I loved having the opportunity to guest post on my sweet friend Molly’s blog this week.  She let me tell some of my favorite stories of my time in Uganda with some Noonday artisans and we are doing a give away (open until Monday here!)! If you haven’t ever, please visit Mollys blog.  She is a beautiful person inside & out – she’s an artist and one of the most creative people I know.  She truly uses her gifts & talents to serve our God and help people! She’s creating beautiful canvases (her idea!) to help our good friend Alison with her move to Rwanda (check that out here) and her blog posts are always inspirational.  Her etsy shop features cutsom paintings & my favorite headbands and cute flower clips! I seriously feel like her marketing team – I’m always telling people about my clips!  Please go check her out!!!! and because I want to have a record of all these stories on my blog…my noonday post below 😉
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Noonday has meant something totally different for me since getting back from Uganda. I “knew” what shopping and selling Noonday products meant for these women (and men) all over the globe but just like anything else – when you actually meet them, the story gets a lot more personal.

I know I have talked about Jalia & Daniel in previous blog post (here) and touched on what they do & how there are making their mark on this world. But I wanted to tell you more about the women & men who work with them.

1 hour walk to Jalia & Daniels house

Sit in the outdoor area of their home and start making jewelry

Talk, talk, talk

Jalia serves them all a hot meal (this is a big deal!)

Work while they chat!

Before they go home every day they get PAID!

This is HUGE. They get paid for the work they do every. Single. Day.

Most women who make items & sell in the market in Uganda would have to wait until their item sold to make money, but these women get it each day.

Rosette says that her 5 kids (ages 3-17!) go to school with the money she makes.

Bukenya & Coral were able to pay for proper prenatal care during their pregnancy.

Ida, Jalia’s sister, who is a trained nurse started helping during her 1 month off from the hospital, and has decided that “making beads makes me happy” and instead of going back to the death filled hospital, she’s going to continue to work for Noonday! The $ she makes is better with Noonday & it helps her provide for her 2 small children!

My favorite story is of Bukenya (24) and his brother, Caleb (17). I got to chatting with these two young brothers as they speak very good English. I loved hearing their stories, their hearts, and their big god given plans. Having different biological dads, Bukenya spent 7 years of his youth growing up in an orphanage. It was there he learned about Jesus, and now him, his brother Caleb & his wife Coral are all Christ followers. Not only are they Christ followers trying to make it in their world, they want to help others “who really need it”. By my standards & those of the world – these young men are the ones who need the help – but their heart goes out to children living on the street. They work tirelessly making jewelry every day so they can save enough money to start an orphanage. Their goal is in 6-8 years to have their doors open to provide a place to sleep, food, and Christian discipleship for the street children of Kampala.

These boys don’t waver in their dreams & goals.

They aren’t afraid to tell you what the Lord has stirred up in their hearts.

I have no doubt these two, with the Lords help; will make a huge difference in the kingdom.

And the money that will help them get there……they money they get from making the Jalia, Zoe, Kampala with love, ETC necklaces. So when you purchase a necklace from Noonday Collection, made in Uganda, you know where your money is going…

The Zoe Necklace, named after Jalia & Daniels daughter….. in Coral or Turquoise

this is Caleb making the beads for the necklace!

It doesn’t get much better than that.