Rural Africa

Alecia McClure on February 20th, 2012

Consider this:  Out of the world’s 130 million out-of-school youth, 70% are girls  (The Girl Effect) One girl in seven in developing countries marries before age 15 (USAID) Gender inequality continues to be a pervasive global issue, especially when it comes to education. We know that girls who stay in school through their teenage years [...]

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Karen McKenna on February 9th, 2012

The BeadforLife team was finishing up home visits to the members in Iganga when we met Eseza, a malnourished four year old girl with severe burns along the right side of her face. Her right eye was entirely burned shut.  Eseza  had fallen into a pot of hot beans at a neighbor’s house three days earlier. [...]

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Korri Roach on February 8th, 2012

Our 100% natural shea butter is from the Vitellaria Paradoxa sub species nilotica which grows across Northern Uganda. With higher olien content than West African shea, nilotica is a silky smooth product high in vitamins A, E and F. The shea trees grow wild across Northern Uganda, and for generations the nuts have been collected [...]

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Devin Hibbard on January 30th, 2012

BeadforLife has some BIG plans for the future.  Our Board of Directors just authorized a significant scale up of activities in Uganda over the next 5 years with some projects  starting as soon as July. Judith Butagira-Tema, our Deputy Director from Uganda, was in Boulder this week to help brainstorm ideas, look at the best [...]

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BeadforLife Staff on November 15th, 2011

By BeadforLife Volunteer, Karen McKenna Nayiwemula Edith used to dig in other people’s gardens to make enough money to send one of her five children to school.  She now owns two acres of land in a village in eastern Uganda where she plants maize and rice.  The profit from these crops, along with income from [...]

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BeadforLife Staff on November 3rd, 2011

According to United Nations the 7 billionth person was born this week. CNN recently posted an article entitled: How women defused population bomb.  In his article, Fred Pearce talks about how “women today are having half as many children as their mothers and grandmothers. The global average is now down to 2.5 children per woman, [...]

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“The world’s worst forgotten humanitarian crisis” according to former U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Jan Egeland, was northern Uganda.  Mr. Egeland made this remark in 2006 and while northern Uganda “is dramatically different than it was in 2006,” the effects of Joseph Kony’s reign of terror can be felt when you talk to many of the members of BeadforLife’s Shea Project. Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army [...]

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BeadforLife Staff on October 18th, 2011

Since the beginning of the year, the Uganda currency has been falling against the dollar.  When I moved to Uganda in 2008, you could get about 1600 shillings per dollar. Now the rate is around 2900.  Imagine if two years ago you spent $5.50 for a sandwich and today it cost you $10 – that [...]

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BeadforLife Staff on October 14th, 2011

You may be aware that the women of the BeadforLife’s Shea Project have suffered many hardships. For 20 years, they were terrorized by the  Lord’s Resistance Army, a band of rebels who abducted children to fight as  soldiers or act as concubines to their leaders. The 760 women in this project  and their families were forced [...]

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BeadforLife Staff on February 18th, 2011

The word for HOPE in Lugandan (a Ugandan language) is SUUBI.  It’s an appropriate word for today.  Today is a National holiday in Uganda as they are holding their presidential elections.  We all hope it will a be a peaceful day for all. For the past five days I’ve been meeting so many Ugandans and my biggest impression about them [...]

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