Fatuma, 33, has a broad smile and twinkle in her eyes that immediately creates a sense of fun and warmth.  Yet she has overcome enormous difficulty.  As a young teen, she was captured by the rebels who were waging war in the north.   Living with them for several years she bore two children before she was able to escape and make her way to Kampala.  There she moved into a slum along the railway tracks.  She picked coffee beans for 40 cents a day, not enough to feed herself and her children.

“You work so hard and have nothing after a long day.  If you do not get paid you do not eat,” she says of that time.  

 Fatuma later married a man who was an “askari,” a night watchman.  When she was pregnant with their youngest child, her husband was killed when thieves attempted to break into the office he was guarding.   Alone with four children, she did everything she could to feed them.

When she started rolling beads for BeadforLife she hoped to make about $30 a month.  Instead she earned almost $100.  “I was not expecting this good fortune.  Everyone who bought beads has taken care of me.”

When Fatuma joined BeadforLife her industrious nature came alive.  She bought a popcorn machine and started earning a second stream of income.  She now has built a house in Friendship Village and plans to buy a “boda boda,” a motorcycle used as a taxi.  She is well on her way out of poverty.