Street Business School Celebrates 18 Years of Eradicating Poverty

Street Business School Celebrates 18 Years of Eradicating Poverty

Blog, Culture, Education, Events, Global Impact, Woman Entrepreneur

04.15.2022

Written by Torkin Wakefield, Global Ambassador & Co-Founder of BeadforLife and Street Business School

On April 9, 2004, I was strolling with Ginny Jordan and Devin Hibbard, my BFF and my beloved daughter, through the Acholi Quarter, a refugee encampment on the outskirts of Kampala. We were going to visit a woman dying of AIDS who was placing her infant in an orphanage before she died.

On the narrow path we saw a woman making something with her hands as she deftly rolled a waving strip of paper. Little did we know that we were meting out destiny in the form of Millie Grace. She was a refugee from the war in Northern Uganda, and she had fled to Kampala with her four girls. Millie was the first women we would assist out of poverty.

Now as we begin our 19th year of working to eradicate dire poverty, we are partnering with over 160 other non-profit organizations to bring our world-class entrepreneurial training program to women in 26 countries. We are celebrating our hard work and creative ideas, and our gradual maturing and understanding of how to sustainably assist women to have both the skills and confidence to work their way out of poverty. We are also celebrating the numerous friends, supporters, community partners, Global Catalyst Partners, and generous donors who have lifted us along the way. And we honor the staff and Board members, both past and present, both in the US and in Uganda who have worked tirelessly with BeadforLife and Street Business School to bring us to where we are today. Literally thousands of people have given their talents, wisdom, and big heart to make us the powerful transformative organization that we are today.

This is OUR day to be grateful that we get to participate in this life changing work, to do work that matters. Let’s remember that by breaking the chains of generational poverty we are transforming the fate of tens of thousands of families that will not have to endure the pain and suffering of dire poverty. What started as a spark from a chance encounter is now a mighty fire of inspiration, and transformation.

Congratulations everyone wherever you are!

And we have BOLD plans for the future. So stay with us! We need one another as we go forward. Onward to ONE MILLION!

Torkin Wakefield, Co-founder of BeadforLife and Street Business School