Hi friends!

The 2011 Lugazi, Uganda HELP International team had a ton of fun getting to know and working with HELP long-time partner, Annet. Annet is an incredible human being. She lives in Sseya, a village near Lugazi, teaches, farms, is the mother of two adorable children, and she co-manages an orphanage with her wonderful husband, Pastor Josiah.

Annet leads a women's group called Waggala Women of Destiny. The group collaborates to generate income. They are skilled farmers, basket weavers, and they also crochet!

We thought we'd ask them to design a few crocheted items for a trial run in the US. The nonprofit that I work for has a fair trade shop, where down the line, the product might sell. However, I want to try to sell this first set of fun crocheted hats, scarves, zipper purses and bags to HELP International volunteers, alumni, friends, and family. We would love feedback and product ideas!

This is not the women's sole source of income and they understand that this is just a trial run, with no promises of a future market. This will supplement their income, and if we're able to continue to work with them as artisans, it's extremely important to us that we do so in a manner that does not create dependency. For this reason, we chose to try this with women who have local sources of income as well. Please email me if you have ideas about how to make this sustainable and how to make sure this does not create dependency moving forward.

Browse! If you love something and want to support this women's cooperative, you can place an order with me via email at arielmacpherson@gmail.com, and I'll send you a link to pay via PayPal. I will include my cost of shipping (USPS flat rate https://www.prioritymail.com/flatrates.asp - I'll fit as much as I can in each box) and PayPal fee, but otherwise, all $ goes to Annet's women's group. If you'd prefer to send a check to cut out the PayPal fee, we can work that out.

Also, if you are going to Lugazi this year, and would like more information about HELP projects with this women's group, please feel free to email me at arielmacpherson@gmail.com.

Thanks a ton for your support,

Ari Macpherson and Ashley Rogers