Giving and getting now mean even more when there is a charity and a face behind it. Check out how Beza Threads are taking fashionable handmade scarves from Ethiopia and selling them to make a difference in the lives of children sold into sex slavery. 

By: Andi Summers

This year I have a Christmas shopping goal for myself—I’m only giving gifts that I can make myself, or buy from companies that give back to a better cause.

Enter Beza Threads; a company from Des Moines that sells amazing handmade scarves that are crafted through an Ethiopian non-profit, WinSoul. Each Scarf is $20 and the proceeds go to helping girls get out of sex slavery and boys out of textile slavery in Ethiopia. Each scarf sold provides enough money to get a girl off the streets for a night of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

“This issue is massive it is huge our goal is to say OK, you can have a very tangible impact and that’s for every scarf you buy really pulls a girl off the street for one night, and three hundred scarves for the whole year,” says Josiah Carter, founder of Beza Threads. “One night to us may not seem like a big deal, but if you think about these girls being rapes five, six, seven times a night, that one night is a huge deal. Each scarf you have that you purchase and you wear tells somebody else about it and that has a massive impact.”

The program uses the textile skills of the boys and the girls to create the scarves. Each beautiful and unique piece is then sent to Des Moines, where Beza Threads sells them to college groups, churches and other organizations. Beza Threads was started by a group of recent college graduates after they went to Ethiopia for a summer to work with WinSoul. Moved by what they saw, the group found their inspiration for the organization.

Whether it is a great stocking stuffer, Hanukkah gift, something to wear yourself, or you just want to make a difference, visit Beza Threads and learn more about their story. Also check out pictures of great scarves you can purchase. Remember: The profits from each scarf sold directly benefit ending child slavery in Ethiopia.

“There is a way to get involved and there is a way to change that number of you know 2 million children in child sex slavery there is a way to change the number,” says Carter.

Share This

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Posted by

Andi Summers