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Baskets of Hope
Educate a girl and you educate a nation.
Before there was Educate the Girls, there was an organization called
Kyegonza Promotion of Girls Education Committee women. They are women
who live in the Kononi and Kasaka villages in a rural area in the Mipigi
district of Uganda. Although their country is poor, it is rich in hope. These
women in Kononi and Kasaka know that their daughters, as much as their
sons, are the hope of the future. And they want to make sure their daughters
have an opportunity to get a good education, so they can fulfill the promise of
that hope.
The Kononi and Kasaka women have organized to help girls in their district
by developing income-generating projects and teaching other women and the
girls such things as sewing, animal husbandry, and basket making.
Co-founder Nancy Veldhuis was introduced to the women several years ago,
while visiting her husband John, who was on assignment in the area. She
was impressed by the women and their determination to see their daughters
educated so they could be a part of Uganda's bright future. And she was
delighted by the beautiful artisan baskets they craft--so excited that she
bought many baskets to take back to the U.S. The friends she showed them
to were equally delighted, and began buying them from her at American
prices. She sent all the proceeds from her informal basket sales back to the
women in Kononi and Kasaka, to help them continue their good work.
Educate the Girls works with the Kononi and Kasaka women's group and with
a group in another rural village in the Mipigi district. One of the women in
this group, Robyna, originally taught the women of Kononi and Kasaka how
to make the beautiful designs they use in their baskets. She now teaches her
designs, and creates new ones, with women who live in her area. Educate the
Girls buys baskets from both groups, sells them in the U.S. and Canada, and
returns the money to the groups to use for the education of girls.
The basket artisans.
