As you know, our main focus in Swaziland is to empower the locals; help them create wealth by learning "Kingdom" business... This is one of our favorite people in the world; Julie Anderson - she is helping us in Nsoko with a sustainability project; we have all the sewing machines bought and now our Gogo's and Make's will start making some amazing purses; this project will feed thousands of kids and produce hundreds of jobs, it is happening now!
Julie's Blog;
Hi Friends...it's been a while since I posted an update. Sorry about that. :)
The summer (winter here) months are always busy ones with lots of teams coming through. I'm not as involved w/ the short term teams as I used to be, but I've enjoyed hanging out w/ the teams we've had here during the last 2 months. They've really been an encouragement and blessing to our ministry to the women here and also personally as well! One group gave my house a new paint job, another helped host the retreat for the women in June, another brought me cans of green chilis from the States!...things that may seem little but are huge to me. :)
Here's a picture of medical check-ups happening at our retreat in June.
When I titled this blog entry, "We're Growing," I was wondering if some of your first thoughts were, "Does she mean her family is growing? Has Julie found another baby she can't live with out?!" Don't worry--people ask me quite often if I'm planning on adopting more children. My standard answer (although I am open to WHATEVER the Lord has for me!) is, "Not until I adopt a husband!" (Does anyone know where I can do that? :)
So, although my family isn't getting any bigger, Timbali Crafts is! On Monday I met w/ a group of 35-40 women from Nsoko, Swaziland, a rural community about 1.5 hrs south of where I live in Manzini. G42, a partner organization of AIM, helps to support 8 feeding centers in Nsoko, and soon their cooks will be sewing for Timbali Crafts, and hopefully generating an income! The southern part of Swaziland is the area with the most need, hit hardest by HIV/AIDS, drought, and poverty. So the needs are great. Many of the women walked around 3 hours to attend the meeting. (below are a few of the women leaving the meeting)
It's a bit overwhelming to think that in the next month we will nearly be doubling in size, which means our sales will need to double in size, and so will the work it takes to make it all happen! But at the same time I have a real excitment about the possibilities and the provision that will come to 35 more families here. We've already had someone donate money to buy a sewing machine for each care point, and to help with the first month's pay day. So even though I'm wondering how all this is going to happen, I see God already providing, and I look back at the last two years, and see how God has grown and prospered us inspite of my cluelessness, so why not jump head first into this new area!? :) I hope ethnic looking hand bags don't go out of style anytime soon. :) (the women in Nsoko will also be sewing some table runners and wall hangings, so keep watching our website for new items...www.timbalicrafts.org)
So as always, there are really great things happening, along with the really hard things that come with the state of things here. Pray for more help with the business side of Timbali Crafts--I'm at my limit! and keep praying for this nation, and for us as we live and work here. We want more and more people to know the hope of Jesus, and we want to do everything we do in the Lord's strength and His timing!
Thanks for reading our blog!!!!
