Paper to Pearls

One of the interesting aspects of the evolution of paper bead jewelry making in Uganda is how rapidly it’s spreading.  From a handful of projects in 2006, including Paper to Pearls, there are dozens upon dozens of initiatives in Uganda alone, with multiple projects developing in Rwanda, Kenya and beyond.  Paper beads have even reached West Africa.  Recently, I saw packets of loose beads from Ghana for sale.  Paper beads have clearly become an industry.

An ironic component of this phenomenon—at least in Uganda—is the implication that these beads are somehow a Ugandan “tradition”.  As one web site I saw recently put it: “We were very impressed with the Ugandan craft of paper beads.”  I had to smile.  This ‘craft’ in northern Uganda is literally only five and a half years old, introduced by Paper to Pearls in January 2006, at a time when Bead for Life and a handful of indigenous groups were making paper beads in southern Uganda, principally in Kampala, the capital.

Northern Uganda has no real craft tradition.  Since it has always been a land of subsistence farming, any ‘crafts’ such as baskets or pots, were roughly and quickly made to hold or carry agricultural products.  When we started P2P, I remember wondering if our women would ever learn to roll paper strips with consistency and quality.  Of course, over time they did, and have been the ones teaching the women who now bead for the other projects in the North how to produce the wonderful beads that everyone loves.

And that’s the good news—that from the introduction of paper bead making to Uganda in or around 2002, hundreds of women throughout the country have benefited from an old craft tradition.  Not their craft tradition, but nonetheless, one that is making a major difference in their lives and in the lives of women beyond their borders.

Below: The evolution in P2P beads

By Zach Garfinkel, P2P Public Relations Intern

The first assignment at a new job is usually the most difficult. This blog post is my first assignment as an intern at Paper to Pearls, and it is proving to be a bit less challenging than originally conceived – maybe because this is all about me!

I often have to remind myself that things are not always about me, and Paper to Pearls provides a humbling experience that reminds me how trivial my trials and tribulations are when compared to the journey of the northern Ugandan women.

My path to Paper to Pearls has been unfolding for the past 24 years. A native of Richmond, VA I traveled to the land of sweet tea and seersucker to earn my BA in journalism and mass communication from the University of South Carolina. While at USC, my interest in nonprofits was piqued and my passion has been growing ever since. Upon graduation (and a trip across the country), I began working at 1708 Gallery in Richmond. This space combined my passions for art and nonprofits in a seemingly perfect blend, but I had a craving for a bit of adventure. Asia was calling my name!

First stop was Seoul, South Korea, where I spent a year teaching English to a wonderful group of children. This opportunity afforded me the adventure yearned for, as well as the chance to be active in the world of nonprofits through a foreign perspective. While in Seoul, V-Day became my organization of choice, as we worked to support the marginalized women of Korea.

After a jaunt around Southeast Asia, I returned to Virginia, although this time a bit further north. I landed at Paper to Pearls through what seems like luck. The organization combines everything I love – nonprofits, green living, providing support for the voiceless and art. I look forward to my time with Paper to Pearls and whatever may come next!

Elephants with friend in Thailand.  Ugandan elephants haven’t met Zach…yet!

Do you have a Gmail account? Are you using your Reader?

Google Reader allows you to subscribe to the Paper to Pearls blog using the RSS feed. You can easily share individual blog posts with others by simply emailing the post to them right from Google Reader!

Adding the RSS feed is easy. Here’s a step-by-step how-to:

Log into your Gmail account. At the very top left of the page, there are several links. “Reader” is the fifth one. When you click on that, you will be taken to your Google Reader. At the top left, three rows down, there is a button: “Add a subscription.” When you click on this, a box will open asking you to “Enter a search term to find feeds or paste a feed url.” Copy in the feed url: http://papertopearls.org/blog/?feed=rss2

“Paper to Pearls” should now show up in the left column. When you click on that link, the blog posts should appear on the right and you can read them from there!

At the bottom of each post there are several links. The fifth one is “Email.” When you click on that, an email message opens up with the entire blog post in the body of your email. From here, you can share it with anyone!

By Natalie Hoage*

We all do what we can to be green.  Some of us take our own reusable bags to the grocery store.  Others compost our kitchen waste, make our own cleaning products, and purchase organic, locally grown fruits and vegetables.  It doesn’t matter how eco-friendly you are, as long as you are aware of how important our environment is and that you take steps to help protect it.  But did you realize you can be eco-friendly with your clothing and accessories too?  That Paper To Pearls jewelry, made from recycled paper and  with a non-toxic, acrylic finish is eco-friendly?  Although the beaders that make such meticulous works of handmade art aren’t concerned with fashion in their own everyday lives, they are creating eco-friendly fashion accessories for women around the world.

So where can you find eco-friendly clothing to which to add your Paper to Pearls necklaces?  Just about anywhere!  There are so many online sites that you can check out, and I bet you’ll be surprised that the clothing is no more expensive than clothes you’ll find at the mall.  Buy Green sells not only clothing and accessories for the entire family, but also items for your home, work, and leisure. LooptWorks sells 100% upcycled clothing; meaning that they use top-quality, excess materials and components that already exist to make limited edition pieces that are each hand-numbered, making each piece a one-of-a-kind collectible.  Simple Shoes makes shoes for the entire family out of sustainable materials (like hemp, old car tires, recycled carpet padding, and eco-certified suede and leather).

But eco-friendly doesn’t just mean the materials used to make the clothing!  Selling, trading, or using hand-me-downs is eco-friendly.  Same as buying clothing at thrift shops or garage sales.  Your current clothing may not be made from eco-friendly materials, but care for it properly and you enjoy it for years, and that’s eco-friendly, too!  By shopping for green, eco-friendly fashions, you are supporting both rapidly growing organic agricultural and upcyled industries throughout the world. YOU are making a difference!

Links:

Buy Green: http://www.buygreen.com/

LooptWorks: http://www.looptworks.com/

Simple Shoes: http://www.simpleshoes.com/

* Natalie Hoage is the stay-at-home-mom of three children: her 3-year-old son and 1-year-old twin girls. She writes Mommy of a Monster and Twins, which is all about the day-to-day chaos that comes with chasing three kids in three different directions, usually all at the same time. In her free time, which she rarely has anymore, she reads, writes, cooks, gardens, drinks wine, and works as a freelance writer and social media consultant.

By Morgan Olsen, P2P Project Manager in Uganda

When my grandfather passed away a year ago, I really wanted only one thing from his possessions: a plaque that sat in my grandparents’ kitchen for years that read, “Fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”  I’m not sure why that spoke to me like it did because I wasn’t necessarily very good at doing any of those things.  I was successful in obtaining the plaque, however, and as it sat on my bookshelf in the coming months I can say it truly made a difference in how I viewed buying new objects and throwing out old ones.  Since moving to Uganda though, I have learned I still have a long way to go.  It seems to me the concept was born in Gulu, and every day I am amazed at the resourcefulness of people here.

I brought a cheap pair of Old Navy flip-flops with me from America and it didn’t take long until one day, one of them broke.  “I guess I will have to throw them out and find a new pair in the market,” I told my Acholi friend, Concy.

“NO-ooo.  You will fix it,” she told me.

Fix it? I thought, this cheap piece of plastic? Is that even possible? Indeed, there was a shop right up the road that fixed my little flip-flop for about $0.15.  At that point I got it; why would I buy new ones when I could fix what I had?

As far as “wear it out” goes, the best example I see of that daily is clothing.  Almost invariably what people wear is second-hand.  Of course, sometimes it’s rather tragic to see people wearing something that barely resembles clothing anymore, but I often find myself watching a beautiful young Ugandan woman walking by and thinking, “Oh, cute top!  Where’d you find that?”  Of course I’m not suggesting one should wear clothing to the point it is falling to pieces, but most of what people wear here I have a hard time believing someone in the western world thought was used enough to give away.  While most of what is donated to Good Will is, in fact, sent to Africa, I have a whole new perspective on shopping at thrift stores.

Among the many instances of “make it do”, my favorite is the transportation of goods.  During my first week in Gulu, I stayed in a hotel located on a fairly busy street at the edge of the open-air market.  I laughed every morning as I sat eating breakfast and watching the bustle around me – particularly the wheel-barrows, motorbikes, and bicycles carrying loads four times their size.  They looked like ants scurrying back to their ant-hill with their enormous loads.   Think you need a truck to move a mattress or two?  Think again, all you need is a motorbike.  Just this morning I saw a man transporting a load of 2x4s twice the length of his bicycle.

That brings us to “do without.”  For better or for worse, “do without” is pervasive here.  People are often forced to go without the necessities in life – shelter, food, clothing, education, etc., and these are pains in life no one should have to suffer, pains we would all like to alleviate.  On the whole, however, I think we could all take a page out the Ugandans’ book and do with a little more “do without” in life.  Do without the latest electronic gadget when we already have one that works just fine, do without buying yet another handbag when we already have a closet full of them, do without the superstores full of stuff that is unnecessary, unneeded, and will eventually find its way to clogging up our landfills.

I love America.  I love that I have the freedom to choose there, and indeed I believe that variety is often the spice of life.  I do believe though, that with that freedom of choice, it is important to make a choice that will benefit the earth and our neighbors across the globe.  I believe we should all try to do as the Ugandans do and make the choice a little more often to fix it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!

Photo: Making do!

The world of beads is a fascinating place.  I had no idea there were beads made of so many different materials: paper, clay, glass, plastic, fabric, silver, copper.  Name a material, and there will be a bead made from it.  All this was brought to my attention recently by the founder of Kazuri Beads USA, the principal purveyor in the US of the wonderful ceramic beads made in Kenya.  Paulette called a week or two ago to talk about a collaboration between her company and Paper to Pearls.  In our conversations, I’ve learned about bead shows and bead publications, what buyers are interested in and what a special—and growing—niche beads occupy in the world of crafts and beyond.

The good news for our beaders is that Paulette has begun placing significant orders for our loose beads.  It seems that paper beads have reached the bead market and customers are responding in a major way.  Paulette had heard about Paper to Pearls and the quality of our beaders work, and was eager to meet her distributors’ requests for paper beads that would a natural accompaniment to the Kazuri beads in color saturation and sheen.  As I write this, our beaders are working hard to meet the deadline for Paulette’s first order. I’m sure they have in mind the significant additional income this opportunity represents for them.  It could not come at a better time, as our women rebuild their lives and look to better future for themselves, their families and the entire Acholi community.

Kazuri Beads

Kazuri Beads USA is also a women’s empowerment project.  Visit their website at: www.kazuribeadsusa.com

And, as always, we invite you to share our blog article with you friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Washington provided a world of wonder for our Ugandan beader, Sarah, but the best was yet to come.  Once in the Galapagos, amazement and ‘firsts’ were everywhere.  The trip from Uganda to DC provided the first plane trip.  Now, it was the first time in the ocean (“Did you know, she said, “that the Pacific Ocean is bigger than Uganda.  It’s even bigger than all of Africa!”) the first boat ride, the first time tasting ice cream, the first time eating spaghetti.  And, as for most of us, the first time seeing a giant tortoise, sea lions and iguanas.  For those she met, Sarah was a ‘first’, as well.  The first African they had ever met.  She charmed everyone with her grace, acceptance, wonderful smile and twinkling eyes.  She also proved a natural teacher.

Those she taught now have an opportunity to create paper bead jewelry that will be purchased by Lindblad Expeditions and sold on board their ships, with 5% of profits returned to the beaders and their communities.

Sarah, meanwhile, has returned to Uganda, with photos and endless stories to tell, and the satisfaction of knowing she has helped make new income opportunities possible for people half a world away.

Project Manager, Morgan, with Sarah and the Pacific

Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos, April 15, 2011. “Paper to Pearls beader, Sarah Akot took the Galapagos by storm this week, training groups on two islands in the amazing craft of paper bead jewelry”

I couldn’t resist starting this blog with a bit of a news flash!  Thanks to Lindblad Expeditions, the marine partner for the National Geographic Society, we were invited to bring a beader from Uganda to the Galapagos to teach a group of secondary school students and interested members of
two island communities how to roll and finish recycled paper beads.  This amazing journey for Sarah, who had never left Uganda, also included three days in the DC area, since she was so eager to see “America”.  Her favorite site while here: “Obama’s house”.  You can see her enthusiasm below.

More on Sarah tomorrow!