A Women-to-Woman Opportunity

When we were in Botswana last year, we met a bunch of great people, including Beth and Kelly Green. I got tickled about his name because it's a color. ;) They are from Florida, but Kelly had been working for a few months as an interim pastor at the satellite church of Open Baptist (the church we were partnered with in this mission trip).  Thanks to the world of facebook, Beth and I have been able to keep in touch, and I'm excited that she and Kelly will be coming to our church next month, along with a few folks from Open Baptist.

Kelly and Beth have partnered with a local pastor's wife in a fabulous ministry in Uganda where women like you and I have the opportunity to sponsor a woman there as she learns skills to start her own business to feed her family, doing things like sewing, making necklaces, farming, or tending animals. The goal is independence, so they are sponsored and trained for one year, and then "graduated" so that a new group of women have the opportunity to be sponsored. In 2009, thirty-one Ugandan women participated in the program. This year, thirty-six women (a whole new group) are sponsored in Uganda, so the ministry is growing already. Check out this video from last July when Beth went hut to hut to check in with the women in the program.

Now they are being led to start a group of women in Zambia. They need at least ten sponsors. The monthly commitment is $40, and of course, it's tax deductible. The sponsorship pays for a woman to learn a trade, to purchase supplies for her trade, and to help feed her family during that year. I still need to talk to Ken about it, but I'd like to be a sponsor myself. And I'd love to have an opportunity to go meet the women in Zambia, too!

You can view a PDF brochure about the program here. A brief exerpt:

"The women of the village... live in mud huts. Each day they must work hard to produce enough food for themselves and their families.  Many of these women are widows or have been deserted by their husbands.  Most of these women support not only themselves and their children but also orphans.  They have to face  devastating disease such as malaria, typhoid and HIV/AIDs.  They have no electricity, no running water and no toilets.  Their meals are prepared outside their huts over an open fire. When they are sick, there are no clinics to help them."

Beth shared a few testimonies from the women who graduated from the program last year. Here's one example (keep in mind this is translated by someone who does not speak English as her first language): 

Angela's Testimony --

Before: Her family was not peaceful and the husband used to beat her, chase her away, and he used not to buy for the children food. She was fed up of the situation and she was going back to her parents.

And now: She is so grateful to sister Beth for getting her the person who has helped her and the situation at home is back to normal and her husband is now saved. The money she gets, has helped her to buy food, pay school fees, buy them clothes, medication for her children. She learnt how to use the tailoring machine. Bought material and now she is sowing people’s clothes for money. She is so happy and thank you so much.

Local friends: Beth would be happy to meet with us while they are in town in February to answer question or explain the program more in-depth, so please let me know if you'd be interested in meeting with her! We could meet right here at my house. Not-so-local friends: email me with any questions, and I will put you in contact with Beth!