Heartfelt Dolls help to heal hearts at the Smile Foundation. The Heartfelt ladies at our new Rosendal Project (where we have 20 sewing machines) have just finished a very special order for the Smile Foundation - a South African non-profit organization who make a difference to the lives of children with facial anomalies.

Very special cards made by very special people! Exciting news. We’ve developed a new range of Heartfelt Cards as an income generating project called: The Masiye Phambili Project through Headway (Alexander, Johannesburg).

Headway provides a place of “belonging” for survivors of brain injury, where attendees can take part in meaningful activities and socialise with one another. This provides them with a focus and something to look forward to and will also allow the family of the injured people time off for rest.

How Heartfelt got involved with Headway, was through an attendee who actually came from Makapanstad. She had suffered a brain injury through a car accident and the only information the therapist could find about Makapanstad was on our website. So we got a call to ask if there was anyway we could help – and that’s how the Heartfelt Card Project came to be. The attendees all came through to Makapanstad to meet Martha and the ladies and we held a workshop for them to learn a few felting skills.

So each card is beautifully hand-made and a lot of time, energy and love is poured into making them. That’s why we chose the first range to represent Love, Joy & Hope – all the things we believe should be in the lives of these very special people.  So if you’re looking for a touching birthday card, anniversary card or simply a card to tell someone that you love them – then why not order from our Heartfelt Card Range. They’ll even get delivered straight to your door and best of all; you’ll be helping to change someone’s life.  Sold individually or in packs of four – hurry and order today.

We've got exciting news. Doppio Zero have teamed up with Heartfelt this Mother’s Day to offer moms something truly unique (chocolates & flowers are so last year!). So make sure you take mom for a delicious Doppio meal (brekkie, lunch or supper) on the 9^th of May and she’ll get a very special little something, made by the very special moms at the project, filled with lots of love. But because we don’t want to spoil the surprise for mom – we’re keeping it a secret, so you’ll have to take her there to find out what it is.  Through this heartfelt initiative, Doppio Zero will be helping our moms at the project feed and clothe their families. Each little bespoke gift will not only support the ladies, but will also contribute a small donation to an HIV/AIDS & TB initiative within the community – so that the special people around them are looked after too. Just the type of thing a mom would do - give and then give some more. So by supporting Doppio, you'll be suporting the Heartelt Community - an initiative truly felt from the heart!

Launching at Rooms on View, the groundbreaking Mzansi Collection brings designed craft to Sandton. So make sure you get down there as soon as it opens. It's all about local talent. Here you'll find everything from furniture to furnishings, ceramics, wood, baskets and yip you guessed it, even Heartfelt. It has been designed to impress both local and international buyers and was set up by none other than Laurence Brick (from Laurence Brick Ceramics) and his business partner Eleni Papadopolos. in collaboration with the DTI (Department of Trade & Industry).

The Mzansi Collection will be a gallery, retail shop & restaurant. This stylish platform together with a combination of both enterprise development and creative input will assist in the growth of both rural and urban producers. There will be work of approximately 100 producers, crafters & designers showcased in the store. Shop fitting will reflect a modern South African aesthetic with fixtures and fittings that incorporate elements of local design; e.g.: permanent ceramic installations, wall paper and lighting. For further enquiries please contact: Eleni Papadopoulos: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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.