Genocide and social deprivation are huge issues to tackle. Heather Bellamy caught up with Anne Horrobin who's doing just that through cards!

Anne Horrobin at Cards from Africa, Rwanda

Heather: Why 'Just Cards'? What got you involved in social issues and why did you choose to do so through retail?

Anne: The idea for Just Cards Direct came into being a year ago, when a friend suggested that we start a Kingdom business that would financially support the work of Christian charities working in Africa. Five minutes later, my life had changed...'we could sell cards' I gleefully suggested!

Since then our aim has developed so that we are not only raising money for charities, but we are also supporting people in poverty at a grass roots level, by providing employment. We sell 'just cards' - meaning that we not only sell cards but that we also help to provide justice, dignity and hope for the disadvantaged.

For me, the social problems in Africa are very much linked to the spiritual problems. Therefore we are trying to put together both practical physical help, as well as emotional and spiritual help through the charities. The two should go hand in hand!

A Kingdom business, through retail, where we apply the principles of God's Kingdom, is a great way of not only providing an outlet for card makers in Africa, but also of raising the profile of those who are suffering in that continent.

Cards from Africa, Rwanda

Heather: What are the particular issues that are close to your heart regarding the African nations?

Anne: I have a particular heart for those who have been traumatised and emotionally broken, and some of the charities we work with are focused on bringing God's healing to such people, through teaching, workshops and ministry.

Heather: Many of the problems facing the African nations are huge in scale, what gives you the motivation and hope to do anything on the small scale of helping individuals? Can you really bring change through what you're doing?

Anne: On the face of it, providing an outlet for a few card projects in Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa would seem like a drop in the ocean, compared to the needs of Africa. But it's so easy to be overwhelmed by the need and stand paralysed into doing ... nothing. As we read the principles of the Kingdom of God, we realise that our faith as Christians needs to transfer into action.

For the few that we do help in practical terms, Just Cards Direct has been a real answer to a cry for help. Infact, the ladies in our card project in Mamelodi Township, South Africa, have named their project 'Karabo', which means 'Answer' in their own language.

However, the thing that really excites me is when a Kingdom business, like Just Cards Direct, works in partnership with charities. That's when we start to see enormous potential!

For example, in Rwanda, we partner with two charities called Flame International (www.flameinternational.org) and Ellel Ministries (www.ellelministries.org). These 2 charities are starting to work in that hurting land to bring healing to those who have been traumatised and broken through the genocide of 1994. They are working at a local level, bringing teaching and healing to individuals through Jesus, but also increasingly at a national level, teaching pastors and leaders about how to bring healing to their land.

Heather: We recently published an article entitled 'Making Fair Trade Really Fair'. In what way is your trade really fair? Can you compare that to UK trade for us so we have a context to understand?

Anne: In Rwanda we work with 2 different card projects. One of them, Cards from Africa (www.cardsfromafrica.com), is fair-trade registered and does an amazing work in employing child-headed households. They pay them a fair wage for the work that they do, according to what would be expected in Rwanda. However, they do much more than that as they also provide practical help and support, counselling if required, and a sense of family.

The projects that we work with in Kenya and South Africa also combine employment with discipleship and teaching on issues that are relevant to their lives - like how to forgive, how to deal with anger, as well as health and life issues.

As we are a new business, we are still putting in motion all the legal requirements of a fair-trade business, but hope that this will come in 2008.

Heather: Hearing personal stories always helps those of us trying to understand practical issues, can you tell us of any lives changed, or ways that what you're doing has helped those in the African nations?

Anne: In Rwanda, many of the people making cards, in both the banana leaf projects and 'Cards from Africa' are orphans or widows. I visited Rwanda in June 2007 and am due to go again in February 2008. The level of pain and suffering in that country is more than I have ever seen anywhere in the world - and more than I can ever imagine. To pick out 1 person almost belittles the scale of the suffering. Of the 40 young people working at 'Cards from Africa', each and every one has a story that breaks my heart. None of them have parents, all represent child-headed households - young people who at the aged of 5-10 witnessed their parents being butchered to death, yet somehow they survived but now live with the burden of being brother, sister, father and mother to their younger siblings. As in the rest of Africa, there are no social benefits, housing or medical care for those who can't pay.

Yves is the manager of 'Cards from Africa', himself a Rwandan in his 20's who has suffered much. When I asked him how the genocide had affected him, he said that even if he described it to me, I might understand 1% of what he suffered. Then he thought for a few minutes in silence, and added 'but imagine that you grow up in a close neighbourhood, living alongside family and friends, and then one day your uncle kills your family.' Now it was my turn to swallow hard in silence!

Banana Leaf card project, Rwanda

Heather: What sort of cards do you offer? Please give us your sales pitch to encourage us to use your store.

Anne: We sell a wide range of both handmade and printed cards for all occasions. We import cards from Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa, all of which are of a high quality that sell extremely well in the UK. All come from Christian based card projects and all employ those who would otherwise not have work. Our best selling cards come from Rwanda and are made from banana leaves.

We have started printing our own Christmas cards and work with a very talented Christian UK artist on the designs.

We work closely with several charities and donate 10% of a sale to a charity that the purchaser chooses, as long as the charity is registered with us. However, overall we give over 50% of our profits to charities, with the whole focus of the business being about building the Kingdom of God in the developing world.

All our cards are available online at www.justcardsdirect.com. We also sell through a system of individual traders and through charities.

Heather: What do you have planned for 2008 and beyond; expansion, development?

Anne: The business was registered in the UK in February 2007 and most of this year has been spent setting up the business, doing the ground work and visiting projects.

2008 will be a year to start expanding, in terms of cards sold, projects supported and personnel. We would like to develop links with other UK based Christian charities. We would also like to start printing our own range of general cards, as well as developing the handmade cards from Africa and registering as a fair-trade organisation.

Since starting Just Cards Direct, I have never felt more fulfilled, and am so excited to see where God will take the business. The potential, I know, is enormous!