SBS Featured on Travel Boulder
TRAVEL BOULDER
MAR 8, 2018
by Amy Heckel
It started with one woman, just trying to make ends meet. She was sitting on the ground outside her mud hut in Africa, rolling paper into colorful paper beads that she hoped to sell. Her name was Millie Grace Akena.
Millie would inspire a movement that is now on track to improve the lives of more than 1 million other impoverished African women, and likely many millions more.
Three Boulder women were visiting Uganda when they walked past Millie. They stopped to learn more about her. They learned about Millie’s struggles, but more importantly, her hope. They also learned that no one in Millie’s community had money to buy the beautiful jewelry she was making. This gave the Boulder women an idea.
In 2004, they launched a nonprofit,BeadforLife. The original purpose: to support women like Millie and help sell her products back in the United States (and beyond). But over the years, BeadforLife took some unexpected turns — in a big way.