10.29.2007

Bead for Life: Guest Blogger, Katie Mitchell

Over the past few weeks I'd noticed some of my friends wearing colorful beaded necklaces from Bead for Life. I was quick to snatch up one for myself before they were gone. As I read the small card attached to the necklace, I became interested in what I was supporting with my fifteen dollars.

The card begins by explaining that

"Bead for Life provides impoverished Ugandan women an opportunity to earn a living by making this beautiful jewelry out of colorful recycled paper. Each bead is unique and handmade. The beaders are women living with HIV/AIDS as well as refugees displaced by a devastating civil war in northern Uganda.”
It ends by thanking the buyer for ‘”joining the Beadcircle; people connecting around the world to ‘eradicate poverty one bead at a time.” I was humbled to think that this one necklace was going to help many and also curious about Bead for Life. As I began looking over the website, one of the links I have discovered teaches about population increase and how we can help impoverished countries by giving the people living there opportunities for work. It blows my mind that a simple purchase like this necklace is something that I generally would buy without giving a second thought — and yet my fifteen dollars will help pay for medicine or food for a large group of people.

These are pictures from a friends’ trip to India this summer. The first is a young girl digging through the trash, looking for food. The second is a street jam packed with people, wires and houses. For me these two pictures represent a world that I am completely unfamiliar with but as I have learned from my experience with Bead for Life, I have opportunities to help.

Katie Mitchell is Traffic Manager for Tricycle, Inc. Thanks, Katie!

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