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Karamoja Jewellery is still the Original Product. We are always working to create new designs using fresh materials found and inspired from Karamojaland.

We also have Traditional wooden seats.

And Traditional Wigs made from Sisel.

A new product for East Africa created by Karamoja Design using local materials found here in Uganda. Hammocks are a cool and healthy place to relax, read, and be inspired.

About :

Karamoja Design

Karamojaland and the Conflict

Why Karamoja are fleeing to the ghettos in Kampala

Culture and the People

Karamoja Design wants to create an alternative to begging and to create possibilities for those people back in Karamojaland so they don't have to leave the land where they were born.

By creating work to make jewellery and traditional handicrafts we can help change the lives of the Karamojong in the City and in the Village.

Also by focusing on the Arts we can create a deeper sense of cultural pride which has been left scared for so many years by the conflict over guns and cows.

With good Fair-payment polices we can help produce an income for some of the poorest people Uganda.

Meet some of the Karamoja Design Group

Karamoja Design group in Kampala is made up of 6 individuals, their coordinated is Mr Simon Lokai ( a Karamojong himself) who has been active as a volunteer worker helping the Karamojong in the Ghettos of Kampala for the last 2 years.

Simon Lokai

Everyday, Simon returns to Kakajo-zone ghetto; a mass of squalid houses at the back of the central market in Kampala. He is running a small business called 'Karamoja Design', which is aimed at creating an income for the Karamojong that have fled their homeland because of famine and tribal warfare. Before Simon was made an orphan he was lucky enough to have received an education, so, he can now speak some English.

Simon thinks it is better to train the Karamojong to create and sell traditional necklaces rather than having them beg with their babies on the busy streets. It is a passion, he says, that makes him want to help them, because, he himself spent a few despondent years living in the ghetto.

Sharon

Sharon is a cheerful young woman that laughs in the face of adversity. She has managed to move out of the ghetto in Kampala with the help of 'Karamoja Design', a business initiative to create jobs for the Karamojong that have fled their homeland because of famine and tribal warfare.

She says she wants to earn enough money to move back to Kanole in Karamojaland where she was born. Sharon likes to sing while she works and is always the centre of the small throng of women that make jewellery for ‘Karamoja Design’.

Aisha

Has two boys and a girl to look after, but after joining the team of 'Karamoja Design', a business initiative to create jobs for the Karamojong that have fled their homeland because of famine and tribal warfare, she says she is hopeful of moving out of the ghetto soon. It is no place for children, she adds, but they seem happy, because they do not remember any other. Akelo likes to sing with the other women, she is very good at remembering the old songs of her homeland. In her voice you can hear a strong determination to succeed.

Making jewellery in Karamojaland

In Karamojaland we are concentrating in Lokopo sub county giving the local women work to make to most traditional designs straight from the heart of Karamojaland. Karamoja Design is supporting the government by encouraging the people not to come to the city, but to create possibilities in their own land.

Around 50% of the Karamoja people who have fled to Kampala are from Lokopo Sub County. It is one of the area most hard hit by famine and conflict .

About the land

Karamojaland is a dry semi-arid savannah covering a large area of North Eastern Uganda. There is just one very short growing season per year which is often unsuccessful. Karamojaland is subject to yearly drought and famine.
Report WFP (world food program) Jan 2007 "At least 40 percent of the population lacks adequate, if any food stocks."

The Conflict

For almost 30 years now Karamojaland has been the scene of a bloody internal conflict. The fighting is described as an inter-ethnic conflict, whereby tribes and villages are attacking one-another over the ownership of cows and for revenging previous attacks.

To begin with the government ignored the gun culture of Karamoja, leaving them to defend themselves from each other and attacking tribes from Sudan and Kenya.

The Disarmament

Since 2005 the government is making its second attempt to disarm the Karamojong using more force and more troops.

But there are new problems arising. Small groups of Karamojong warriors have refused to give up their guns and are hiding out in the bush. They are raiding villages that have already been disarmed, stealing cows, killing people and taking food stocks, leaving the Karamojong people who most want peace with nothing.

Report from St. Kizito Hospital in Matany sub-county in Karamojaland, on Jan 2007 " Over the last three months there have been over 60 hospitalized cases of men, women and children who have received gunshot wounds. An average of 1 victim every 12 -18 hours. Also Given the fact that those who reach hospital are only the survivors, the actual field mortality must be incredible and of great concern."

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Lokopo in Karamojaland

Lokopo sub-county is a very poor area affected badly by the conflict and by lack of food. It consists of about 20 settlements, most without any protection from the army. Attacks from neighboring warriors are still very frequent.

Simple jobs like collecting fire wood from the bush have become a potentially fatal activity. Men trapping small animals for food are also subject to attacks.

But it is the women which are particularly hard hit. For example: women do not go on raids to other villages, but they suffer directly when other villages return for revenge attacks.

Because of this insecurity and hunger, more than half of the population of Lokopo, mostly women and children have fled to Kampala, Mbale or Jinja.

How do they leave?

They go to the area town of Matany and sell water or collect wood which is a very dangerous occupation and only gains them a few 100 Ush a day. However, they endeavor to save little by little until they have enough money for the bus to kampala which is about 18-000 Ush.

In Kampala

Once in Kampala, however, they cannot speak the local language and so cannot find work. Their only means to survive is to beg and sweep the streets for beans and maize that have fallen from trucks.

They sleep in the slum areas of town in very dirty conditions, where diseases like cholera and Typhoid are endemic.

Some Karamoja women resort to using children for extra begging power, placing them on the street alone and in the direct shine. Some even take other peoples children from Karamojaland, the mothers are happy to give up their children purely so the child can get fed.

Culture

Despite the lack of food and the internal conflict the Karamojong people are still managing to preserve their rich culture of wearing jewelry, dancing and singing and creating folklore.

Jewelry

The Karamojong are well known for their colourful designs of jewelry. The waist straps being the distinguishing feature for the Karamoja ladies. The more lengths of beads mean the more respectable and also more desirable for marrying they become.

Old men often sell off their best cows in order to buy jewelry for their daughters so they can gain a higher dowry price when married.

The colours most favoured by the Karamojong women are natural shades of Orange, blue and green. Originally precious stones were also used as decoration but what with the insecurity searching for such stones in the mountains are too hazardous.

The people

Karamoja people are the only semi nomadic peoples of Uganda. Most are cattle herders although cultivation of crops like sorghum and maize are also important.

Karamojong means "The tired old man"

In history because of drought the Karamoja people began to migrate from Ethiopia. Some went to Sudan to a place called Nadapal (Toposa people); some went to Lokichokio in Kenya to an area called Turkanaland.
Some of these people then extended their journey to Northern Uganda to a place called Moroto (Karamojong people). Others walked through Karamojaland to the neighbouring land of Teso.
Even as far away as Tanzania the relatives of the Karamojong can be found (Maasai people).

Men live for extended periods with the cattle, moving according to the availability of pasture and water, and to avoid cattle raiding by neighbors.

Women and families tend to remain in permanent settlements. These villages may comprise of 20 or more families who have chosen to live together for reasons of security and support.