Fair Trade
Meaning dream, Imena symbolizes the beaders’ hopes for brighter futures. Each Imeana
Painted Necklace is truly unique. The original three painters (Muzaki Freda, Namyalo
Florence, and Nabankema Rebecca) began handpainting giraffes, zebras, and fish onto each
recycled paper bead. Since then, several other talented artisans have joined their team,
creating beautiful, one-of-a-kind pieces.
Dining for Women has supported Bead for Life since 2009, providing more than $75,000 in
grants to help them create sustainable opportunities for women.
- Handmade paper beads strung onto durable plastic line with complementary seed beads
- Standard length 18”-21”
- Finished with a toggle clasp and signature BeadForLife tag
- $50
Tina Twist Necklace
A necklace with a surprising twist. Eight strands of emerald green glass beads interlocked
with bronze glass beads. Handcrafted by women artisans in Uganda for ASSET’s Bead2Read
program.
- $35
Dining for Women supported ASSET in November 2013 with a $45,000 grant to provide
higher education scholarships and mentoring to disadvantaged college-level students in
Uganda who demonstrate real potential for success. Through its Bead2Read program, ASSET
also works with a network of talented women artisans from impoverished backgrounds who
have low levels of educational attainment.
ASSET provides training and professional development to advance their income-earning opportunities through the production of beautiful jewelry. These women artisans are extremely talented but often lack access to a market for their products and thus continue to earn a low income. ASSET provides a link to the U.S. market and any revenue generated from the jewelry provides a fair income for the artisans to support their families and educate their own children, while any additional revenue goes toward supporting higher education scholarships for young women. For these artisans, many of whom are the main income earners in their households, making this jewelry is their path out of poverty.
Books
Fiction
By Latrice Simpkins (self-published, 2013)
Matika, a young daughter of an affluent and prominent military general, is abandoned by her mother and separated from her siblings during Uganda’s Lords Liberation Army raid. She escapes into the jungle chased by a delusional colonel, who becomes obsessed with her emerging beauty. This short story details how Matika survives the war’s brutality and its aftermath. The author donates proceeds from sales of the book to Call to Care Uganda, a humanitarian non-profit organization founded in 2007, with a mission to improve the lives of vulnerable children and those who care for them in Uganda. Their work, which focuses on building water projects in remote villages, helps keep women and girls from the long walks to the water sources reducing the risk of assault while en route and enabling girls to stay in school.
African Love Stories: An Anthology
Edited by Ama Ata Aidoo (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2007)
This collection of contemporary love stories by women from Africa and the African Diaspora combines the tentative freshness of budding writers with the confidence of established and award-winning authors.
The anthology debunks preconceived notions about African women as impoverished victims, showing their strength, complexity, and diversity. The stories deal with a range of challenging themes including taboo subjects such as same-sex relationships, domestic violence, female circumcision, and ageism to produce a melting pot of narratives from multiple informed perspectives.
Contributors include: Sindiwe Magona and Antjie Krog from South Africa, Véronique Tadjo from Côte d’Ivoire, Leila Aboulela from the Sudan, Nawal El Saadawi from Egypt, Helen Oyeyemi, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sarah Manyika, Sefi Atta, and Promise Ogochukwu from Nigeria, Yaba Badoe from Ghana, Wangui wa Goro from Kenya, Doreen Baingana and Monica Arac de Nyeko (winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing, 2007) from Uganda.
Non-Fiction
By Els De Temmerman (Fountain Publications, 1995)
In October 1996,199 girls were abducted from St Mary’s College, in northern Uganda. In an act of extraordinary courage, Sister Rachele, the Italian deputy headmistress, followed the abductors. Her journey took her to the Lord’s Resistance Army, led by Joseph Kony, where she managed to secure the release of the majority of the girls. What happened to the remaining thirty girls and thousands of other children who have disappeared from their homes and schools in northern Uganda since the arrival of the Lord’s Resistance Army? In this book journalist Els De Temmerman reconstructs the journey of two Aboke girls who managed to escape and one of the abductors, a fourteen year old boy who was part of Kony’s elite troops.
Edited by Violet Burungi, Editor- Femrite Publications (Uganda Women’s Writers Association (2013)
In Talking Tales a variety of women tell their stories in prose and poetry. They cast their nets wide, hauling in themes that celebrate as much as they castigate and mourn. There is the delight of discovering oneself on the cusp of womanhood, and of hearing about success in the fight for women’s emancipation. There is also the wonder at the restorative power of love. However, the murkier side of human life is explored too: the failed search for love, unwanted advances, misunderstood affinities, incest, betrayal, disillusionment, unfruitful enterprise, domestic violence, corruption, brutality, injustice, the capriciousness of fortune…The realistic, the near-fantastic and the bizarre all find their place here. The themes are handled with forthrightness and humour as the writers take full advantage of the possibilities inherent in the different ways of telling tales: poetic, epistolary, expository, and straightforward narrative.
Films
Delicious Peace Grows in a Ugandan Coffee Bean
Living in the lingering wake of the Idi Amin regime of terror and intolerance, a group of Christian, Jewish and Muslim coffee farmers in the foothills of Mount Elgon in Uganda sought to work collectively to overcome economic hurdles and challenge ingrained religious prejudices. They formed “Delicious Peace” Coffee Cooperative and partnered with a Fair Trade US buyer and roaster. Their endeavor has been successful. Today, the farmers’ standard of living is improving, peace is flourishing, and their messages of peace and fair wages are spreading to farmers in nearby regions as well as to their coffee customers in the US.
Produced and directed by Curt Fissel and Ellen Friedland, and narrated by actor Ed O’Neill, Delicious Peace Grows in a Ugandan Coffee bean is a 40-minute documentary that tells the farmers uplifting and inspiring story.
The Last King of Scotland (2006, 123 minutes)
Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s, The Last Kind of Scotland intertwines the fictional story of Dr. Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), a young Scottish doctor who travels to Uganda, with factual events during Amin’s (Forest Whitaker) rule. Forest Whitaker won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Amin.
Music
Juliana Kanyamozi rose to fame in the late 1990’s as one half of the all-girl duo I-Jay, with Iryn Namubiru. The group’s single titled Vive la Vie was a popular record on Ugandan radio stations at that time. After the duo disbanded, Juliana launched a solo career. She has been winning awards since 2004, and was the first woman to win the Artiste of The Year title at the Pearl of Africa Music (PAM) Awards in 2008. Her most recent honor was the 2014 Airtel Women of Substance Award in the Music Category.
Madoxx is the stage name for the Ugandan roots reggae musician David Amon Ssemanda Ssematimba. Madoxx, who is popular in Uganda for his reggae ballads in Luganda, lives in Sweden. Ssematimba was born in Kampala. Before choosing a path in music, Ssematimba worked as a primary school teacher. He relocated to Stockholm in 1991, and performed in night-clubs to pay for his computer studies. Madoxx wrote, composed, arranged, programmed, performed, co-mixed and produced all the songs on his albums. Released in 2000, Madoxx’s first album named Tukolagane became a major hit in Uganda. He followed up in 2006 with the album Abato (the youth), with hit singles like “Nakatudde” (a love song), “Leka Nkulage” (let me show you, that my love for you, is still very strong after all these years), “Easy”, “Wansonyi” (my girlfriend is very shy, but I love her anyway), and more.