Behind the Scenes

 This company is named “Under the Tree,” because that is where our story began. It was under a tree in Gulu, Uganda that these women began rolling beads and making jewelry that became this business.

All of our jewelry is hand rolled out of paper in Gulu, Uganda. The ladies cut the paper into various sizes and shapes, tightly roll each individual strip of paper into a bead, apply a coat of jewelry varnish (making it water resistant), and then string the beads in order to create beautiful necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and headbands. 

All of the supplies are gathered per order that is placed. Emily, (Ugandan Program Coordinator) reviews the order that Kelsey and Caylin place and figures out what supplies are needed. Due to lack of access in Gulu, Emily travels to Kampala to purchase the supplies. All of the purchasing money is provided by Under the Tree so the ladies do not have to worry about budgeting their income for materials. 

 
Upon purchasing the supplies, Emily then heads back to Gulu and assigns each lady with the appropriate number of pieces to make. Amount that each lady is assigned is dependent on work history, quality of work, and timeliness of work. 

If Emily and/or Mama Molly notice that ladies are struggling with quality and/or timeliness, she is provided with a mentor. The mentor is one who has an extensive work history and positive reputation amongst the others. This lady will then train/re-train and mentor in order to improve quality and timeliness. This process is repeated until all of the ladies have had adequate training and assistance. 

All of the ladies are paid a “more than fair wage” for their products. Caylin and Kelsey allow the ladies to set the price for the jewelry in order to encourage fairness. The ladies are then paid for each piece of jewelry they produce for the given order.