Sseko sandals.

I have been following Sit A Spell for a year or so now. I can't remember how I first found her blog, but it's really made me think. Like the uncomfortable kind of think...you know, the kind that eventually spurs you to change.

Anyway, recently she's been doing a series of posts on taking care of the poor, and how her family eventually became missionaries in Haiti.

Here are the posts in the series so far...

Caring for the Poor While Living in the Good ol' U-S of A?
Who Are the Poor?
Looking for the Poor
Hi, My Name is Heather and I'm a Modern Day Slave Owner
Helpful Links
Barn Burning
First, The Purging
The Better World Shopping Guide
More Really Great Shopping Resources
Running Hard After Redemption

Now in her series she's doing several posts on businesses that ARE taking care of the poor, businesses who pay their workers in other countries fair wages and invest in their lives. These are the other posts in this series...

The first of these businesses is Sseko Designs. I am posting this for one, because they are giving away a pair of these amazing sandals (that I would obviously love to win), but also because I hope to help inform people of reputable companies. Places where you can feel good about where your hard earned money is going (which is something I'm really thinking about these days).

From Sit A Spell:

Guest post by Cameron Crake.

Cameron Crake is the beautiful, brown-haired American in the back row.
Cameron spent a lot of time at our house when she was in college at Texas A&M.
Love this girl, and I'm incredibly proud of the work that
she and Liz (the blonde-haired owner) do at Sseko.
Aren't all these women lovely?

“Where does my stuff come from?” This was a question that I hadn’t really considered until about two years ago… I would read the labels every once in a while and see the “Made in China” or “Hecho en Mexico” label on my newly purchased items, but I never stopped to think about what the life of the person who made my stuff was like.

Until I did…. And then I couldn’t stop thinking about it... My head was constantly swarming with questions like: What are their working conditions like? Do they have kids? What are their hopes and dreams for the future? Do they even enjoy what they do? These questions plagued me because I realized that I didn’t know where most of the things in my closet come from... So I started seeking some answers and trying to find a better way.

Around that time I started interning with Sseko Designs- a “not-just-for-profit” company that gave me a glimmer of hope. Sseko sells leather sandals that are handmade by Ugandan women who recently graduated from secondary school, and aspire to go on to attend university. By working with Sseko, these young ladies are able to earn money for their tuition and receive an education that is not often a possibility for a young girl growing up in a war-torn and male-dominated country.

When I first starting working with Sseko, I would speak at promotional events about Harriet, Betty, and Mercy…. These girls who were halfway across the world, making the shoes that were on my feet, and going to university because of it.

But now I know them.

Ten days after graduating from college, I moved to Kampala Uganda to work full-time with Sseko Designs. It’s been over a year now, and it has been an incredible experience to see up close the way that a company like Sseko changes the lives of its employees.

Of course there is the most obvious change that takes place through employment with Sseko…. For our university-bound girls, that means making their educational dreams a reality. It means that Susan can become a teacher, and Betty can become a surgeon, and Lea can become a social worker.

But Sseko also cares about the well-being of its employees down to the day to day stuff... In fact, one of my favorite parts of my job has been establishing programs for the personal development of our women: health seminars, personal finance plans, typing lessons…. I get to sit down across from a woman and hear about how she wants to not only fund her own university education, but also help pay for her younger siblings school fees… I get to watch a woman turn on the computer for the first time in her life, and explain to her how a mouse works and where you place your fingers when you type…. I get to listen in as a health care worker teaches our women about the importance of hygiene and clean water.

What I’ve seen in this company is a deep, deep love for the women that it employs.

So when you buy a pair of Ssekos, you’re not just getting a fabulous sandal. Your purchase is going so much further than that. It’s going toward opportunity, dignity, education, empowerment, and love for a handful of women in Uganda.

You can purchase a pair of Ssekos online OR you can participate in a little raffle we have arranged for Heather’s readers!

{{Win a Free Pair of Ssekos}}

Here’s the deal: You write a blog about Sseko, tag us in a Facebook status, or tweet about us within the next week… and then you report back to let us know what you did through a comment on Heather’s blog. Participants will be entered into a raffle to win a FREE pair of Ssekos! Tagging us in a Facebook status counts as one entry, tweeting is also one, and writing a blog will count as five entries. One week from today, we’ll announce the winner. So let the games begin!

From Heather...

This is how my Ssekos are tied right this very minute.

One of my favorite things about Sseko sandals is that it feels as though you get several pairs of shoes from just one purchase. Not only can you buy different colored straps and change them out in your sandals, you can also tie your shoes in many, creative, unique styles. Go check out all the ways you can style your Ssekos. I can't decide which one I love most.