.Nakate Giveaway.

A dear friend of mine named Emily asked me to share with you something very special she has been a part of..something she, along with a team of volunteers, have been working hard and devoting every free minute to..
..it is called Nakate. 
Nakate is a website with one important goal, helping women with aids in East Africa. The women of East Africa make beautiful jewelry that Nakate purchases to later resell. All of the proceeds are then returned and invested to the women in East Africa. Emily's business partner, Shanley, has commented below about her experiences:

"I went to Uganda this past summer to document the work of an aid organization in the Luwero district, which is off the main highway running through Uganda to southern Sudan. I spent several days focusing on Kakooge, a village almost completely wiped out by AIDS in the past few decades. The families left are struggling intensely: many mothers left alone with children, wrecked by polygamy, without hope, many fathers that openly wept when speaking to me, saying that they could not feed their children, that they were too weak from the disease to work. 

I discovered, while there, that there was no market for wares in the village. Even those who were strong enough to work couldn't find sustainable occupations. I struggled, especially, with the way the women in the village were fighting to feed their families and were often brutally mistreated or taken advantage of in the process.

I had heard that people that had traveled to Uganda on medical missions had brought back beads from Kakooge, and I sought out the women who made them with my guide. I found that many of them were depending on the beads to pay their children's school fees, their rent, buy food, etc. but that sales were sporadic, and couldn't be counted on. I brought back a huge bag of beads intending to make sales more regular, and met Emily, who was finishing up her MBA and had a heart for helping the impoverished. Together, we set up the Nakate Project, which sells the necklaces online, and at parties held by volunteers in our area. We pay the women back three times what they could make within the country, and use the rest of the money to invest in business opportunities for them in Kakooge, in effort to bring a sustainable market back in the area."

Nakate needs our help spreading the word to the world. You can do this by:

- blogging about their cause

- donating your old magazine subscriptions

- hosting a jewelry party

Please visit their website to learn more information on how you can help. Contact Emily at emily@nakateproject.com or Shanley at shanley@nakateproject.com

Please enjoy the stunning photographs taken by Adam Rowell of the jewelry line made by the women of East Africa

Nakate is excited to announce TWO giveaways! 

To be eligible for their first giveaway, simply visit their facebook page by clicking here and click "Like"..not too hard right? By doing so, you may be picked to win a lovely pair of earrings! The second giveaway is being featured only on Little Things Bring Smiles. In order to receive a beautiful necklace, as pictured above, you simply need to leave a comment on this post as well as on Nakate's blog. That's it :)

Thank you for reading this and for checking out Nakate. Emily and Shanley are appreciative for your support.