It's only the beginning, but we are so excited to be selling Fair
Trade items at THE FIRE.

It has been a long time dream, and this is why...

What does fair trade mean?

• Items are produced sweatshop and child labor free.


• People are paid a fair wage in a local context, not only enough to cover a material and labor cost, but to improve the standard of living.


• It provides equal opportunities for all people, particularly the most disadvantaged.


• Manufacturers engage in environmentally sustainable practices.

The best part is that it truly, truly does change lives...

Meet Alice Aduna

Alice came to the BeadforLife office in Kampala because she had heard that they might help her get a little food. She and her two sons were slowly starving. "Could you please help us?" she asked in a quiet low voice, her eyes downcast. The short-term solution was to give her a small task. Alice washed the BeadforLife dishes in exchange for 10,000 schillings. Alice quickly hurried away with the money and bought food for her family. The following week she returned to tell them that her landlord had evicted her family. When they went to investigate, they found her meager belongings and her two small sons outside a locked mud room.

Then her whole story came out. Alice had been widowed for two years since her husband died of AIDS, leaving her no income, savings, or way to make a living. She lived in a one-room mud house with Valentine, 3 and Emmanuel, 6. Both she and Emmanuel were HIV+ and sick. Alice was getting HIV care but her son was not so they immediately had Emmanuel seen at the Pediatric Infectious Disease Clinic at Mulago Hospital. His immune system was severely compromised and he was in danger of dying. Emmanuel was immediately put on lifesaving anti-retroviral medicines.

They gave Alice a cleaning job and began teaching her how to roll beads. When Alice sold her first beads she fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. "Is this money really mine? All of it? God is good!" She had earned $18…the largest amount of money she had ever made in her lifetime. As she improves her beading technique Alice can anticipate making about $80 a month and participating in other community development projects with BeadforLife. She has asked them, on behalf of Emmanuel and Valentine, to thank the good people in North America who are buying beads. "Waybali Nyo."