Gosh, I better get a blog out before another week goes by. Well I am so, so, very happy to report that I have been doing some organizing and helping families pack up for a few moves. Which just makes me so happy to be back at work. Helping, organizing, and just trying to spread peace is just so rewarding!

No markets yet…but you can always buy my up cycled products online in my shop!

Today when I was scrolling through my email, I saw that Beadforlife is saying goodbye. I was one of the women that had a party, bought their beautiful paper beads (from up cycled paper) spread the word so my friends would have parties. I of course was not the only one! It felt so wonderful that Beadforlife takes paper away from the landfill, made wonderful jewelry, help women in Uganda have a job, earn money so they were valued in their families and community. They started it all and I’m so proud that I was part of it!! Please read their goodbye letter and perhaps take advantage of there sale.

Thank you Beadforlife for 17 years of doing your part in helping women in a far-off place. Women helping women is just so rewarding because we are all the same trying to make this world a better place. Please check out the link to read more about the amazing history of this organization which is Beadforlife

What charity moves you?

What charity inspires you to tell the world?

Peace Sarah

This is letter I received from Beadforlife:

 

Hi BeadforLife friends – Today as we get ready to close BeadforLife, I am sitting with a big pile of files and brown boxes filled with photos and old magazines. At the top of one box is a cardboard heart with neat beaded letters which says, “BeadforLife is my Heart and my Hope” …a gift from a beader in 2010.  Amy, our wonderful BeadforLife Executive Director, hands me a graduation cap, a gift from a grateful 2008 BeadforLife graduate who never dreamed she would ever wear such a status symbol. The BeadforLife logo is carefully beaded on top. We look at hundreds of photos sent to us by BeadParty hosts reminding us of the 20,000+ parties given to sell beads and tell the stories of Ugandan women rising out of poverty. So many of you attended such parties, bought beads, and felt your own heart swell with the opportunity to make a difference. Memories crowd around me of the brave women who with no resources have raised their children and kept them safe against impossible odds: Sara, who escaped from the savage war in the north with her two young boys and arrived at our office. When she smelled the lunch cooking she told me she was about to step in front of a truck because they were all starving. Mary, whose family of five never had enough to eat.  She started four different businesses simultaneously and told me that she had always wanted to go into business but “never had two coins to rub together”. Olivia, who was the victim of an acid attack that burned one side of her face horribly, determined to start a preschool. Alice, who was raised by a grandmother who took in 23 orphans. As long as the family had salt, green bananas and paraffin, they felt lucky. Rose, who told me that she was now a “Front Door” woman, meaning that after graduating from Street Business School and starting her charcoal business, she was respected. Baby Ruth, whose disfiguring cleft palate we had fixed. Jajja Josephine, who at 68 was caring for her 8 grandchildren, all orphaned from AIDS, with no money. We drilled a well for her and she now sells water.  And so many more……. We will continue to help women like these through Street Business School (SBS). While this is the last email you will get from BeadforLife, it is not the end of our work. In fact SBS is getting bolder, more creative and effective, and more needed than before. We have perfected this work now and feel we offer world-class experiential business training. And so dear supporters and friends, it is time to close BeadforLife. I acknowledge each of you and hope that you feel great about the part you have played in changing the world for the better. It’s been fun and poignant, important and uplifting. We have been fortunate to come together to create this work. Please continue to find a home with us through Street Business School. And with that, we blow out our candle and strike a new match. Rose Namakasa will have the last word, “THANK YOU FOR NOT SITTING IN YOUR SOFT CHAIR WHILE I WAS DYING.” With love and appreciation, Torkin Torkin Wakefield Co-founder, BeadforLife