Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Fashionable ‘Hope Clips’ Support Women and Children Worldwide

Sweep up your hair with a Hope Clip and you not only make a unique fashion statement; you support free trade and stand up against sex trafficking!
Hope Clips are hand-beaded, one-of-a-kind African butterfly hair clips, handmade by South African women who are paid Fair Trade wages for their goods.  With an innovative interlocking design, they are incredibly comfortable to wear and work great in all types of hair – from long and thick to short and thin.  And they are so durable, they even come with a one year guarantee!

So how does a hair clip come to make a political statement?
In 2009, Lauren Smith of Fairfield, CT discovered these amazing clips at a craft fair. On a mission to support women and children worldwide through fashion, she tracked down the company that employs the African women who make the clips.  Scoring an official distributorship, she named the clips Hope Clips, using “HOPE” as an acronym for “Helping Other People Every day.”  Hope Clips, LLC donates a portion of its proceeds to Hopes & Dreams International, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) that helps prevent, rescue and heal victims of child sex trafficking.
Hopes & Dreams began in 2006, after Dateline NBC aired the story of an American doctor buying young children in Cambodia for sex.  The organization started out by trying to empower families in Cambodia, in order to prevent the sale of their children.  Hopes & Dreams provided food, shelter and the opportunity for families to become financially self-sufficient (several girls were sent to learn the trades of cosmetology and sewing).

Since its beginning, the Hopes & Dreams rescue team has recovered hundreds of children, including 50 American children.  The organization is in the initial stages of building Healing Centers on the east and west coasts of the United States – sanctuaries that will be dedicated to helping heal these broken children.
So how prevalent is child sex trafficking?  According to UNICEF, it is a global market of more than $12 billion a year with more than 1.2 million child victims – more than in the transatlantic slave days.
Zoey Bloom in Tampa, FL., is proud to carry a wide selection of Hope Clips and to help Hopes & Dreams make a difference in the lives of these children … one clip at a time.