Mary Nduta is a Kenyan, living with her husband and three children in a small home in the outskirts of Nairobi.  Prior to working for the Global Bag Ladies project, Mary was working three days a week as a house helper.  Her income was the only money available for supporting her family.  This income provided for one meal a day and some of the school fees for the children.  Mary began making bags for the GBL project two years ago.  Her expertise in sewing and her eagerness to work has been very evident in the bags she has produced.  Mary is the first GBL bag maker.   With the income from her bags, Mary is able to feed her family three meals a day, pay for all school fees, and has hired another woman to learn to make the GBL bags.

Mary Magdalene is a Sudanese refugee living in Kenya under the protection of the United Nations.  Mary is a widow having lost two husbands in the war in Sudan.  Mary has nine children of her own and is providing for three orphan children as well.  While in the refugee camp in northern Kenya, Mary learned to make paper beads.  The paper beads are then made into beautiful jewelry, each piece very unique. Her beads also embellish the GBL bags. Presently Mary has 75 women working with her making the paper bead jewelry. Many of these women are widows.  Some of them are HIV+. All of them have multiple children to care for.  Please check out the jewelry page to view samples of Mary’s paper bead jewelry.