Nakate Project Necklace Giveaway!

I was put in touch with a really cool non-profit through a friend of a friend, called the Nakate Project.

The Nakate Project sells beautiful bead necklaces made by women in Eastern Uganda.



Here's the story of the Nakate Project in the words of it's founder, Shanley:

I went to Uganda this past summer to document the work of an aid organization in the Luwero district. I spent several days focusing on Kakooge, a village almost completely wiped out by AIDS in the past few decades. The families left are struggling intensely: many mothers left alone with children, wrecked by polygamy, without hope, many fathers that openly wept when speaking to me, saying that they could not feed their children, that they were too weak from the disease to work.

The organization I worked with has a local outreach called "Life With Hope" that sponsors families struggling with the effects of AIDS. It provides food and medication and, once they are strong enough, provides loans for them to begin sustainable businesses in the area.

The only problem with the program, I discovered, was that there was no market for wares in the village. Even those who were strong enough to work couldn't find sustainable occupations.

I found that many women were depending on the beads to pay their children's school fees, their rent, buy food, etc. but that sales were sporadic, and couldn't be counted on. So I brought back a huge bag of beads intending to make sales more regular. Together with a friend, we set up the Nakate Project, which sells the necklaces online, and at parties held by volunteers in our area. We pay the women back three times what they could make within the country, and use the rest of the money to invest in business opportunities for them in Kakooge, in effort to bring a sustainable market back in the area.

To read more, host a party, or buy necklaces you reach the Nakate project on their website, on facebook, or on twitter.


The Giveaway

To spread the word about the Nakate project I am partnering with them to give away one "Sharon Necklace."

It's 12" with small red beads in between handmade red paper beads, with small bits of blue, black and yellow and tiny bits of white. Gorgeous!

To win this beautiful necklace:
- For one entry: leave a comment on this post letting me know you'd like to win
- For two entries: be a follower of the Newlyweds Next Door blog (http://www.newlywedsnextdoor.com/) and let me know that you're a follower in your comment
- For three entries: be a follower of the Nakate Project on Twitter(http://twitter.com/@nakateproject) and let me know you're a follower in your comment

Leave your comment by Midnight on Saturday, February 5, 2011. I'll announce a winner on Sunday, February 6, 2011.