Meet A Few of the Men at BeadforLife ...continued from The Bead Maalik Fahd Kayondo Mr. Kayondo, Vice-president of BeadforLife's Board of Directors, has advised BeadforLife in a variety of ways over the past several years and is a valued member of our BeadforLife family. Maalik Fahd Kayondo is a Renaissance man who has dedicated his career to build the economic health of Uganda through industrial development and training his fellow Ugandans in both agricultural and industrial production. His skills range from being an inventor, a chemist, a filmmaker, and a popular radio show host. He has spearheaded a practical fight against poverty through the dissemination of information and training the masses in realistic micro, small and medium enterprises that can be run at a cottage scale with a minimum possible investment. He does this by building on locally available resources and with reasonable productivity. Peter Bowman Describing himself as their “utility infielder” (in baseball, a utility infielder can play any of the infield positions), Donna Theobald and Suzanne Bowman know they could not have kept-on-keeping on into their fifth year as BeadforLife Community Partners without the consistent support of Suzanne’s husband, Peter. A Maine State Senator in his other life, Peter is a willing guy who has regularly stepped into every role helping with BeadforLife. Good at sales, he also definitely knows the difference between setting up a $20.00 tent from Big Lot and an $85.00 tent from Home Depot. Peter shows up early and works tirelessly. Numerically challenged, Suzanne and Donna harbor a basic fear of accurately keeping track of cash received and items sold (“That’s close enough, don’t you think?” we reassure one another), but when Peter, with his engineering background, is doing the recording the numbers are much more likely to jive. Dennis Odor See a video clip of Denis “When you get something you have really wanted, you work hard,” says Dennis. “Mechanics has been my dream since I was a really young one, and I would watch my neighbor work on this car. I would hang in over the motor admiring what a fine thing it was!” Dennis, 24, was a poor boy from a large family of 11 children. Only four are still living. Seven of them most likely died of malaria, since Dennis comes from Apache, the area with the highest malaria incidence in Uganda. His father, whose colorful name “Bera Bora” means “the sky is high,” was a tailor who was paralyzed in an accident. When BeadforLife met Dennis, he and his mother were running a small vegetable stand by the roadside to eke out a small living for the family. Dennis is now a second year student in BeadforLife’s Vocational Training Program. He will graduate soon and will be ready to work in an auto garage or industrial plant as a mechanic. He looks forward to supporting his parents and three sisters. “I had no hope, only an interest to study,” he says. “BeadforLife uplifted my future. I will give it my all.” Charles Steinberg Charles Steinberg, MD has taken almost all of the incredible photos that are used by BeadforLife on our website and in our educational materials.Charles is an AIDS doctor, and husband of co-founder Torkin Wakefield. It was because of his appointment to the medical school in Uganda that he and Torkin first went to Uganda five years ago. The beaders often say “Thank you for bringing Torkin to us!”. When he is not taking photos for BeadforLife he is teaching African doctors and nurses how to provide AIDS care. He can be counted on to do a medical consultation for a sick beader or to lend a hand when there are “grunt” work tasks to be performed. We are so lucky to have a photographer of his stature on the Bead Team. David Gastard Ugandan pumpkin soup has been one of David Gastard's favorite dishes since he and his wife organized their first BeadParty in their home in the South of France in 2006. Since discovering BeadforLife, David has become a very active volunteer for the BeadforLife European office; from building jewelry display stands to counting beads or sharing the BeadforLife story with his colleagues and friends. David, who is an IT engineer, athlete, thespian and father-of-two, recently spent 9 days of his summer vacation working as a volunteer at the BeadforLife booth during the Music Festival in his home region of Brittany. Rain or shine, David is always very enthusiastic about answering questions, talking about the organization and recruiting new volunteers. Mike Brady Mike Brady is the Treasurer/Secretary of BeadforLife. He has been a strong supporter of BeadforLife since it's very beginnings, and joined the Board in January 2008. Mike brings to the Board his wisdom earned over 18 years in the finance world. When wearing the secretary hat, he ensures all the official organizational records are kept up to date and maintained, and that the bylaws are in order. He works with the staff to ensure any decisions of the Board of Directors are properly communicated. As Treasurer, Mike oversees and reports to the Board on the finances of BeadforLife. Most recently he worked with the Business Director to ensure a clear checks and balances for all cash management.