In just two days, I’ll be boarding an airplane, flying across the country and spending five glorious days with the most sparkly group of friends ever. We’ll be be-bopping around downtown Asheville, North Carolina, listening to more friends speak on writing, blogging and life.
It will be magic.
But for me, attending the Type A Mom conference would be impossible without the help of some very, very special people. I’m taking two sponsors with me to Type A, and I can’t wait for you to meet them. They are both beyond spectacular.
Today, I’d like to introduce you to Bead for Life.
Bead for Life began when three women visited Uganda and fell in love with the beautiful bead jewelry being made by African women. They ended up bringing beads home to America… and their friends here were also smitten.
Through a series of events, a powerful organization was built in which this stunning, handcrafted bead jewelry is only one of many crucial players.
The way Bead for Life works is that it rescues women (typically single, with young, starving children) and brings them to a safe place where, over a set time frame, they learn life and business skills to support themselves and their children. Women then graduate the Bead for Life program equipped with sustainable skills to do any number of paying jobs, thus bringing them out of poverty and into life.
One of the early stages of the program involves hand rolling these beautiful, colorful beads and crafting gorgeous jewelry from them–necklaces, earrings, bracelets.
This jewelry is then sold in the US through bead parties held in homes, churches and community groups across the country. It’s like Mary Kay or Pampered Chef… but with a purpose.
I found Bead for Life through my favorite magazine earlier this year and was immediately taken by their vision and passion for these precious ones in Africa. You know my heart for our brothers and sisters around the world and how passionate I am about sharing the resources with which we’ve been blessed. I was thrilled to partner with a group who was doing just that.
Bead for Life’s mission is to eradicate poverty around the entire planet, from Africa to America and America to Africa. We’re cooking up some ways to extend such a vision to our own neighborhoods, our own communities and those who are in need right under our very noses.
Would you like to jump aboard?
If you’re interested in buying a necklace, hosting a bead party, hearing more about the ideas Bead for Life and I are hatching for future poverty eradication efforts or if you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
In the meantime, we’re giving away two handmade African necklace and bracelet sets (like these and these) to two commenters on this post. Every comment will be counted toward the giveaway, and if you tweet about it, Facebook it, blog it, etc, and then leave another comment about each form of spreading the word, you’ll receive extra entries. (You know the drill.)
Every time I wear my African paper bead jewelry (which is often) I find myself staring at each bead, imaging the woman whose fingers so deftly rolled and fashioned that bead. I wonder about her story, her life, her face, her words. I ponder what might have brought her to Bead for Life. I wonder what her future holds.
A woman with dark skin and a beatiful smile made this for me from across the ocean. And here I stand, wearing it here, a part of an effort to give her and her family a life. Just because I’m wearing a necklace. I’m in awe.
As Bead for Life founder Torkin Wakefield says, we can all do at least a little… so just do something.
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