Fair Trade
Marketplace: For home goods, specialty items, gifts, and more, start your shopping with the Marketplace of Together Women Rise. You support the hard work of artisans from around the world, and a portion of your purchase is returned to further the work of Together Women Rise. See the full list here. If you are a vendor and are interested in participating, review our Cause Marketing Guidelines and submit a proposal here.
FairTrade Caravans is a social enterprise believing in people and planet before profit and passionate about the way fundraising is done and how products are purchased. It partners with schools and nonprofits giving back 25% of sales while supporting artisans and farmers around the world. Its fair trade products are made or grown with no child labor, fair wages, safe working conditions, and sustainable practices, ensuring that the producers — many of whom are women — have the opportunity to better themselves, their families, and their communities. Together Women Rise will receive 25% of all sales purchased through this link.
Books
Fiction
A Girl is A Body of Water
By Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
In her twelfth year, Kirabo, a young Ugandan girl, confronts a piercing question that has haunted her childhood: who is my mother? Kirabo has been raised by women in the small village of Nattetta—her grandmother, her best friend, and her many aunts, but the absence of her mother follows her like a shadow. Complicating these feelings of abandonment, as Kirabo comes of age she feels the emergence of a mysterious second self, a headstrong and confusing force inside her at odds with her sweet and obedient nature.
Seeking answers, Kirabo begins spending afternoons with Nsuuta, a local witch, trading stories and learning not only about this force inside her, but about the woman who birthed her, who she learns is alive but not ready to meet. Nsuuta also explains that Kirabo has a streak of the “first woman”—an independent, original state that has been all but lost to women.
Kirabo’s journey to reconcile her rebellious origins, alongside her desire to reconnect with her mother and to honor her family’s expectations, is rich in the folklore of Uganda and an arresting exploration of what it means to be a modern girl in a world that seems determined to silence women. Makumbi’s unforgettable novel is a sweeping testament to the true and lasting connections between history, tradition, family, friends, and the promise of a different future.
Amina’s Choice: A Cinderella Story from Uganda
By Catherine Kreutter
When Amina’s father decides to leave the village to work in the city, Amina’s quiet life is turned upside down. Amina now faces difficult choices- how to both obey her father and still follow her dream!
(For readers ages 8-14)
Non-Fiction
I Miss the Rain in Africa: The Peace Corps as a Third Act
By Nancy Daniel Wesson
Winner, Nautilus Book Award 2022
At a time when her friends were planning cushy retirements, Nancy Wesson instead walked away from a comfortable life and business to head out as a Peace Corps Volunteer in post-war Northern Uganda. She embraced wholeheartedly the grand adventure of living in a radically different culture, while turning old skills into wisdom. Returning home becomes a surreal experience in trying to reconcile a life that no longer “fits.” This becomes the catalyst for new revelations about family wounds, mystical experiences, and personal foibles.
Nancy shows us the power of stepping into the void to reconfigure life and enter the wilderness of the uncharted territory of our own memories and psyche, to mine the gems hidden therein. Funny, heartbreaking, insightful and tender, I Miss the Rain in Africa is the story of honoring the self, discovering a new lens through which to view life, and finding joy along the path.
Films
From Last Mile to Marketplace (Imagine Her)
For too long, rural communities have been labeled as the “last mile” – a destination for aid, rather than a source of growth. Imagine Her’s 2025 impact report tells a different story: these communities are the front line of the local economy. Innovation isn’t a distant dream in rural Uganda; it is a lived reality.
Lucky’s Journey to Healthier Homes & Communities (Imagine Her)
Through Imagine Her’s Social Enterprise and Innovation Program (SEIP), Lucky learned to design solutions with her community, not just for herself. Using patient returnable capital, she first upgraded her biodigester, improving how household waste could be converted into clean energy and organic fertilizer. She then expanded her dairy operation, increasing the resources available to power her system and amplify her impact.
Rachel Magoola
Available on Amazon streaming, MP3, and CD
From Amazon: Rachel is an Honorable Member of Parliament representing the Bugweri District, who has used her successful singing career, six previous solo albums, to help the people of Uganda.