Jubilation in Friendship Village!

Dear BeadforLife board, staff, community partners, volunteers, and Bead Circle members,

I want to share with you incredible moments I had the amazing grace to experience last week at Friendship Village.  It was the day we handed over the first 22 land titles to women who fully paid their mortgages. 

The women themselves created a beautiful ceremony with huge amplifiers for joyful music, a tent, and chairs set up for everyone to witness the event.  In any sort of special ceremony, the guest of honor is called the “Bagolay” or “bride” and on this day we had 22 brides, each dressed in their finest traditional Ugandan dress, helped by friends and neighbors who descended on their homes for the occasion. 

The absolute highlight of the day was the parade from one home to the next. The homeowner would scramble up onto her front porch, friends streaming up around her, to dance, ululate, and receive a framed certificate for her wall stating she is now the rightful owner of this house. 

More than the shouts of happiness during the parade, more than the tears of joy when they saw their own names on the legal deed, more than the outrageous dancing that continued long after we left and into the night, more than any of that I will remember one thing.  I will remember the look of pride, worth, value, and confidence that streamed from the women’s eyes as they became homeowners.

It was such a poignant moment for me as I had been in the homes of most of these women, seen the small mud huts where they were living when we met them, and remembered how frail or ill they had been then.  The beautiful, healthy, joyful women in front of me were not those same women, either in body or in spirit.

During the day praise and thanks was heaped upon BeadforLife, and I want to pass it on to each one of you.  Their accomplishments are possible because of their hard work, but also because of the work of each of you who have helped BeadforLife.  

I bow in thanks to each of you and wish you could have been here beside me.

Devin Hibbard
Co-Executive Director 

Shea Butter Soap and Lip Balm
Coming Fall 2010!

Look Good, Do Good, Feel Good!

We are finalizing the touches on our newest products – BeadforLife shea butter soap and lip balm - launching in Fall 2010.  Shea butter is well-known for its incredible moisturizing properties. Now you can purchase products that make you beautiful and help women in Northern Uganda earn income. The women we are working with were all displaced by 20 years of brutal civil conflict. Many had homes burned and saw things that were too terrible to describe.

Now through the Shea Initiative five hundred women are rebuilding their lives gathering wild shea nuts and earning regular incomes.

Shea has been used for generations as cooking oil in Uganda and is known as “Women’s Gold”. Women collect and process the nuts into butter which we are introducing into the international cosmetics industry. 

Look for shea butter soap and lip balm this fall in BeadParties, on our website, and in our retail store.  Pure shea butter is now available to cosmetic companies, soap makers, and home crafters. To buy our pure shea butter wholesale please email us at shea@beadforlife.org.

Look Good, Do Good, Feel Good!

Traveling to Colorado this Summer? 
Visit BeadforLife

If you are coming to Colorado this summer please stop by our BeadforLife office and store and say hello.  We always love to meet members of the BeadCircle because you are what makes everything we do possible. Ask for Ashley for a warm welcome.
Office: 2336 Canyon Blvd. Suite 202, Boulder, CO. 
Phone: 303-554-5901.

Our next Bead issue will be in September.  Be safe and enjoy the abundance of summer. 

Shopping Is Giving:
Add Beads to Your Wedding!

We recently heard from a man who asked his wife to marry him with a custom bracelet made from BeadforLife beads. In his wife’s words, “The fact that Ugandan women made these beads added a tremendous amount of value to the engagement! This symbol of our commitment to each other also represents something real and valuable to those Ugandan women and their families.”

Incorporating BeadforLife items into your wedding can add another layer of meaning to an already profound day in your life. Consider these and other creative ideas:

Wedding favors: Our Bangle Bracelets make wonderful wedding favors for $5 each.

Bridesmaid gifts: Give each of your Bridesmaids a matching 3-strand necklace and 3-strand bracelet in the colors you choose. $35 for the set – call us for matching sets.

Beaded Organza Gift Bags: Wrap your gifts in these beautiful cream colored bags - $2.

Check out these and other items at our webstore:

Your gift gives twice; once to the lucky recipient and once to the woman who made the beads.

BeadforLife Curriculum for Youth
in Action!

For each of the past 3 years Wisconsin’s Silver Lake Middle School Social Studies teacher Kristie Coughlin has used her seventh grade teaching unit on Africa as an opportunity to introduce her students to a service learning project. When her colleague Tina Heinecke-Kurtz mentioned our new curriculum for youth Kristie was excited to use it with her students:

“I went on line, was intrigued by the examples shared and decided to purchase the full package.  And I am so happy that I did.  I truly think it added to the students understanding of Africa and poverty.  It was amazing how it complimented our current curriculum and even took it to the next level of awareness."

After Kristie taught the curriculum in her classroom the Silver Lake students chose to host a BeadforLife Education Outpost for students, parents and community members. According to Tina and Kristie the event was a great success with “much of the students work that evening coming from the curriculum received from BeadforLife, it aligns perfectly with district standards.”

Check out the podcast created by the Silver Lake students sharing their experiences:

Kristie wrote to say “It really is an amazing experience to be caught up in.  I am so glad that I have been a part of it (BeadforLife) over the last two years.  The beads and jewelry are amazing and my students and their learning -- incredible!”

This curriculum is appropriate for all youth leaders as well as teachers.  Over 1600 people have now ordered the curriculum. We would love to talk to you about your experience and if you have any suggestions or feedback. To learn more about how you can use this exciting & engaging curriculum with youth please contact:

Patty Manwaring
BeadforLife Education Program Manager patty@beadforlife.org 

Travel to Uganda: Oct 10 -21

Experience the unique opportunity of supporting a cause that is making a difference while traveling to Uganda.  You’ll get an insider’s view of what it takes to eradicate poverty one bead at a time from BeadforLife, an innovative poverty eradication program in Uganda. Visit the BeadforLife program office where staff and beaders will walk you through the unique process of making and selling the paper beads and how BeadforLife supports its members. 

From the slums of Kampala to Friendship Village, you’ll participate in a cultural exchange to understand the day-to-day challenges and triumphs faced by BeadforLife members as they make great strides to transition out of poverty into a more stable life.  Meet HIV educators and clinicians who are on the frontline of fighting HIV at the Infectious Disease Institute. 

Afterward, you’re sure to make new friends at the M-LISADA orphanage where you will hear a concert performed by the youth who are learning musical and performance skills. Visit Murchison Falls National Park and absorb the natural beauty, see lions, giraffes, elephants and other animals in their natural habitat, and learn about conservation efforts.  Share this journey with other people who also want to make the world a better place.

Email Mary Jo O'Hara:  maryjo@gophilanthropic.com for detailed itinerary and registration.

The Deeding Ceremony in Friendship Village