Leave it to Oprah to come up with a fashionable campaign to help African women in need. The O bracelet project, sponsored in partnership between O, the Oprah magazine, Fair Winds Trading and Macy’s, empowers women of Rwanda by providing jobs. The bracelets are handmade in Rwanda by women who are affected by poverty, AIDS and genocide. 100% of sales go directly to the women.
What a fabulous idea to give women the creative outlet to hand make bracelets for a source of income. Since its launch in January 2007, the project has made a huge impact in women’s lives. Here’s a excerpt from Mary Fisher’s website (the bracelet designer):
Sadie is 26 years old and has one child. In 2003, she was sick so went back to her village to ask for help from her grandfather and other relatives. She says she was shunned and relatives got a shovel and put it next to her bed, to use to dig her grave. They wanted her to write down what her belongings were in Lusaka so when she died they could get them (a pretty typical occurrence, because women have no property rights according to tribal traditions). The relatives would not feed her in the village so she got sicker and sicker. She got some money for transport, sneaked out of the village and got back to Lusaka to her sisters, who go her to the clinic where she received antiretroviral (ARV) medication.
Getting paid for her work on the bracelet project means she can buy the balanced food she's supposed to eat while taking ARV medication. She also puts money in the bank for school fees for her daughter, who is 6 now. They have to pay school fees every month and if they don't have enough for that month, her daughter doesn't go to school that month.
The bracelet is sold online at Macys.com. Prices range from $88 to $330. What a great movement to provide income for those in Africa!
* Photo from MaryFisher.com
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