I am sooooo excited … I will soon be able to offer handmade beaded necklaces and bracelets made by widows living in Uganda. Let me give you a little history of Three Stitchers first. The business developed as an offshoot of homeschooling four kids. We spun, dyed, felted and knit wool into various products and sold them at local art events and on the internet. It was a micro business before the word ‘micro business’ occurred.  It enabled me to stay at home with the kids, teach them basic business skills, how to relate to adults and computer skills.  I am delighted to use the internet skills I learned over the years to benefit another micro business located in Uganda.  Below is an article that ALARM published in their April Newsletter that explains the beads and the business.

The women who made this jewelry were displaced from their homes in northern Uganda by a 21 year war. After fleeing on foot to the south, they have settled in Kampala, where the King of Buganda gave them land for what now looks like a refugee camp.

Of the 22 women in this group, most are widows. Some are HIV positive. A few are married, but their husbands don’t have work. All the women are very poor. They have built their houses out of mud, using polythene papers for their roofs.

When the women arrived in the camp, they didn’t have a way to make a living. So they went to work in a rock quarry next to the camp where they made gravel by sitting all day and hammering large stones into gravel sized pieces.  If they worked very hard from sunup to sundown they could fill 10 20 liter containers with stones and make about $1.  It was not enough to feed their families well, and some days they didn’t get paid because the quarry owner hadn’t been paid yet and had no money to give them.  So these ladies would take their children and do this very physically demanding work the next day on an empty stomach.

Now, the women work together to make these beautiful beads out of magazine pages. They cut the pages into thin strips, which they then roll on a needle and hold in place with glue.

The beads are then strung onto a long string and dipped in varnish. They must dry for 3 days before being dipped and dried 2 more times. The process takes about 2 weeks.

When the beads have been dried for the last time, the ladies restring them into the beautiful jewelry that you see before you.

The money these women make from selling the jewelry allows them to provide food, shelter, education, and medical care for their families.

The women are very grateful for your support.

Click here to make a purchase.

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