Rose’s life started out humbly but happily. She married young to a man she loved and had three daughters. Because she had not produced a son, her in-laws convinced her husband to take on another wife. This “co-wife” did give birth to a son but both she and the baby died within a year. It was then that Rose discovered that both she and her husband had gotten AIDS. 

When her husband, who was the wage earner, was killed in an auto accident, Rose and her children were immediately plunged into poverty. “My life had so many problems. I used to look in trash bins for food. I would crush up one aspirin to make it last a week to help me with the fever. I had no money to pay the rent, no joy in our house.”

But all that changed when Rose started rolling beads. She was not naturally dexterous at making beads, so she had to really struggle to perfect her beads. Her 75-year-old mother joined her in bead making and soon the family was doing well. Rose now has diversified into making jewelry with many different materials.  She sells her jewelry at several different locations in Kampala. 

She says to everyone who supports BeadforLife, “Thank you for not sitting in your soft chair while I was dying.”