---

Shopping:  A Worldwide Force

Recently we got an email from an entrepreneur in Europe who owns 250 stores in 5 countries.  She began by saying how much she wanted to work with BeadforLife because we were doing good work with the poor.  She asked for our wholesale price list.  Once she got it and studied our prices, she wrote that she usually obtained her goods from China and requested that we reduce our wholesale price for our paper beads.  

Here is the problem: If we lower our prices we have to lower what we pay our beaders. And since our first goal is to put money into the hands of hard working women in Uganda, her request to meet the low prices of China would essentially mean keeping our beaders impoverished.

When you go shopping you are participating in a profoundly important behavior that affects people worldwide. It is perhaps the single most influential act by ordinary citizens that has international repercussions. Yet we rarely think that how and where we spend our money is a political act.  Like most people, I love to find a "good deal."  It makes me think that my money is going as far as possible, that I was clever to find something inexpensive.  As a culture, we are in love with the "cheapest is best" mentality and we flock to the large box stores that offer these deals.  That is why WalMart, with its focus on the cheapest possible cost, is such a success.  

During this busy season of shopping and spending your money, remember when
you look at handmade items from artisans around the world that
buying their products results in a better life for people a world away. 
In this light, these items are "a good deal.”   

As Thanksgiving approaches we feel so grateful for your enormous support and caring for BeadforLife, which is helping women like Fatuma and Zaitun (see below).  Your hands reaching out to form a circle of engagement is what makes it happen.   Giving beads for the holidays keeps us working all year. 

Thank you so much.  Weybali nyo.
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at BeadforLife.
Torkin Wakefield
Co-Executive Director

Click here to buy Bead Jewelry!

Shopping Is Giving:  Beads for the Holidays

As you prepare your list of holiday gifts, take a moment to consider what your purchases represent. BeadforLife offers an opportunity to buy gifts with added value; gifts which not only look beautiful and are affordable, but have a positive impact on the world as well. Please visit our web store where you can browse through the wide variety of fair trade and environmentally friendly gifts offered by BeadforLife.

Don’t miss!

• Our new multi-colored Katogo Line in three great styles: Short Necklace, Long Necklace, and Bangle Bracelet. $10, $15, and $5
• Our elegant and classy 3-Strand Necklace. Stunning at only $20
• Our 3-Strand Bracelet, beautiful by itself or when paired with other pieces. $15

Your gift gives twice; once to the lucky recipient and once to the woman who made the beads. Thank you for sharing your holidays with BeadforLife.

Singing in the Rain with Zaitun and Fatuma

“Now when it rains at night, I don’t stand in the mud,” smiles a beautiful Zaitun.  “It used to be disturbing us because when it rained we had to gather everything up and put it on the little table.  Then we would be made to stand in the water sometimes up to our waist...  There would be mud for some days.” Zaitun and her mother Fatuma have built a house in Friendship Village.  They have also started a mushroom-growing business  in a lean-to they have built. 

From this business they can make $100 a month, enough to feed themselves, send the children to school, and cater for all of their needs.

Impoverished people worldwide put up with daily burdens we would not even consider, like a river of mud and sewage flowing through our homes.  Women have the additional challenges and terrors of discrimination and violence, being discarded by men to fend for themselves.   According to the United Nations, women own only 2% of land owned worldwide.   That is probably why the 132 women who are now homeowners in our Friendship Village rejoice.  

“Now, at night I like to listen to the rain and hear music on our roof,” says Zaitun, who snuggles deep into her warm, dry bed.

BEADFORLIFE NEEDS A COSMETICS FORMULATOR

We are creating a new product line made from shea butter, benefitting 1600 women in Northern Uganda.   We need help developing simple cosmetic formulas for lotion and soap using shea butter and other materials available in Uganda.   

If you are a formulator, or know someone who would be willing to donate his or her services to BeadforLife, please email Devin@BeadforLife.org.

Take Action:  Food for All

We are encouraging our Bead Circle to Take Action locally this Thanksgiving season to help give back to those who are hungry in your own communities.  Right now, millions of Americans are struggling with hunger.   The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that in 2007:

• 36.2 million people lived in households considered to be food insecure.
• Of these 36.2 million, 23.8 million are adults (10.6 percent of all adults) and 12.4 million are children (16.9 percent of all children).

These are often hard-working adults, children and seniors who simply cannot make ends meet and are forced to go without food for several meals, or even days.

There are many ways to help – you can organize a food drive at your office, school, or place of worship; volunteer at a soup kitchen; or simply donate to your local food bank.  To find a local food bank near you and to learn more about hunger in the U.S, visit Feeding America at www.feedingamerica.org. 

Photos: Charles Steinberg