Paper Bead Works joins us at Creativ Festival this fall. Find them at booth #925 .
Beverly from Holy Crow Beads is tucked into the country side just south of Thornbury Ontario. Having been there myself several times, you will fall in love with the studio and interactive space that Beverly Smith, owner, provides.
She is passionate about their support they provide to Uganda through paper beaded jewellery creation. She want to share with you their very touching story and the challenges they face.
“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 from Gulu, a small town in northern Uganda that was the scene of the conflict with the Lord’s Resistance Army for many years. While in Gulu, Toni had met a group of beaders who call themselves Lacan Kwite. (In Acholi, Lacan Kwite means “struggle out of poverty”.)
The Lacan Kwite were 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 Essential Beads”.
The Italian Aid Organization, AVSI, oversees the group and assists them with their business. In 2010 they had invited me to go to Gulu to provide the group with training sessions on beading techniques and design. Janet 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 emotional 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 supplies. 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 metres of fabric that we purchased at the local market. The new jewellery, which incorporates both the paper and the cloth beads, is really exceptional. The look is colourful and so unique.
We have a booth at the Creativ Show, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in October and we can’t wait to see the reaction this jewellery receives.
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.
For more information about this project you can contact me at info@holycrowbeads.com.
Beverley Smith”