Obama Bracelets: A Profound Story of Hope

The Obama bracelet was born in the hearts of some very special women in Ruai, Kenya. Initially, this energy of hope was awakened with the start of a new micro-lending program called Hope Bank. The inspiration for this project and the funds to carry it out are provided by members of the philanthropic for-profit enterprise, Humanity Unites Brilliance.

Watch this inspiring three minute video about the women from the Masai and the Kukuyu tribes who, once enemies, now work side-by-side to bring hope to the world.

Thirteen single mothers were living in extreme poverty, without a means to take care of themselves or their families. With the microloan, these woman began creating beaded crafts to sell in the fair trade HUB Global Marketplace. Each woman’s personal story is one of tragedy, loss and struggle; but they continue to step forward each day with great faith, profound hope, and a guiding dream of something better. When these women were asked to bead the word “Hope” into a bracelet, they instead interpreted this to mean “that which brings them hope” and Barack Obama was that person. He symbolizes great hope for the Kenyan people who describe him as a “son of the soil."

Kongelo, the Obama's impoverished ancestral home in western Kenya, is a remote Aids-ravaged, dirt-poor hamlet of brick houses with corrugated iron roofs, where barefoot children, goats and hens roam free. Kenya's president, Mwai Kibaki, declared a public holiday on Thursday November 6^th, in honor of Obama's election victory. When Barack Obama Jr. was born on Aug. 4,1961, in Honolulu, Kenya was a British colony, still part of the United Kingdom's dwindling empire. As a Kenyan native, Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by The British Nationality Act of 1948. That same act governed the status of Obama Sr.'s children. President Elect Obama's Kenyan citizenship automatically expired on Aug. 4,1982, when he turned 21.

Not only is this historic Obama bracelet a great memento of an extraordinary new beginning for the United States, but the purchase of one bracelet can fund a microloan that helps a woman create a life, and a community of women succeed together. This bracelet of profound hope helps these struggling women put food on the table and books in the hands of their children. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for these bracelets to be handmade and shipped to you, as the demand for them is as great as the hope that they offer.

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