Caring Hands Uganda
Caring Hands is an award winning organisation based in Kampala, Uganda. It was founded by Milla Happonen, a Finnish Canadian who has worked with her family in Africa since 1995. The beads used to make the jewellery are made by a group of ladies, many of whom are HIV positive. The beads are a source of income, hope and dignity for the women who make them. Any profits made by sales to White Nile are used to help with housing, schooling and emergency relief within the local community.
You can find out how the beads are helping local families break the cycle of poverty by reading the women's stories below.
Beaders' Stories
Life truly has been a rollercoaster for Jacqueline.
Jacqueline had a much better start than most of the ladies at Caring Hands; her parents put her through school, she was awarded with an English diploma at University and then received a marketing job. Together with her husband, an electrician, she had three beautiful children.
Disabled and rejected, Zam Zam receives funds for vital medical care from Caring Hands.
Zam Zam has not always been disabled. Now in her forties, she supports herself and four of her nieces and nephews. _________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________
Caring Hands helps single mother of four, Florence, to be reunited with her children.
Florence is a single mother of four who is HIV positive. Tragically, in 1996 her husband died from the same disease and since then Florence has been struggling to provide for her growing children. __________________________________________________________
Prossy, orphaned at ten, has found the family she never had after joining Caring Hands.
Prossy was orphaned at the age of ten when her parents were killed in the 1980s. Vulnerable, alone and still only 17, Prossy was raped and tortured by a man who kept her until she was 22. Then a second man took her and the cycle was repeated. She conceived her first child with this man and then he abandoned her.
Mother of two, Rebecca, starts a successful business with the help of Caring Hands.
The radiance on Rebecca’s face when we visited and the joy that resides in her home is obvious. Rebecca is a single mum with two children, Agnes and Daniel. She is paralyzed from the waist down and is reliant on a wheelchair, but this has not always been the case.