About

Me:
My name is Sara and I am a student at Hobart and William Smith College in Geneva, NY. I am from a small town in Ohio and I absolutely love photography. I feel so lucky that I have the opportunity to do something I love while at the same time helping other people. This Blog will be a way for me to update everyone on how the project is progressing and hopefully get feedback on what I am doing. This is a collaborative project and I want as many people to be involved as possible!

Large scale sample of the original bead

The Project: This summer I had the opportunity to go to Africa with a friend and spend time working at a glass blowing studio in Nairobi. One of our jobs was to come up with a fundraiser involving a local school. We spent two days working with and learning about the children at the Oloosirkon Government Primary School. It was an incredible experience to be around these kids who did not have electricity, papers, pencils, and proper restrooms, but were still eager as ever to learn and laugh with us, regardless of any language barriers that existed. From this experience evolved the One Bead Project. We decided to make a glass bead, one half thick and one thin to symbolize the idea of having a lot vs. having a little. In the center connecting the two halves will be an "O" for the name of the school that we were supporting. The bead will hang on a piece of leather like a small glass charm. Anselm, the owner of the studio, has agreed for now to cover the production cost involved with making the beads, so as of right now, 100% of the profits will be going directly to the school. Profits will be used to fund expensive, yet necessary projects such as building a fence and installing bathrooms for girls and boys. Although raising money for the school is an important aspect in this project, awareness is another element high on our list of priorities. Our idea was that in buying a bead, you are not only helping the school, but you are also acknowledging your desire to help another individual. Buying a bead should symbolize an act of selflessness, of doing something for another person who is not in an ideal situation, of doing something for that person not because you have to but because you can. For many students the idea is that in buying a bead you are acknowledging how grateful you are to go to a school with electricity/paper/pens/etc. After spending time with the students in the Oloosirkon school there is no doubt in my mind that One bead can make a huge difference!

Contact: onebeadproject@gmail.com
                         Anselm's Hot Glass Website: http://www.kitengela.com/