BeadforLife creates economic opportunities for impoverished women to lift their families out of poverty.

The women gathering the shea nuts live in Northern Uganda, which for 20 years was terrorized by a rebel group called the Lords Resistance Army.  Rebels raided and burned rural villages, killed over 10,000 adults, abducted over 20,000 children, and forced boys to be soldiers, and girls to be ‘mistresses’ of commanders. 

An estimated 2 million people were displaced by the conflict, including all 1600 women in this group. They were able to return home in 2008 to try to rebuild their lives. Their living conditions are rudimentary – small mud huts with thatched roofs.  Most of them struggle to survive on less than $1 a day.  

Shea trees grow wild across Northern Uganda, and for generations the nuts have been collected by women and the oil eaten by the family, or sold to pay for food or school fees.

Women report that if they are able to sell more shea nuts at better prices, they will construct new homes with tin sheet roofs, buy animals to plow the land which they are currently doing manually, and invest in other income generating activities.

Under a holistic development model, BeadforLife works with the community to provide access to mosquito nets, agricultural training, and health services.  Our goal is to create economic empowerment such that the women invest in their futures and escape poverty forever.