As we celebrated fathers throughout the Bay Area, families were also stopping by a ONE member’s house – Lori Saltveit – Sunday afternoon to participate in her BeadforLife party. As a partner of ONE, many members have had the opportunity to attend BeadforLIfe jewelry making parties all across the country. Lori’s party allowed families to take time out of their Father’s Day events to help mothers in Uganda.

Since 2004, BeadforLife has provided sustainable income for Ugandan women and their families by selling their beautiful jewelry, handmade from recycled paper. The women are HIV+ mothers, refugees from a brutal civil war, former prostitutes and other impoverished people. Before joining BeadforLife, all of the members struggled to get by on less than $1 a day.*

These Ugandan entrepreneurs have been supporting their families and helping their economy by creating beads to then be sold separately or as pre-made jewelry. Once the beads are made, some of them are then shipped to Colorado and distributed throughout the U.S. to volunteers interested in helping Ugandan women sell their products. On Sunday, $654 worth of beads were purchased by a dozen adults (and some kiddos too)! I was there to witness Lori continue the conversation about ONE and the difference ONE and our partners are making through intimate events such as these. As we answered questions, ONE visitor even commented, “Wow, you really are making a difference.” Lori simply responded, “We’re trying to!”

You can visit the BeadforLife website to read the background stories of all the Beaders involved. You can begin hosting your own ONE event with your friends, and check out the rest of the list of ONE’s partners on our website.

-Roscoe Mapps, California Organizer

*BeadforLife – Eradicating Poverty One Bead at a Time Factsheet Q3.08