Eradicating poverty — one bead at a time

In October Nikki Rajala, a colleague of mine, and I hosted a BeadforLife party for an organization we belong to. Not only did we have a lot of fun planning and preparing for the evening but also it truly was a privilege for us to share the BeadforLife story with members of the group.

BeadforLife is a non-profit organization providing destitute Ugandan women an opportunity to lift their families out of poverty by making beautiful beaded jewelry — necklaces, bracelets and earrings — out of recycled paper from calendars, posters or print overruns. The women, who roll each bead with their own hands, are able to turn their beads into income, education, and even bricks to build a home.

In the program’s latest initiative, at least 500 women in Northern Uganda gather shea nuts and press them into shea butter for cosmetics and soaps. In addition to selling the fair trade beaded jewelry, BeadforLife now offers organic shea butter soap, created with lavender and lemongrass, and peppermint lip balm.

The program’s goal is that members are independent of BeadforLife within 18 months and able to support themselves within the Ugandan economy.  To assist members in launching their own small businesses BeadforLife provides entrepreneurial training, facilitates savings accounts, and makes business funds available. In rural areas their program focuses on agricultural development.

Additionally, BeadforLife sponsors community development projects in health, affordable housing, business development and vocational training for impoverished youth. These projects are financed with the net profits from the sale of the beads and shea butter products and support not only BeadforLife members, but also other poverty-stricken people living in Uganda.

Hosting a “party” is easy. Register online to host an event (you’ll need to give a credit card number for the package that you select), invite people to attend and plan what you want to do at your party.

Your bead party package will include approximately 275 jewelry items, an inspirational DVD about the BeadforLife program and the beaders themselves, a CD with original Ugandan songs and music, educational materials and biographies of some of the beaders, African recipes and a pre-paid return label (so you can return — free of charge — what you don’t sell).

Nikki and I served sugar peanuts, Ugandan kabobs with yogurt dipping sauce, Ugandan plantain cake and ginger iced tea at our party. Here’s the recipe for the sugar peanuts. (Please check in tomorrow for the recipes for Ugandan kabobs and plantain cake.)

And, more importantly, please visit the links I’ve provided to BeadforLife and consider hosting a party. I guarantee you’ll like the affordable jewelry and shea butter items. But, far beyond that, I can guarantee you’ll love the connection you’ve made with Ugandan women to help lift them out of poverty — literally one bead at a time! CJK

Sugar Peanuts
(Bead for Life)

Nuts are popular in many countries in Western and Central Africa. Any town large enough to have bars, cafes, and restaurants will also likely have vendors selling roasted nuts and sugared peanuts. Often the vendor is a girl or woman, balancing her wares in a tray on her head.

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

4 cups raw peanuts, shells removed (skins can be removed or left on as desired)

Preheat oven to 300° F.

Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved to make clear syrup. Add the peanuts. Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring regularly until the peanuts are evenly coated and most of the syrup is absorbed. 

Pour contents of the saucepan onto a baking sheet. Bake at 300°F between 30 minutes to 1 hour. Gently stir the peanuts a few times while baking. Remove from the oven once the syrup is almost dried and place peanuts on paper towels. Let cool, and store in airtight containers.

Notes from Nikki:

Grease the baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray or line it with parchment paper. Scrape as little of the sugar syrup as possible onto the baking sheet with the nuts. It only took 30 minutes for the peanuts to roast.