I introduce myself and share my name and my daughter’s age and we begin a conversation about our lives.  I learn that she taught at a University in Pakistan, however, in America her schooling and degrees aren’t recognized.  Over the course of several weeks, we learn about the many similarities we have – we laugh, talk about food, daily life and what it is like to live in America after spending time in another country.  I listen and weep with her as she shares about the time a suicide bomber entered the university she was teaching at to kill as many people possible. . . I’m humbled at all I have taken for granted.  I begin to realize that there are several women here in our community with stories similar

Our friendship blooms and we continue to laugh together and discuss topics such as social justice, ecofeminism, language, and translations of cultures.  I am richer knowing this woman.  I learn of her loneliness here, of the limitations she has felt not having a car, learning how to cook to feed her family, to continue to be a provider for her daughter’s needs and for her family.

A God-breathed idea entered my mind the more I spent time with her.  So again, I find myself in a very uncomfortable area, almost blind, but trusting God to provide this to be a new avenue to reach out to families who have moved to America for a variety of reasons.

Through the use of a variety of mediums, we are launching groups in the Fargo-Moorhead area to provide an outlet for new American women to come and gather, share stories and build community with those who want to be a part of it.  Many countries are represented in our area and almost all of them will share how lonely they are.  These groups are going to meet out of intentional joy and love.

Want to be involved?  We need you.  We need many materials to get this launched.  Yarn, gift cards to craft stores, crochet hooks, a loom, knitting needles and 1-2 sewing machines.
We also would love your time.  Your time to volunteer to share in the lives of women who come from places that you and I cannot imagine.  These groups will be filled with intentional love and joy.  A safe place to come and just be.

Other ongoing needs:

Money towards a booth at the Fargo Street Fair (goal is $700)
Volunteer Coordinator
Jewelry and craft tagging
Sewing teachers
Prayer warriors

You can donate to any of these things by clicking the Jua Project ‘donate’ link on the right side of this blog or by going to Jua’s site and donating there by using the paypal button, labeling it “Jua-USA”.

Matthew 5:13-16 talks about being salt and light to those around us.  C’mon little lanterns!

It is more than just beads.  It’s so much more than making jewelry to be sold in America.  Oh, the irony.  Paging through fashion websites and magazines to find  new styles and colors.  I skype with the amazing staff that oversees the care of our ladies, trying to communicate things that are so irrelevant in the current day to day life in Kitale.  It proves to be challenging as we press ahead.

But God says “I am more than enough.”  Jewelry is just the beginning. Tears fill my eyes as I look at the faces of our ladies’ precious children who are stronger, healthier and know who Jesus is, because this is daily chatter in our bead group.

“How great is our God, Lindsay.”

Amen.

First, I have to give thanks for the sewing machines that were donated to us by a stranger whom I spent 15 minutes with, waiting in line to catch the next flight to Kenya last December.  It has allowed Jua to stretch out it’s arms and branch out into our next project: sewing. And not a moment too soon.  His timing is perfect. Always.

Handbags. School uniforms.                                   Sustainability.

I am happy to announce that MONDAY we will be starting our mentorship program.  We have a wonderful woman named Elizabeth who will be overseeing the emotional needs of our ladies who have gone through things that you and I cannot imagine.  She will pray over and speak truth in to the lives of each mama that comes to work each day and encourage them.  She will be overseeing each lady’s individual needs along with starting a plan with goals so each lady can save for what her dream is to do one day.

We are also adding an education program that will focus on literacy.  English, reading and writing are all things that will also encompass their day as they strive to become independent of Jua Project.

I do not know how to do many things.  But one thing that I have learned this past year is to not be afraid of failing.  To know God and to be buried in His truth of how he says to care for those who the rest of the world says is garbage has been the most life-giving journey of our lives.

Since moving back to the USA, God laid it deep in our hearts that the boundaries of living and loving those we were surrounded by in Kenya did not stop in Kenya.  No, God very much intended for us to continue what we were doing in Kenya in some way here in the United States.  We had to wait.                       Okay.  I can wait a while.               But the wait became a long time.  I can be impatient but the more I immersed myself in the Word the more it became clear as to what needs to be done.

I started to call strangers, leaders in the community that I had never spoken to before.  I called and asked them more about what the lives of people who come to our country as refugees, as international students at our Universities looks like in our community.  I don’t want to reinvent the wheel. Where were the gaps? What needs were not being met?

The common denominator that I heard over and over again was that the families who live here in America are lonely.

I know what lonely feels like.  I know what it is like to be in another country and not feel like I have community and have to re-learn how to live and function to get our basic needs met.  I understand what it is like to come back to America and try to process the differences in cultures and figure out a new normal.

I know that being lonely also forced me to be still and listen a lot when I was in Kenya.  I also found my creative side when I didn’t have the day to day business urging me to go faster.  I wanted to bring that to the table in America.

Jua Project is now launching a pilot project in Minnesota and North Dakota that works with families from around that world that have come to the USA for various reasons.  My goal is to do what we were doing in Kenya.  Look at these families in love and offer friendship and a partnership to help them overcome barriers in their lives and be a relief of loneliness.  Teaching English, reading and writing and bringing mentorship into their lives to speak Truth over.

Be involved!

Products that these families are making will be offered for sale on Jua’s website so please keep up to date on that.

If you haven’t ‘liked’ our page yet, please go to Facebook and “like” us to stay current with photos and the growth that is happening in Kenya.

We are looking for help consistently in the following areas:

Tagging jewelry
Graphic design
Marketing

If you would like to be on our volunteer list, please email us at lindsay@juaproject.org

It has taken a long time for our family to start feeling normal again after being in Kenya for a long time.  What used to be normal is not anymore.  Some activities that used to be fun and enjoyable are very overwhelming for us right now.  Family, relationships with friends and neighbors have been a sweet homecoming for us but processing……debriefing from a life so very different than Minnesota has taken a lot of time.  Every day is becoming easier!!

We have so much to be grateful for.  We are healthy, we have employment, our home was well cared for in the year that we were gone.  Plans to go back to Kenya are uncertain at this time for long term plans, however, we know that our family will continue to travel and be involved globally to support Jua Project in many other countries.  More details about that will be coming in the future.

Jua Project is still happening in Kitale and the program has been able to grow.  In January we will be launching a sewing branch, with the goal of having our mamas expand their skills to help keep their families supported.  Jua’s employees have done a resounding job at managing the day to day operations.  This is a blessing from the Lord, specifically, because without them, Jua would not be able to exist.

Jua Project now has a Board of Directors that is fully functioning and questions about any dynamic of our program can be emailed to board@juaproject.org

The eternal investment in the lives of the 7 families Jua serves has been huge.  Our moms strive to be ‘light’ in the lives of their neighbors and in their community.  Every Friday they independently hold a Bible study around their homes for their neighbors and we are seeing neighbors come to a relationship with Jesus for the first time.  Jua Project is so much more than jewelry and a paycheck to our moms.  Amongst the abuse they have endured and perhaps the ongoing issues that happen in their lives outside of Jua, they strive for being examples of Light, to be a City on a Hill that cannot be hidden.

Please remember Jua in prayer.  Our moms do live in an environment of ongoing vulnerability outside of Jua’s gates and we need warriors praying for their safety and health.

Financial gifts to help support the ongoing work in the lives of our moms can be made to:

Jua Project
1021 Stagecoach Trail
San Marcos, TX 78666

Every dollar that is given goes right back to our moms to help pay their salaries and ongoing needs of Jua’s program including serving lunch, tea and helping moms start their new business.

From our family in Minnesota, we say thank you for the investment you have made in our lives in the support in all areas.
From our family in Kenya, they are so grateful for your support in purchasing jewelry and donations to allow Jua to continue to be a light in the community of Kitale.

Dorcas as attended the Bible study that Jua Project does each Friday for several months now.  Dorcas used to live in Kipsongo slum but moved to the ‘better’ slum in town because the living conditions were so horrific for her in Kipsongo.  She is a mother to several children and has worked menial jobs to help her family to eat at least once a day.

Want to get involved?  We need sponsors for these moms.  It is a temporary committment that allows these women to get on their feet and helps us provide food, clothing and some household items they may be in need of.  100% of the money you give goes towards the needs of these women.

We are also in the process of launching our sewing program and gifting our moms with chickens that were done with your help through HopeMob.  I cannot wait to show you the moms’ reactions in receiving chickens to help their families.

Jua Project is also looking for an In-Country Director to oversee the Operations of Jua Project, based in Kenya.  We ask that applicants have at least 6 months of living oversees.  For more information, please email jua_project@yahoo.com

Our family is back in the USA right now- for now – and I have no idea what are plans are to return to Kenya, but one lesson I have learned is it is okay to only know what I know and not worry about life’s ifs and whens and hows.  God gives me what I need to know… for now and I can be wholly content in that.

Jua Project is THRIVING and I’m so thankful for all of you who have been a part of this. The only one who truly gets the Glory is the Lord because He was the one that orchestrated this in the first place.

This is not about me.  This is not about our family.  We never would have moved to Kenya with our three children, not known anyone and started a new ministry on our own.  But the Lord brought us to Kenya and step by step Jua has bloomed into something far more than I could have ever imagined.

We have  7 active moms currently active in our beading group and together they have 19 children who are directly benefiting from Jua Project.

Last weekend we participated in an enormous craft show in our local area and raised enough money to keep our program running for the next few months.  I’ve learned to completely surrender Jua’ s needs because they are ALWAYS provided for.

Next month, we are launching a new sewing program and are hiring a sweet woman named Esther to teach.  We will start with 2 sewing machines, powered by a foot pedal.  We will be launching a new line of products to debut in time for Christmas. So, get ready!

Thank you for your participation in helping “be the change” in these women’s lives.  They are thrilled that you would think the things they make are ‘cool’ and that their lives are valued.  Our website is almost finished, and we will be launching that very soon as well as introducing you to our Board of Directors.

Just this week, we were so thankful to have learned that Jua Project was featured on HopeMob and dozens of you donated your points to ‘boost’ our ministry and 14 of you financially gave towards raising funds for us to have sewing machines AND to give each of our moms with 4 chickens to help them further sustain their families on their own.  If you were one of these people, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  Our moms shouted and clapped for JOY when they received the news this week.

We have grown to a point where we have been able to hire a man, Amos, as our In-Country Director.  Amos brings many wonderful gifts and talents to Jua Project and will be able to bring Jua Project to the next level.  It is our goal to have Jua run by Kenyans completely.  Amos takes us a step closer to that goal. We thank God.

As we have moved forward, we have realized that every mom that is accepted into Jua Project comes in with many needs.  Sometimes her children, and herself, are very malnourished.  Sometimes, she does not have food.  Other times she is in need of a bed and mattress, or even a new home.  For whatever reason, Jua Project is officially launching a sponsorship program.  For $35 per month, you are able to sponsor a widow/single mom to help her get off to a healthy start as we holistically help her.  Cash will never reach her hands, but rather Priscillah will do the shopping for her each week and deliver the groceries, home items, etc directly to her.  Priscillah will do weekly home visits to ensure the moms are being educated in how to properly cook meals, bathe her children and treat medical needs.  100% of sponsorship money goes to the family and Jua Project does not take any of this funding for operating costs.  This sponsorship program is designed to be a 6 month commitment.  The goal of Jua is for moms not to be dependent on assistance.  There may be severe circumstances that warrant a longer commitment, but this will be communicated to you if it is needed.

As we have learned more about our moms, we have realized that the children that are in their households may not be, in fact, their own.  Some of our moms have taken in orphaned children that the parents abandoned or died and have helped care for so they are not living in the street.

If you would like to be a part of this program, please email jua_project@yahoo.com and you will be emailed profiles of the children and families available for sponsorship.

Oh, and by the way, have you seen our beads!?!?  Our website is almost up and running and soon you will be able to order some for yourself!!

In a country where poverty expands my capacity to grasp the reality of what a desperate person may do when desperation means death or life…. like when a mama looks at her children as a burden rather than a blessing.  When a man threatens a life of another when he loses his job…

There is a reason I am not writing the story and God is.  He knows how it all works out, where it all leads, what it all means.

Is God still a good God?  Is God still in the slums where naked toddlers roam about, unsupervised- where a mama beats her child so badly that she goes unconscious?  Is God in the prisons where innocent men and women reside, falsely accused?  In a world pocketed with pain? What about the crumbling marriage or a terminally ill child?

How do we choose to allow the holes to become seeing-through-to-God places? To more-God places?  How do I give up resentment for gratitude, gnawing anger for spilling joy?  How do I give up crippling fear for courageous faith?

In places where it seems impossible to believe God’s goodness – that God surely cannot know or care about this place -  I turn to His word, which I believe is true and relevant to every culture and person.  I flip open to Romans 8.  I read “And we know that God works for the good of those who love him…” and “if God is for us, then who is against us?”.

Sometimes we are so trapped that it forces us to only look up.  There are hard questions to ask here but there are awesome answers and they only come in the Name of a God who knows so much more than my broken, little brain can wrap around.  There are moms who love their children and work so hard to provide for them.   There are children’s homes here who take the rejected, abused children and nurture them to be God-fearing men and women.

God is faithful.  Even in the tough.  Taking the tough to become seeing-through-to-God  places is possible, but not alone.  He is the only one that can help us SEE.

*Italics emphasis placed on Ann Voskamp’s “10,000 Gifts” quotes.

She walks with 2 friends today. She sometimes has to walk alone. Six kilometers to this forest. This is area one. Areas two, three and four give and take 2 kilometers more. She has to get food for her children to eat today. So she presses forward.

She takes the 60 cents she saved from yesterday’s labor and gives it to the Forester. He controls the coming and going of firewood from his forest. She takes the bundle of firewood, wraps it in strips of cloth and hoists it up on her head, preparing for the journey home. It’s 12 noon.

Steady, strong, slowly, Mama balances the bundle atop her sturdy frame as she steps 1, 2, 3. . . This is daily life -to sell this bundle for $1.20/day and save half to feed her family.

She is a firewood carrier.

If it is the dry season, she can afford to make a second trip. But it is now raining, and she will only be able to do one.

“How do you survive,” I ask her.

Giggle. BIG sigh.

“Only God knows”

Jua Project’s story was accepted to their website and we are currently on their front page.  We are trying to raise awareness and funding for 3 sewing machines and 32 chickens for our moms as we support them in becoming self-sustainable.

Currently we are #9.  We are trying to get one of the top 4 spots and we are SO close.

Please help us and PLEASE spread the word.  If we raise $432, we are able to supply our moms in a next step in sustainability.

It’s free to help us.  Here is what I need you guys to do!

1.  Go to www.hopemob.org and set up and account (super easy, free)

2.  Activate your account and you will have 1,000 free points.  “Boost” our story to help us reach the top 4 spots so we may be featured as their cover story.  THAT’S IT!!

Will you please help us by doing this and tell your friends, too?

We are also on Twitter!  Follow @JuaProject to get all the latest details on what is happening with our moms.

Meet Florence.  Florence is a former firewood carrier, grandmother to dozens of kids and lives in one of the slums in Kitale.  She offers a strong dynamic of leadership and spiritual encouragement to the other moms in our group. She arrives every day with a smile on her face and leads the time of prayer and worship every morning before our day begins.

Meet Gladys.  Gladys and Florence know eachother as they are neighbors in the slum.  Gladys, a mother to 6 children, also worked as a firewood carrier for several years until just a few weeks ago, she was attacked by robbers and was severely injured on her chest and legs and could  not walk.  Bridget knew Gladys from her previous trip to Kenya in 2011 and found her ‘by chance’ just after her attack.  Bridget started caring for Gladys’ injuries and praying over her each day.  I’m not telling the story well…but you can read it here and be certain that we serve a GREAT GOD who knows all of our needs.  We rejoice in the miracle of healing that comes when we have faith and pray in the name of Jesus.

Meet Rosemary.  Rosemary has quite the story to tell.  Both she and her husband have taken in children who have been abandoned for various reason, around the Kitale region and Northern Kenya for several years.  Together, they ‘adopted’ over 14 children.  In 2008, Rosemary’s husband was caught in a bank robbery during the post election violence and was murdered.  Still, this has not stopped her from trusting the Lord to provide for her and her children.  Rosemary has a nice space where her kids can study for school and sleep on matresses.  She also has a cow and a few turkeys.  Rose feeds her children beans and maize 2 of the 3 meals each day. 

 One month ago, Rosemary took in her 18th child, Zeporah.  We are unsure of Zeporah’s age, however we feel a good guess is around 3 or 4 years old.  She was found just outside of Kitale, completely abandoned.  Her father was found but denied her and Rosemary went through the process to foster Zeporah and call her “daughter”. 

Z is extremely malnourished.  When she was found, her face, hands and feet were extremely bloated and her hair was grey and falling out.  Today, just a mere 30 days later, we see Zeporah running, speaking, trusting her caregiver, Mama Rose.  Her hair is starting to grow back.

Rose just completed her first week with us.  She texted me yesterday saying how thankful for Jua she is and the income it provides her family.  She was able to take 2 of her daughters into the clinic yesterday to have much-needed medical procedures done that she did not have the means to pay for.  The cost of the proceedure = $10.

Zeporah is a unique baby in that she needs a special diet for her body to process nutrients.  Severe malnutrition causes our organs to fail and not have the ability to process foods the way a ‘normal’ body would.  So, we are looking for a sponsor for Zeporah for the next 6 months to help her pay for the special food Zeporah needs.  Please email me at jua_project@yahoo.com if you are interested to learn more.

Thank you for praying for us and for Jua.  We are continuing to grow and blossom and we will continue to take every mom the Lord puts in our path.

More to come….