Saying "I Do" with Women of Kireka

Jennifer modeling one of the wedding headbands.

Hello blogosphere! It's been a while.  I blame my weeks-long absence on being too busy at the office and having too much fun in Kampala. While I've been away Women of Kireka have been busy: we hosted several groups of visitors at the office, participated in an event for women entrepreneurs organized by the Women of Uganda Network, ventured down to Kikubo Road to get the necessary materials to begin our metal training sessions with Peter Corry, continued work on an order of loose beads for a jeweler in Montreal, and got our feet wet in the wedding industry. My good friend here in Kampala was kind enough to suggest Women of Kireka to her bride-to-be sister, who was looking for something beautiful and unique to add to her wedding attire. Women of Kireka created custom sets of jewelry (necklace, bracelet, earrings, and headband) for the bride, maid of honor, and mother of the bride, in deep purple, pure white, and periwinkle blue respectively. The pieces were a smashing success with both the wedding party and the women, whose first foray into the lucrative world of weddings went off without a hitch.

Designs in Pocket

Santa examining some new materials from Kikuubo Road.

One of my many goals this summer is to help the Women of Kireka diversify their product line to include wood and metal. With designs in pocket thanks to the help of a WoK supporter in Montreal, all that's left is to 1) choose and acquire materials, 2) find someone to instruct the women on how to work with these materials, and 3) to assemble the prototypes. Right.

Task number 2 got infinitely easier this week due to the help of Peter Corry, a talented Kampala-based graphic designer and jeweler. Having worked with a number of different materials throughout his career and with experience instructing fine arts at Makerere University, Peter will be an incredible resource for WoK as we seek to incorporate new materials and eventually launch a new line of jewelry.

Alice with the new designs.

Helen taking a look.