The WE Cultures Gallery @ Life in Africa!

Africa's Cultures: Kampala's displaced Acholi

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LIFE in Kampala's displaced Acholi Quarter: A two-woman LiA team set out to assess potential WE opportunities for displaced Acholi families in Kampala.

WE MARKET BARGAIN of the season!

After quickly finding 20 people ready to get out of the local rock quarry and start working for a partner project, one of the first things our team found was a fabulous stockpile of unique handmade beaded jewelry, made from recycled magazine paper. A project called BeadforLife buys beaded jewelry from the Acholi quarter monthly, but they aren't able to buy everything that all the beaders in the area are now able to make.

So LiA's two-woman team had an idea!

Recycled paper
bead bracelets

single-strand
multi-colored set
wear all 12 or alone
12 for $19.99!

They didn't know if we'd be able to sell the beads or not, but they thought it was worth a try. But to be able to sell through LiA, there would have to be a membership fee, and the beaders would find that a strain. So, we decided to barter... beaded bracelets for LiA membership.

Now we're selling these beautiful beaded bracelets by the dozen as a fundraiser - to be able to provide training and build webpages for the 65 new members that have joined LiA through the deal, and to help establish a new WE Center closer to Kampala's Acholi Quarter in December 2005.

$12.50 pays 50% of 1 LiA membership fee
$8.49 goes toward the WE Center expansion fund

We really don't want to let these new members down, so please... buy bracelets for everyone you know! (Think stocking stuffers! Think fundraising for your own organization!)

We need to sell 2 dozen bracelets for every new member! Please contact us for wholesale prices on purchases of 6 dozen or more.

Grace Ayaa
WE Center expansion leader

Getting onto the ground
over the past few weeks developed a special love for the Acholi quarter. At the beginning,all seemed so uncertain that I felt it would be such a task to organise these people, who when looked at, seem to have just that feeling of hopelessness.This acually reminds me of the old say that never judge a book from the cover.These wowen sincerely proved even more organised than the people whom I have always rated as educated or learned. >>

Life in the Acholi Quarter
It doesn't come as a surprise to me, the kind of atmosphere that is at the Acholi Quarters, the atmosphere i'm talking about is described in the local Acholi language and a form of slang as 'Lede' and means the pride that these people are taking in rebuilding their life, and the fact that it is so visible. These women have moved from their homes in Northern Uganda and are now trying their hardest to have a life here and a house here that they can take pride in.>>

Kampala's Acholi Quarter
by Rhiannon Talbot
i4c Global Correspondent

Over 3500 people live here, and over 1653 have been registered, including 501 women, 372 men, 297 youths, 70 female youths, 460 orphans. On average each man has 5 children and that leads to about 1860 children all been looked after by the 1500 shillings (less than a dollar) that their parents earn at the quarrey each day. >>

POSTCARDS from the Acholi Quarter

Rhiannon and Grace share the true stories of displaced women and men they interviewed at the Acholi Quarter. Collecting these stories is the beginning of an indepth assessment process to determine how to plug these new members into LiA programs and opportunities.

Recycled paper bead bracelets

single-strand multi-colored set
~ really cool holiday gift idea ~
12 for $19.99!