Since its inception in 1985 the management of Abacus Beadwork has had a strong belief in the empowerment of the rural population of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Initially owned by Jane Bedford and, since 1 July 2008, by Mike and Hazel Bartlett, Jane's compassion has been passed on to this new management team. The suffering in the rural townships from disease and malnutrition, resulting mainly from unemployment and the resultant poverty, affects mainly the women and children. We believe that if we nurture the creativity and talents that exist in their age-old traditional beading capabilities, we can offer them the gift of being able to maintain their pride and self-confidence by enabling them to provide for their families as well as keep these traditions alive.By affording them a market for the fruits of their labour, we are opening doors to a better lifestyle for these people, and, by improving the quality of the raw materials they use for the beadwork, as well as teaching them modern styles to bring them up to date with fashion trends, we can assist in the creation of demand for their products, particularly in the international arena.The brash colours and use of inferior trade beads which the various tribes of Africa traditionally use to create their beadwork has limited appeal, and is really only purchased as souvenirs by tourists to South Africa. By providing the best quality glass beads available on the international market, designing intriguing styles and introducing fashionable and up-to-date colours, we believe that our products will appeal to a wider market thus increasing demand which will allow us to offer earning opportunities to more people. We are assisting them to produce contemporary jewellery with appeal to women from all walks of life and from a wide spread of countries world-wide. In this way we believe that we can best help our country's underprivileged rural people to help themselves.
