Saturday, April 30, 2011

Sneak Peek! Gomesi Dress Coming Soon!

Check out our new gomesi dress! We did the first part of our photo shoot today and will be finishing up next week, but we couldn't wait to share these amazing new products with you!

These beautiful sun dresses can be worn anywhere! Beach, lunch dinner, or for a simple stroll through the park. Made of beautiful Tanzanian kangas, you will be sure to catch everyone's eyes, whatever the occasion.

The elastic top with matching drawstring makes this dress very versatile. Wear it strapless or as a halter!

One size fits many; 32" long; Chest from 21" to 46" expanded.














Coming Soon: Kamwa Napkins!

By popular demand, Awava now has our new kamwa napkins! Made from colorful kitenge prints with contrasting liner, these napkins will surely add that extra spice your meals are looking for!

17.5" X 17.5"; sets of 4

Wash in cold water with like colors; tumble dry.


Coming Soon: Mmeeza Table Mats!

Our new mmeeza table mats, made from colorful kitenge fabrics, are sure to spice up your dining table!

Wash in cold water with like colors, air dry.

18" X 14.5"; sets of 4




Wednesday, April 27, 2011

New Eco-Friendly Jewelry Coming Soon: Moroto Earrings

Our new Moroto Earrings are a new take on traditional Ugandan wares. Made of 100% recycled sterling silver and gemstone beads from traditional Karamajong necklaces, these are sure to catch everyone’s eye.

Layered necklaces made of these beads are the traditional necklace worn by both the Massai tribe in Kenya and the Karamajong in Uganda. Moroto is one of the districts in the region of Karamoja in Uganda.

Watch our website for these lovely earrings hitting the Unites States very, very soon!




Friday, April 22, 2011

Our Uganda Friday: Spoken Truth (The Resurrection of the Movement)

by Darlyne Komukama

The ladies of Awava in Kampala, once a month, enjoy an intimate event called Poetry In Session where we are entertained by amateur and professional poets. (We will give you a heads up before the next one.) Poetry In Session has its roots in the Spoken Truth movement that has been silent ... until now! Our love for one event, has led to our immense excitement for this event, we're telling you about today.




The Spoken Truth movement is enjoying a resurrection this evening. The event which was originally scheduled for last night but (luckily for this blogger) got postponed to today takes place at the Open House on Buganda Road and starts at 7.30pm.

Come out and enjoy the stylings of the ever soulful Sister Ife, the wonderful wordplay of Brother Jason and get to see Masaani Art in a setting other than organising Poetry In Session.

See you there.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Today's Journey: FABRICS!

While there is a very good chance all of these new fabrics we purchased today will be gobbled up by a few special orders, we thought we would share with you some of the beautiful, new prints we found in Owino today!








HUGE Earth Day Online Sale This Weekend!


Saturday, April 16, 2011

Our April Gulu Trip (mostly) In Pictures!

by: Kate von Achen

Sorry for the delay. After our return from Gulu, the Awava camera stopped working properly. Luckily we have an amazing, tech-savvy friend, David McCann, who saved the day (and the pocket book)!

Our journey to Gulu almost two weeks back was fantastic. While Darlyne and Hanna had made regular visits to the ladies, I hadn't been up since just before heading for the US for the holidays so it was nice to get back to my home.

So many exciting things have been happening from yet another new workspace for the tailors, to new product designs and new babies and pregnancies, it was so much fun to go and celebrate! And of course to do A LOT of work.

We met with the women of Konye Keni, buying up lots of new paper bead goodies and discussing the new eco-friendly jewelry designs and why we were introducing those. There's a lot of excitement around learning new techniques and working with different materials from Awava, our customers and the artisans!

We spent a lot of time working with the tailors on new products, which we're having trouble keeping in stock even though they're not even ready yet! It's amazing.

And now for the fun stuff......PHOTOS!


Akello Susan with the birthday girl!



Lucy adding our order to her accounting books (which are meticulous 10 months after our business skills training)!


Darlyne working diligently to put our new ordering system to work!


Concy putting some finishing details on some of our new kitenge table mats!


Esther hard at work (there's a baby in that belly)!


You can't tell, but this boy has no pants. And we're not sure where he left his parents either...




Lucy wanted to get our new sun dress sample done so badly, she wouldn't even stop working to hold the phone!


Distracted by phone calls, Lucy still managed to make an AMAZING new dress (coming soon)!




See ya soon Gulu!






My favorite part of the drive between Gulu and Kampala is crossing the Nile River.


There are usually tons of monkeys around!


Save the date! 5k for Fair Trade!


Many Fair Trade events center around discussion, panels and fairs, which are always fun and informative, but the FAAST 5k campaign is a new and exciting way that The International Service Teams in Kansas are working to raise awareness and support for organizations working for social justice.

Get out and run on Saturday~May 7th to make the World a better place for all (and the stick around to buy some beautiful, ethically made items from the vendors)!

Friday, April 15, 2011

New Eco-Friendly Jewelry Coming Soon: Mukwano Earrings

Awava has new eco-friendly jewelry making its US debut in D.C. this Sunday and will soon be available on our website!

Made from 100% recycled sterling silver and adorned with various stones, our Mukwano Earrings are sure to be a hit! In fact people in Kampala have been eating them up since International Women's Day!

Mukwano is the Luganda word for friend. We chose this name because Awava had many friends lend a hand in the evolution of these amazing new gems. Kylie Grater of Early Jewelry worked with founder Kate von Achen over the holiday season on jewelry design and technique, and even helped her figure out what to buy to get this new program started. The various stones used on the Mukwano earrings were given to Kate by Glenna Gordon two years ago before leaving Uganda. Glenna actually also gave Awava its name!

Since the various gem stones we have for the Mukwano earrings are hard to find in Uganda, the earrings will all be limited edition. And since so many friends lent a helping hand in this jewelry revolution we are now embarking on, we have decided to give "sub-names" to differentiate between the stones using names of Awava's friends.

Please stay tunned to the website for these items to be available, but in the meantime, here's a sneak preview!

Kylie


Glenna


Laura


Zara


Molly


Adrienne


Lindsey





Lisa

More stones and friends coming soon...