Bead for Life
Location: Uganda
Grant Amount: $55,092.50
Grantee Website: www.beadforlife.org
Areas of Impact: Economic Sustainability, Health
Mission of Bead for Life
To create sustainable opportunities for women to lift their families out of extreme poverty by connecting people worldwide in a circle of exchange that enriches everyone.
Summary
The core of BeadforLife’s program is income generation, putting money directly into the hands of women in Uganda. The fundamental goal is to have members become independent and self-sustaining within 27 months. Members are trained to roll beads and make jewelry and begin to earn a steady income. In the first month they open savings accounts for the business. They also receive health care education, family planning, and mosquito nets. About the sixth month, members attend an entrepreneurial training course and begin a business plan. They may also save money to build a house in Friendship Village, a BeadforLife project to provide affordable housing, or to obtain a house in a location of their choice. DFW donations will support the beaders.
Why We Love This
There is a burden of three sorrows that afflict Uganda’s people: (1) the AIDS epidemic that has already killed over a million people and orphaned over a million children; (2) a war in Northern Uganda persisting for 20 years and forcing a million and a half people to flee their homes, who are now living in filthy camps, slums or other parts of the country; and (3) extreme poverty affecting over three-quarters of the population. In Uganda, over 80% of the people survive on less than a dollar a day. With support from organizations like DFW, BeadforLife provides opportunities for a better life; Ugandan women (many are HIV positive, widowed or internally displaced) turn colorful recycled paper into beautiful bead jewelry, and people who care open their hearts, homes and communities to buy and sell the beads. The beads become income, food, medicine, school fees and hope.
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