Our Mission

At EsperanzArt, our mission is to offer hope to women coming out of prostitution in Ecuador.

Our method to achieve this is through creating opportunities. EsperanzArt offers job training, invaluable community, and a steady income to women who are in the brave process of leaving prostitution. EsperanzArt is one of three branches of End Slavery Ecuador. The women who participate in the EsperanzArt workshop also receive love and services from other ESE programs such as our psychological, educational, spiritual, or career development programs.

It is important to us that every dollar generated by EsperanzArt goes towards helping these women. Thus, when a piece of jewelry is sold the money goes towards:

- Paying the woman who made that piece
- Material costs for that specific piece
- End Slavery Ecuador expenses 
(counseling, education costs, program cost, etc). 

Sex-Trafficking in Ecuador

Imagine growing up in a small house that only has power half the time. Things get hard and food becomes scarce; suddenly, you find yourself leaving with a stranger. Your parents tell you it's to help provide for your family... You never see them again.

Or maybe you grow up in a loving household, but your father passes away unexpectedly. Your mom does her best to provide for your family, but can't make ends meet. Her options dwindle until it's either selling her body or watching her children starve.

There are so many ways that someone may find themselves trapped in the sex trade.

Sexual exploitation is one of the most common and heartbreaking tragedies in our broken world. This situation is especially prevalent in Ecuador. A small, developing country located in South America. Many women (from Ecuador as well as from other countries) are forced into the legal industry of prostitution, and even those who aren't forced into it originally often find themselves trapped and unable to leave the sex trade.

EsperanzArt – alongside End Slavery Ecuador – seeks to find and help these women by creating opportunities for them to leave and start a new life for themselves.

We invite you to help combat this issue in Ecuador. By wearing EsperanzArt jewelry, people choose to take action against the sex trade and bring hope, healing, and opportunity to these women. Our hope is that you would also take the opportunity to join our ministry through buying EsperanzArt jewelry, sharing our stories, and praying for our women (as well as the women we hope to meet and serve in the future).

Note:

We love sharing the women’s stories of healing and redemption. However, some of them come from dangerous situations, with traffickers still looking for them. For this reason we must protect the privacy and security of our women, not revealing names, details, or showing identifying photos.

Our Organic Materials

Tagua Nut

Tagua nut is one of the organic materials local to Ecuador that we use at EsperanzArt. It is grown on the coast of Ecuador, where it is harvested from the ground. Then, the tagua nut passes through a process of drying, hardening, and carving. Its natural color and texture so closely resemble ivory that it is often called “vegetable ivory”. People promote the use of tagua nut over animal ivory, as it is much more humane.

Açaí Berry

The Açaí Palm is a tree which grows in the tropical rainforest of Ecuador and many other South American countries. The indigenous people have been harvesting the fruit from this tree for hundreds of years. Many know about açaí berries for being the Amazon’s most powerfully nutritious superfood, but the berries can also be used to make gorgeous necklaces and bracelets! To make these beads, the açaí berries are handpicked, and the seeds are dried, shaped, drilled, and dyed.

Pambil Seed

These seeds come from one of the grandest palms of South America. The Pambil Palm is an essential resource for the culture of Peru and Ecuador, as its wood is used for constructing houses, lances, bows, and blowpipes, and the leaves are woven into roofs of native huts. The Pambil palm’s fruit, approximately one inch in diameter, contains the delicate seeds used in our jewelry.