The iPhepha Beads project was started in October 2011 as a community empowerment project with a number of self-help groups of unemployed people, most of whom are vulnerable women and youth from the KZN Midlands of South Africa. They are repurposing paper from glossy magazines, boxes, calendars, brochures and other paper, creating beauty out of waste. The jewellery is interspersed with glass, wood, seed beads and buttons, with minimal use of plastic beads or imports.