Page 110 - ESCARPMENT MAGAZINE | Winter 2013
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It all began
4 years ago when my neighbour Toni Andrews arrived at Holy Crow Beads
with boxes of paper beads. She and her husband, Rick had just returned fromGulu, a small
town in northern Uganda. While in Gulu, Toni had met a group of beaders who call them-
selves Lacan Kwite. (In Acholi, Lacan Kwite means “struggle out of poverty”.) For many
years Northern Uganda had been the scene of the conflict with the Lord’s Resistance Army.
The group first came together in an Internally Displaced Person camp. In the camps they
had organized themselves to make and sell paper bead jewellery so they could afford to
send their children to school. The conflict had taken a toll, leaving those remaining to care
for large adopted families. The Lacan Kwite was having a difficult time finding many buyers
for their jewellery but Toni and Rick saw the potential for a wider market. The Andrews
founded Paper Bead Works and began selling their jewellery under the name “Kwite Es-
sential Beads”.
The Italian Aid Organization, AVSI, oversees the group and assists themwith their business.
In 2010 they had invited me to go to Gulu to provide the group with training sessions on
beading techniques and design. My dear friend, Janet Flynn came with me and we had a
very successful experience. They were very excited to receive our instruction and their work
became interesting and creative.
Last winter I decided that it was time to review their work and develop new designs using
the techniques they were now comfortable doing. I approached AVSI to see whether they
would be able to give us the support we needed in Uganda. They agreed to give us the
transportation that we needed, a translator, a facility, and meals for the 7 day course. Janet
and I were very excited to be able to be going back. Our departure in 2010 was an emo-
tional one and it was wonderful to fulfill our promise of returning. We packed many small
gifts from the dollar store for the women and t-shirts for the men. We had them printed with
Canada, Uganda and Italia across the front and Kwite Essential Beads and Holy Crow
Beads on the back. There are 8 men and 31 women in the group.
The biggest challenge is to get supplies to them. There is so little available to them in Uganda
and if they are going to be able to make quality jewellery they need some basic materials.
It is an expensive undertaking and so each time we take 2 large suitcases with beading sup-
plies. I give a lot of thought to the type of project we will teach them. I want it to be something
that they can be successful executing and also be able to take the design and make it their
own. I realized that in fact, fabric is more readily available to them than paper and with
the right tools they could be making fabric beads. They were very excited to receive these
new tools and quickly went through many meters of fabric that we purchased at the local
market.
The new jewellery, which incorporates both the paper and the cloth beads, is really excep-
tional. The look is colourful and so unique. We are working with AVSI to return in 2013
and train the Lacan Kwite group to train a large group of beaders in Kampala. To train the
trainers, would surely be an exciting next step.
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For more information about this project you can contact me at
ESCARPMENT ESCAPES
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excellent african adventure...
110
Escarpment Magazine Winter 2013
Excellent
African
Adventure
part two
STORY & PHOTOS | BEVERLEY SMITH
