Meet the producers:
Edna Kwame, Bead Maker Bead-Making Center (Krobo).There was never any question that Edna would be a bead-maker. Her whole family is in the bead business and she started learning the craft from her mother when she was just 5 years old. When she left school at 15, Edna went to work for her mother full-time, and four years ago, she branched out on her own. Now she specializes in her own designs for painted beads. She's passing on the family tradition – she's taken on her brother and niece as apprentices and they work in the afternoons once school is done for the day.
Until Edna started to make beads for Global Mamas, she was forced to sell to a wholesaler who frequently gave her the run-around and put off paying her. Edna found herself spending so much money going to the wholesaler to chase payment that, sometimes, she just gave up. Since she started with Global Mamas, she earns enough to help her pay her niece's and brother's school fees, their medical bills and also helps support her mother. Edna is planning on getting married soon to Ebenezer, a carpenter who works nearby. She's hoping that she will be able to start saving money towards a new home for herself and Ebenezer. "If you have your own home, you have peace," she says.
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