Paper Jewelry
2011 was a tough year. Tough in Uganda where inflation reached 19%, putting items like sugar out of reach for many families, and tough in America where unemployment soared and many people experienced a shrinking standard of living. As our 2011 holiday initiative, BeadforLife reached out to women in America who are struggling to get [...]
Two years ago Suubi and Sanyu groups were enrolled into the BeadforLife program, their faces wore a heaviness that could only be interpreted as sadness, worrying, hopelessness and anxiety. They came and rolled many million beads which became small and big businesses, houses, education for their children, independence, acceptance by the community and families. Recalls [...]
I have been volunteering with BeadforLife for about a year. Through my volunteer work, I have been fortunate to contribute to two of BeadforLife’s goals—the sale of beads to support sustainable programs in Uganda and the education of people in the U.S. about extreme poverty. I first volunteered for BeadforLife during the national I Volunteer [...]
Continue reading about A Colorful and Educational Volunteer Experience
In our never ending commitment to becoming more sustainable, the BeadforLife environmental committee attended a “greening your office” session last Friday. The Business Leaders in Action for Sustainability Today or BLAST! is an entity created by the folks at Amadeus Consulting, an amazing tech consulting group who offers a free presentation to other businesses and [...]
The activities in the inventory department, at BeadforLife include: purchase of beautiful beads from members, storage, quality control and shipping. Bead jewelry is purchased from members and sold to meet existing demand. Necklaces, bracelets and earrings are bundled and tagged; differentiated by style and color, before shipment to Europe and North America. The proceeds from [...]
Continue reading about Behind the walls of the Inventory Department at BeadForLife Uganda
“We want to sing you a song to bring you twins!” shouted the women, before engulfing BeadforLife staff member Phoebe Aringo in a tide of clapping, dancing, ululating bodies, showering prayers for two babies. As the coordinator of Suubi group, Phoebe has worked with these women for the past two years, acting as resource and [...]
BeadforLife Community Partner, Eva Witt Larsen, shares her experience of hosting BeadParties half a world away. Most people already know that BeadforLife’s mission and success can be directly attributed to our amazing network of volunteers and BeadParty hosts, but some may be unfamiliar with the work our Community Partners do, both in the US and [...]
I am from Los Angeles, California. I grew up in California, went to Berkeley in the 60s, and was a full-fledged hippie. I love to travel and have been blessed to see a lot of the world, including recently living and working in Madurai, India and Kisumu, Africa. I worked in both places as a psychotherapist training [...]
Continue reading about Meet BeadforLife Volunteer – Joanne Jacoby
It was a bright Friday morning; everybody seemed overwhelmed by the activities going on in inventory as we prepared for our very first sea shipment in a huge container that would carry our beads and shea butter to America. Despite the humming and singing of gospel music that goes on in inventory, everyone seemed busy [...]