Our Newest Venture- Friday Market Beads

Suzy returned the to the U.S. last week to help launch a business we have started called Friday Market Beads. Shortly after we moved to Uganda, Suzy began going to a local craft market held each Friday along the railroad tracks on the edge of downtown Kampala. It became a weekly ritual for her, and she was able to build strong relationships with the women in the market. Last summer when we were back in the U.S. on furlough, we brought a lot of jewelry from the market to sell. The products were well-received by our friends in the U.S., and the sales helped us support ourselves during our furlough. We also saw the huge benefits our purchases had on the lives of women here. They told us how grateful they were to be able to better provide for their families.

So we started praying about how we could provide these women with sustainable business- a regular income that they could count on month after month to pay rent, buy food, and pay for healthcare and education. Suzy and I spent countless hours learning about the lives of these women and the details of their trade. There were two things we kept hearing over and over. One was that these women felt that they needed a larger and broader market for their products. The second was that they never knew from week to week how they would fare at the market. Some Fridays they might do really, really well, but the next sell virtually nothing. This uncertainty was not only frustrating for them, but paralyzing as well. How can you plan for your future if you can't be sure that you can feed your family tomorrow? These women felt completely powerless to do anything to change their circumstances as they were completely at the whim of the ebbs of flows of the traffic at the market. When we would visit women in Kampala's slums, we were always struck by the material poverty they lived in. But the more time we spent with them, the more we began to see poverty in a whole different light. As Westerners, we had been programmed to see the material affects of poverty, but we learned that it went much, much deeper than that. Poverty is far more than an absence material things that make our lives more comfortable, safe, and easy. The real tragedy of poverty is the utter sense of hopelessness and powerlessness that it breeds in its victims. This is what broke our hearts and what we became determined to fight against.

It became clear to us that the best way to bring about sustainability and empowerment for the women God has brought into our lives is to give them an expanded market for their products. We created Friday Market Beads to serve as a bridge from their small craft market to a much larger market in the U.S., a market that more greatly appreciates the unique works of art these women create and one that also has compassion for women and children who live in poverty. 

We'd like to ask for your help. First, help us spread the word about Friday Market Beads. We have a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/fridaymarketbeads. Please go there and “Like” our page. 

We also desperately need people to help us sell our products. One of the best ways to do this is to host a jewelry party at your home. We pay a generous commission on all sales, and we hope that these parties can provide meaningful income for people in the U.S. as well.

We also have Fund-raising Packs available. If you or someone you know is trying to raise funds for a mission trip or other cause, please let us know. Each Fund-raising Pack will help you raise $75 to $125 for your cause.

Finally, we need your prayers. Please pray that God will continue to lead and direct us in this endeavor and for His blessings to be on this business and the women we are working with. Thanks for your support of us and Friday Market Beads!