Kazuri Beads from Kenya

These are the Kazuri beads the hubby got for my “pasalubong” (present/keepsake) from Kenya. I love them.  These are actually a necklace and a bracelet. I just loved how they come together in harmony even as I wrapped the supposedly necklace together with the bracelet around my wrist.

Kazuri, which means “small and beautiful” in Swahili, began in 1975 as a tiny workshop experimenting on making handmade beads. The factory is located in what used to be part of the Karen Blixen Estate (of the Academy Award winning film “Out of Africa”) fame.

What made me love these beads more are the pictures that came with them.  I was practically walked through how these beads were made by the beautiful African women themselves.

The mission of Kazuri is to provide and sustain employment opportunities for disadvantaged members of Kenyan society. Most of their workers are single mothers. In order to sustain these opportunities they are committed to produce top quality hand-made and hand-painted ceramic jewelry and pottery.

The Kazuri workshop in Karen employs over 340 women, which are mostly single mothers.  The workshop is equipped with a clinic, providing free medical care for the employees and their immediate families.

A Kenyan woman shows off finished products that she made herself.  Aren’t those beads lovely?

My husband is not much into this bead thing or anything girly, for that matter.  He often looks at me puzzled whenever I appreciate these things. All of them look entirely the same to him. Men! So I really commended him for the effort that he has put through having to pick the beads he got for me out of these hosts of displayed ones at the Kazuri shop in Kenya. He could have gotten a couple more sets if only he was sure that I would like them. 🙂