Giveaway: Friday Market Beads

Ever heard of Friday Market Beads?  Well, I hadn’t until recently.

The company was founded by Bob and Suzy Livingston after living as missionaries in Uganda for a number of years.  They saw firsthand the poverty and struggles that families in Uganda live with on a daily basis.  While living there, Suzy frequently visited an open-air market where various handmade items were sold- wall hangings of wood and banana fibers, colorful paintings, wood and stone carvings, leather shoes and bags, and all sorts of paper bead jewelry (which is dipped in acrylic to make it waterproof). She often brought visitors to the market, and even brought home the paper bead jewelry to the states, as gifts for friends and relatives. Soon friends and family were asking how they could purchase the jewelry themselves.  And that’s where the idea for Friday Market Beads was born. Suzy and Bob saw a way to help the women in Uganda sell their jewelry to a larger market.