Give a Woman a Bead and She'll Make a Livelihood

By Maria Weiskott -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 4/8/2008 10:21:00 AM

Malden, MA – Give a woman a necklace, and she can wear it. But give her the beads, and she can create a livelihood.. So discovered Karen Sparacio, award-winning photographer and founder of Project Have Hope, 

Sparacio is gradually achieving her goal to empower and improve the lives of families in Uganda by selling artisan jewelry handcrafted by impoverished and destitute women in Uganda. It's the type or artisan jewelry especially appealing to independent retailers; particularly these days when jewelry of this type - in fact, jewelry in general - is considered a hot and growing category. 

It is appealing as well because the jewelry making is cause related - in this case war and poverty. Increasingly, cause related marketing is being embraced as a business paradigm, and is gaining wider acceptance. Ugandan women, especially have dealt with significant "causes" and struggles not only during the wars that have at times ravaged the African nation, but during their entire lives. And it is only in the last few months that the country finally moved to put an end to decades of internal war.  

Sparacio has raised over $100,000 since Project Have Hope’s inception in 2006 through several fundraising efforts. These have included donations, recycling printer cartridges and selling thousands of strands of necklaces and bracelets at every Boston-based craft show or event; throughout, continuing to make a living at her profession full time as a news and wedding photographer.   

Her efforts payed off when in January when the project enjoyed some significant milestones:

• Paying the fees for 73 children to attend school,including buying all necessary school supplies, uniforms,    mattresses, blankets, towels and other necessities;
• Distributing loans enabling 24 women to start or expand a business;
• Enrolling 14 women in vocational training programs;
• Building a meeting place for the members

Though the organization made great strides in January, there is much more that can be done with even the slightest bit of assistance. “When I visit the Acholi Quarter [in Uganda], so many people plead for my assistance - assistance that I’m unable to give them. So many people, too many people, need help and I’m only one person,” commented Karen Sparacio in a recent blog entry . “I am proud of what I have accomplished thus far, but there is so much more that can be done.”

The photographer relates: “One of my recent trips to the Acholi Quarter brought me to a young woman of 20 who is HIV positive, who lost both of her parents to Aids and is now the sole provider of 5 children including one of her own. Without Project Have Hope, this young lady, who may eventually die from Aids, would have no means of supporting the children she is raising, no food for them to eat, nothing to give them, no hope.“ 

To offer assistance to Project Have Hope, the colorful handmade jewelry can be purchased online. In adition, retailers might consider hosting their own bead parties where they can share the hand crafted jewelry with customers and their communities.      

Project Have Hope is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization that seeks to empower women in the Acholi Quarter of Uganda by providing education to both the women and their children and assisting the women to establish business opportunities to promote economic stability and sustainability.  For more information on Project Have Hope and its commitment to giving back, please visit the organization's website or call (339) 206-4626.