Many of you will know Jennifer who works at JLB. Jennifer has just returned from a trip to Uganda. The main aim of the trip was to work with the ladies from Paperchain on the new Christmas collection of their beautiful unique jewellery. JLB has already placed an order and we can’t wait for them to arrive for the festive season gifting. Each piece is handmade from paper by a small group of ladies from Uganda. For those of you who did not know what Paperchain is, here’s a little about it.
Paperchain exists to support charities that work with street children in Uganda, getting to wear beautiful beads is a bonus. There are sixteen very creative ladies empowering themselves and working very hard to support their families. Not only this, they are also helping to take other children off the streets through the amazing projects that Paperchain supports. The Paperchain brand has been developed by Hannah Rodgers, Avril Robinson and Jennifer Barr. The three main projects that Paperchain currently have are:
Dwelling Places
Dwelling Places is a Ugandan founded and run organisation that rescues, rehabilitates, reconciles and resettles children from the streets. The money raised by Paperchain is used to help fund the boy’s home and school section of Dwelling Places. This home is where boys from the streets are brought, they receive new clothes, a warm bed and interact with other young boys who have, sadly, had the same start to life. The school is often the first classrooms these children will have been in and it’s where they will learn to read, write, count and are prepared to enter into mainstream education.
New Beginnings
New Beginnings was founded and continues to be run by Rodger Annett, a Northern Irish man from Kilkeel. The children’s village he has created is home to over 150 children from babies to young men and women ready to attend university. Many of these children have special needs and all have been abandoned, abused or neglected. New Beginnings aims to give them just that, a new beginning and a fresh start to become whoever they believe they can be. Paperchain supports the New Beginnings Nursery and Primary School which is where all of these children attend alongside some disadvantaged children in the community.
Back Yard Bible Club
Hannah and Nathan set-up a club where children in the local area could come to play, eat and learn. A local teenager came to translate and help; when Hannah and Nathan had to leave Uganda, Shadrack then took over the running of the club. The Back Yard Bible Club is held every Saturday afternoon in a local common area near Shardracks home. He saves his pocket money to buy snacks for the children and has enlisted his friends to help him run the club. We are so proud of Shadrack and the work he is doing. Paperchain send donations quarterly to help fund snacks, new toys and other items for the children that attend. During Jennifer’s trip they helped to create a sensory wall for the under 5’s from lots of donated toys, these children didn’t have any toys at all!!
I think you will agree that Paperchain is a very worthwhile organisation. Their work in Uganda has already made such a change to the local people. You can also support these communities and the children in Uganda by supporting Paperchain and buying a gift that is going to make a difference. We can’t wait to see the beautiful new collection; here are a few photos of some of the beautiful, unique jewellery these amazing women make. If you would like to read more about Paperchain and their work visit https://www.paperchainjewellery.co.uk/