The multi-colored, beaded necklaces and bracelets on display at Paul Michael Creative Designs might not seem too out of the ordinary upon first glance, but the jewelry has a history.
The hands that pieced them together are those of HIV-stricken orphans from Ethiopia, and sales of these items will go directly to helping them.
"It's all local material," said Jim Miller, a former Sparta resident who's been actively fundraising for Ethiopian orphans for close to eight years, and who visits the impoverished country yearly.
"There are different designs of the Orthodox cross," he said Tuesday when the jewelry first went on display at the Paul Michael gift shop on Route 10.
"Ethiopia has more cross designs than any other country," he said.
Miller began raising money for Ethiopian orphans more than seven years ago through Sparta Crop Walk. Since then he became the co-founder of Orphans and Vulnerable Children's Programs of Medhen, which supports the Medhen Social Center, an organization located in a leprosy colony outside the country's capitol, Addis Ababa. It's run by Sister Senkenesh G. Miriam, who supports more than 400 orphans who are placed in foster families.
Miller's efforts caught the eyes of a few township women who began contributing money toward Miller's cause and earlier this year founded the Medhen Orphan Relief Effort, a nonprofit group that has raised more than $11,000 to help the children between 2 and 18 years of age.
Township residents Barbara Zecca, Maureen Strenk, Deirdre McGregor and Adele Leeds, among others, received the jewelry from Africa and were able to get the pieces displayed at Paul Michael's after the shop owner learned of the children's plight.
"I think it's beautiful," Paul Michael Giordano said during an interview at his store. "Definitely all of the bracelets are very appealing, and the crosses are definitely all appealing."
Some of the necklaces are made of large brown beads and other trinkets, some with large, diverse metal cross designs. Some of the wrist bracelets are made of small green, yellow and red beads, all of which represent Ethiopia's flag colors.
"I love it -- I wear it all the time as you can see," Zecca said, pointing to a necklace she was wearing while at the store.
They range in prices from $10 to $40, and will be on display during a Holiday Open House on Nov. 15 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Giordano said that in addition to the jewelry sales benefiting MORE, he will also donate 20 percent of anything else people purchase to the charity.
"It's very tough for them," Giordano said said of the orphans.
Miller said, "There are no safety nets to catch these children that are in extreme circumstances of need."
Ethiopia had some 720,000 AIDS orphans in 2003, according to the 2004 Children on the Brink report, published by UNICEF. The report estimates 12.3 million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. It also estimates that the orphan population will increase in the next decade as more HIV-positive parents become ill and die from AIDS.
It takes $120 a year to help care for a single orphan, Miller said, adding that the children come from "the poorest of the poor" in Africa.
Source: dailyrecord
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