Description: This is
a VOA Special English Technology Report.
See text below
Text:
Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, as the old
saying goes. But some women are finding a lot to
like about colorful beads from Uganda made of
recycled paper. The beads are sold by a nonprofit
organization in the United States called
BeadforLife.BeadforLife began as a chance meeting
between three American women on a trip to Uganda and
a local jewelry maker. Millie Grace Akena was
rolling paper beads near her home. She worked at a
rock quarry. She made paper beads as a hobby. But
there was no real market for them in her country.
Torkin Wakefield says she, her daughter Devin
Hibbard and Ginny Jordan brought some of the beads
back to the United States. Ms. Wakefield said people
liked the beads and asked her where she got them.
The three Americans launched BeadforLife in two
thousand four. Nearly seven hundred women have taken
part. The group says its beaders earn an average of
more than two thousand dollars a year in the
program. This is five times what they earned before.
Torkin Wakefield says the women spend up to eighteen
months in the program.She says during that time the
women make their regular income and have savings
accounts. They begin to plan for launching a
business which will continue after they graduate
from BeadforLife. Many of the beaders go on to open
businesses like restaurants, beauty salons and
clothing stores. The beads are sold across Uganda
and at the BeadforLife headquarters in Boulder,
Colorado. They are also sold online and at jewelry
shows called bead parties. Torkin Wakefield says
people who buy the beads feel a direct connection
that they are helping to reduce poverty. Acrylic
plastic is used to harden the paper. The jewelry
costs between five and thirty dollars. BeadforLife
reported sales in its last budget year of more than
three and a half million dollars. It says for every
ten dollar necklace sold, the beader gets two
dollars and forty-three cents in money or
materials.It says more than ninety percent of
earnings are reinvested in community development
projects in Uganda. Torkin Wakefield estimates that
BeadforLife has helped more than eight thousand
people this way. So what about Millie Grace Akena,
the jewelry maker? Mrs. Wakefield says she has gone
on to organize a small group of women who work with
her. They sell their beads to a religious group.
And that's the VOA Special English Development
Report.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
