I did not write the following article. It was written about an American lady who works at the American Embassy. With her Gucci bag, Italian leather shoes, and designer clothing, she is brought to a work site in Uganda, where “Bead for Life” is going on….

This is the story of how walking out of American life into a Uganda work camp for about an hour affected her entire outlook. Hopefully she still has the vision with her and has been truly changed by her experience…. I think everyone needs a mission trip.

Gucci Is Not an Acholi Word
The first thing that I noticed about Carol was her fancy pointed high-heeled shoes as they sank into the red dust. Clearly she had not anticipated where she was going today when she got dressed, what the Acholi Quarter really was. I had been trying to arrange a meeting with her for the past month. Today as rag tag children crowded around her car chanting “Muzungu, muzungu, muzungu”, I saw a lovely woman in designer jeans, a silk blouse, and Italian leather shoes hesitate to leave her car. I wondered if it had been a good idea to bring her to meet the beaders and to learn more about BeadforLife.

Carol works for the American Embassy. I had heard that she might be a source of high quality magazines for making the beads. She seemed like a possible ally in finding the raw materials for the bead project.

As Carol alighted from her SUV, children rushed forward to grab her hands, happy to accompany foreigners through their dirt village. In the total absence of toys, books, TV, radio, and snack food our arrival broke up the children’s routine. We strolled around the village, a small parade of white women and black children. We visited the rock quarry where Acholi refugees eek out a dollar a day in the hot sun by breaking huge boulders into small pebbles. The high heels were struggling, scrambling up eroded hillsides, stepping through rock piles, and avoiding mud. The barefooted children scampered effortlessly.

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