College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

All Spotlights » Design Lessons from Jinja

Elizabeth Marchetta, a student of Art & Design, tells her story best: "This past summer I worked with an organization called Light Gives Heat (LGH). Light Gives Heat is the umbrella organization which consists of two subgroups. One of Light Gives Heat's groups is called `Suubi' which consists of 93 women in a few villages located around Jinja, Uganda. The women make hand-made paper bead necklaces out of recycled paper, which are then bought by LGH, and resold in America. This provides the women with a consistent income every single week. Light Gives Heat also have a group called `epoh' which works with 12 tailors right outside of downtown Jinja. The tailors produce hand-made bags and purses out of scraps of fabric found in both Jinja and Kampala."

Not only did Elizabeth work for a non-profit that promotes paper bead jewelry made by local women to help support themselves economically, she also assisted in the making of a documentary film, created web graphics and most importantly, learned first-hand about grass-roots organizations and the impact of design.

See all spotlights