This beaded cross wall décor was made by hand from artisans. The beads used to make this beautiful cross were literally swept off the floor of the Khutsala artisans' workroom. Once left on the floor and unused, these beads are washed, dried and used in a new creation - as a true symbol of redemption.  

From Heart for Africa co-founder Janine Maxwell... "During our lock down, I had a couple ladies go in and start to do a big clean-up of the Khutsala building. One of the things we found were two huge buckets of old beads that had been swept up off the floor at the end of each day. There was probably 600 pounds of assorted colored beads that were dirty, dull, useless and really should have gone in the garbage, but no one had the courage to throw away all those beads. Surely, they could be used for something? They were once beautiful, shiny and ready to be wrapped on to a Christmas tree ornament or to make a beautiful daisy or an elephant, but now they sat in the corner.

I asked the ladies to have the beads washed with soapy water and dried them in the sun, and then we started to work on some new product. What could we make with these recycled beads that would otherwise be garbage? It was as if they needed redemption, and through that redemption more product could be made and sold and more children could be cared for. Could beads that were meant for the garbage can help feed children who were found in a garbage can? There was something there that really excited me and so we got to work.

 It was the following week that we were able to hire a bus to bring a few more people back to work at Project Canaan and the Khutsala Artisans started to make these beautiful pieces from our newly cleaned beads. "

Size: 7" across by 8" tall