The Jendando organization's function is to educate the craftspeople on the need for reforestation to enable the products to be available for years to come and offer a sustainable income for generations. While wood carving provides the major income for many in the Machakos area of Kenya, other craftspeople earn a living by further enhancing the products including painting the napkin rings and carving discarded animal bone for the handles of salad serving sets. Often the bone is "batiked" by placing wax on the white bone and dipping the bone a dark brown/black dye, resulting in the patterns of traditional African mud cloth designs.

Tagua nut is a rainforest nut known as vegetable ivory for its likeness to animal ivory. These are seeds that grow in pods called Cabezas that come from the tagua nut palm tree. Tagua's smooth, hard texture is an ideal medium for carving jewelry, boxes and other figurines or using the seed slices as beads for necklaces, bracelets and other craft projects.

Find unique and meaningful Mother's Day gifts that support sustainability and bring joy to both moms and nature.