Our Vision

The Shwe Shwe Poppis project has a vision of spreading the joy of the Shwe Shwe Poppis Family to all corners of the globe! We want to be a world-renowned brand that showcases the best in South African Design, whilst alleviating poverty, uplifting our community and promoting self esteem and confidence amongst our employees.

Our Story

The African Children's Community Education and Feeding Scheme (ACFS) was founded in 1945 by the legendary vicar Trevor Huddleston, and today distributes much-needed food to 26 000 children at 13 different centres in the Johannesburg townships daily!

In 2003, the ACFS approached Norwegian-based craft distributor Isandi to assist with market access for the work being produced by some of the informal craft groups affiliated to the ACFS, in a bid to create income-generating opportunities and thereby lessen community dependence on food parcels.

Various products and projects were attempted, until the idea to develop a range of dolls and soft toys based on the naive, heartfelt and utterly enchanting drawings being produced by the children of the Zola Crèche in Soweto was conceived ......and so the Shwe-Shwe Poppis were born!

From humble beginnings in 2006 our production group has grown to 21 people – grandmothers, young mothers, even some men! Today our proudly South African Poppis are exported around the world, have appeared on CNN and graced the pages of international publications like Vogue, Cosmopolitan and others.

In November 2006, the Shwe-Shwe Poppis Trust was established, with the primary aim of ensuring that the main profits from this exciting venture stay where it started - with the children and the Soweto community, safeguarding their future. To this end, a percentage of all profits go towards an Educational Fund administered by the Trust, which assists the creators and the ACFS.

Recently, our project was bolstered by the donation from the ComMark Trust of funding to purchase our very own house in Soweto, which we proudly moved into in mid 2009!