Brazilian jeweller Juliana Bezerra creates a very special piece in collaboration with Anglo-Portuguese charities A Little Gesture A Great Help / Um Pequeno Gesto Uma Grande Ajuda, two sister-charities that over the past 15 years have improved the living conditions of thousands of underprivileged children in Mozambique.
Inspired by the gracious dotted lines that used to decorate the faces of tribal Mozambican woman, Juliana Bezerra draws a heart and changes it shape, gives it an unexpected volume and texture. She crosses this inspiration with her aesthetics while further exploring the technique patent in her work. The piece is lovingly called mbilo (´heart´ in the local dialect changana). “This collaboration was born when A Little Gesture challenged me to design a charitable piece to support children in Mozambique living under extreme poverty”, explains the jeweller.
“This collaboration brings even more love to the children in our pre-schools in Mozambique. Profits from sales of this necklace will revert entirely to finance daily feeding, pay teachers and buy school materials for the 200 children in this programme, all aged 3-5 years old”, discloses Marta Jorge from the Charity and a key driver between this collaboration.
The piece is available for sale at €60 (silver) and €70 (silver, plated with gold), at the designer´s atelier in Lisbon and online with international shipping available, here.
THE A LITTLE GESTURE PRE- SCHOOLS
A Little Gesture supports 3 pre-schools in Mozambique: Escolinha Flôr da Infância in Xai-Xai, Escolinha de Santa Catarina in Chongoene and Escolinha S. Vicente Paulo (SVP) in Chokwé. For c.£27,200 annually, these schools welcome 226 children, garanteeing 2 daily meals, teacher support and love, care and attention.
A LITTLE GESTURE A GREAT HELP
Um Pequeno Gesto Uma Grande Ajuda (“UPG”) & A Little Gesture A Great Help (“ALG”) are a Portuguese and UK Charity focused on overseas aid to vulnerable children in the Province of Gaza, a rural area in southern Mozambique. We have been present in this impoverished region for 15 years through a community network of Local Partners.
Our mission is to promote the improvement of living conditions for underprivileged children and their families in Mozambique. Our goal is to give them access to academic and skills-based education in a safe environment with adequate nutrition, water and housing. We strongly believe our impact is to improve their employability, create income-generating activities and support the local economy to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.
Since inception we applied over £1.7 million / €2 million on our charitable activities. In 2018 alone, we raised in excess of £350 thousand / €350 thousand. Please, help us reach more children!
Let´s Break the Cycle of Poverty in Mozambique!