BeadforLife

Our first full day in Uganda was extraordinary! We began our day with a visit to the NGO, BeadforLife. BeadforLife (BFL) is an organization that helps lift women out of poverty by teaching them how to run a business and mentoring them through the entire 18 month training period. We were welcomed warmly and in a truly African way by the BFL employees who were waiting for us with drums and a dance circle. It was the perfect way to begin our trip and our learning! We learned all about the BFL programs and how they have evolved over the years. We also had a chance to shop and, of course, we were very happy to do our part to support the women and the organization!

We have visited BFL several times in the past but this visit was very special because we had some new experiences which gave the students tremendous insight into the important and complex work of this important organization. After learning about the programs, we were given a lesson in rolling paper beads - the same work that is done by the BFL beaders. Some of us rolled excellent paper beads while others (Ms. Nipp) were not so talented. It is definitely much more difficult than it looks!

After this somewhat humbling exercise, we set out with some of the BFL staff members to visit two of the businesses begun by some of the BFL alumnae. We first met Josephine and her daughter who have opened a small hair salon. They were working hard, braiding the hair of a neighbor.  Then, we crossed the road and met Eunice Much to our delight, it turned out that Eunice's business is selling rosaries! We laughed about the perfect, unexpected meeting of supply and demand and well, Eunice had her best sales day ever! Visiting the women of BeadforLife was a special way to begin our time in Uganda and to learn about the empowerment and entrepreneurship of women.