is a really symbolic reason why we've called our workshop Pinky Place. It came about when we started renovating the building (our now workshop) at the back of Martha’s house. Martha had told us that she had originally intended it to be her ‘granny flat’ for when Emmanuel got married and moved into her house. Sadly this never happened.

On one of the walls inside the workshop the words ‘welcome to pinky house come one, come all’ had been painted on. When we got a local painter to come in and paint over the writing three layers of paint later - he'd still not been able to get rid of it. After asking Martha what it had been painted on with, she answered saying that she wasn’t sure because Emmanuel had painted it on shortly before he had been put in to prison. 

WE SAW IT AS A SIGN!

A VERY SPECIAL DONATION, FROM A VERY SPECIAL LADY
We couldn't believe our eyes when a cheque arrived at heartfelt in the post. "Wow, now I know that there are people who care about me" said Heartfelt lady Cecilia Mafunisa (who recently lost her husband to diabetes last year). We've been so excited every since the cheque arrived and it has made the world of difference.

Donated by Caroline, a South African living in the UK, we feel touched by her generosity and it's given us an even stronger belief in what we are doing - taking us one step closer to our dream of setting up the first Heartland. With the funding we've put electricity in the workshop, added security gates to keep our hard work safe & sound in the evenings and helped us care for one of our ladies in her battle with HIV/AIDS. We're also upgrading to an Eco toilet. With no running water in Makapanstad (we still buy buckets of water of a donkey cart which comes around twice a week) we can't have a flushing toilet. What we like about an eco toilet is that it's clean and environmentally friendly too, allowing us to fertilize our vegetables in the yard with the compost it creates.  A very big thank you to our Business partner Phil Cameron from Background in the UK for making this happen. You can read more to see our happy heartfelt faces!

NEW UNIFORMS FOR THE HEARTFELT LADIES
There was a lot of excitement amongst the ladies at the beginning of May when they received the new Heartfelt uniforms. They had requested wearing uniforms a few months ago, feeling that it would give them a sense of pride to dress up for work and feel unified as a team. Looking gorgeous in their purple tops and denim skirts - come and take a look at our pictures - I'm sure you couldn't agree more!

HOUT BAY COMMUNITY CULTURAL CENTRE
If you're ever in Hout Bay, please stop at the Community Cultural Centre where IZIKOLOLWAZI is situated, www.izikoll.co.za. A buzzing little project that has so much in common with Heartfelt - it is also empowering women through employment & education. Here the women make unique stationery, handmade paper, exquisite beadwork, custom made gifts as well as wedding accessories. It's definitely worth a visit and the perfect place to pic up a little something, that is doing a lot of good!

A HEARTFELT THOUGHT WE WANTED TO SHARE WITH YOU
"When I am continuously being battered by the storms of life,
and my very spirit is ebbing away, then all I need to do is hang
onto that gift called 'Faith', that one support which will weather
the storms. Faith does not depend on a clever head, only belief:
belief in the self and the strength that lies within. Faith is the seed
of victory and the foundation of making the impossible possible". 
Go well. 

DON'T MISS THE ECO CHIC WEDDING & HOME SHOW 8TH MARCH 
We just love www.ethicalweddings.com. It's fair trade, green, organic, local, eco-friendly, cruelty-free, recycled. . . and has just teamed up with www.greenfinder.co.uk to host The Eco Chic Wedding & Home Show. The perfect chance for eco-conscious couples to meet exhibitors across the ethical wedding & home spectrum, from green gift lists to recycled stationery, fair trade favours (i.e. heartfelt) to seasonal flowers. So if you're getting married and are looking for some ethical inspiration (& live in the UK) get to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens on Sunday the 8th March 2009.

We have a special story to share with you. It’s about how and why we named our new workshop – PINKY PLACE.  It started when we got a painter in to paint the walls of the workshop – on the back wall there was something written in black paint. It said ‘welcome to Pinky House, come one come all’. When the painter painted over the walls - even after three layers - he could not get rid of the writing. So it stayed there very faintly. What Martha hadn’t told anyone was that the building had originally been built so that one day when Emanuel was married he’d live in Martha’s house and she would live there. He had also painted the outside walls of both buildings a pink colour. He then painted those words on the walls for Martha. We were all touched when we heard this story and felt those words hadn’t disappeared for a reason. It was Emanuel’s way of telling us that he was part of heartfelt even in spirit & watching over us to make sure than his mum was ok. Coincidence, we think not - it's just a very special workshop indeed!

Your orders have forever changed the lives of the women of Makapanstad and continue to do so, on a daily basis. Having (almost) finished our workshop, the ladies now have a safe and happy working environment in which to create their little designs. It's true what they say 'as you sew, so shall you reap'. Our work is bringing so much love back into our lives. Wishing you all a very blessed festive season. Go in KAGISO (peace) & KATLEGO (joy).

Having a happy working environment is very important to all of us at heartfelt. We are so excited to tell you that we are in the process of building our new workshop in Makapanstad. It's been a long hard struggle to get there, but some very special people have helped us achieve this dream. Alison Warren-Smith has designed our 'creative working space' using recycled materials where she can and Chaimberlain's in Pretoria have helped with materials. The building has been done by Joshua, a local builder who also built Martha's house 20 years ago. The heartfelt philosophy is to leave the frustrations and sadness of the outside world behind and spend the day working in a peaceful environment. Each lady will have her own workspace. Tea, coffee and food area, as well as a store room attached. Everything will be painted white and dotted with the heartfelt colours. One of the finishing touches is a huge chalk black board where the ladies can leave messages, share their thoughts and share their goals and dreams.