Women of Kireka: Three days earnings

Art & Entertainment

articles on the art and culture of the African Diaspora

Diaspora at work

Highlighting the lives and accomplishments of Africa’s Diaspora community.

events & conferences

on-going coverage and promotion of events and conferences of interest to the African Diaspora

Women of Kireka: Three days earnings

Submitted by TMS Ruge on Saturday, 6 February 20104 Comments

NOTE OF CLARIFICATION:
Just to clarify, while Grace gives varying answers on the video on how long it takes to put together that box of jewelry, it actually takes the women about 3 days to produce the pieces in that box. Grace confirmed that it took 3 days to produce Ush 40,000 (~$20.25), the equivalent of three weeks worth of work breaking rocks.

My last photo shoot featuring Women of Kireka jewelry got a lot of positive interest. Within one week the women got orders from London, Vancouver, Nairobi and Kampala. Last week alone, Siena and myself hired a couple of boda bodas and took some interested buyers to visit the women at the quarry where they worked.

The frenzy of sells got me thinking about the income the women were pulling in just from the jewelry. The video above once again stars Lamono Grace, talking about the economic impact of selling just a few pieces of jewelry versus the income from the daily grind of pounding stones.

As always, be part of a solution and encourage these women by buying some jewelry if it appeals to your sense of style. Remember, it’s not charity, so don’t buy anything unless you feel it’s up to your standards. But having seen these pieces with my own eyes, they are worth every dollar.

On a further note, let me task you with this: what do you earn in three days of work? Do you even think twice when you spend the equivalent of a week’s worth of earnings for each woman on a cup of coffee? Again it’s not a request for charity, but a simple reminder of what some people on this planet of ours have to go through just to earn a dollar.

Share and Enjoy: