A Stolen Phone... and other Recent Events!

It hasn't been the easiest of weeks! But it is always so encouraging to look back when writing a blog, and find the little joys that make it all worthwhile! These mamas in Dar es Salaam are one of the joys! It was good to be with them last week and see all they had made since I was last there, and work together on more products. We continued our readings through Proverbs, which always brings wisdom into our lives and situations! And we were visited by the Director of UTSS who came to meet the women and talk about their activities and plans. These women are gaining confidence and starting to generate other ideas for further entrepreneurial activities. We have all learned a lot over the past year about things that work … and things that don't!

The Dar es Salaam mamas group

It was a very hot and busy week with hours of driving in traffic in a very hot car, traipsing and hunting around a huge and insanely crowded market, a full schedule with no lunch breaks and then a late chipsi mayai (egg and chips) or kuku na chipsi (chicken and chips) when I eventually got to my little guesthouse. But while in Dar es Salaam, I was able to make the most of the opportunity to visit suppliers of equipment and ingredients for the Mwanza Mamas bakery! The road towards the Bakery has been a long, and to be honest, fairly daunting journey recently, navigating through tax laws, legal registration processes and viability spreadsheets (none of which are remotely "my thing" and remain way out of my comfort zone and area of gifting) but we are seeing the light of progress glimmer!

The light of all progress dimmed however when my phone was stolen right out of my hands! The thief sped by on the back of a motorbike and was obviously well practiced in theft technique. Not a nice experience! And that made all activity in Dar es Salaam suddenly very complicated … the whole police and phone process was long and complicated and trying to arrange meetings and taxis was complicated with no phone or internet! But all is well now … I have bought a new phone here in Mwanza and was very thankful to get my own number back and keep all my contacts!

Suffice to say, it was good to be home again on Friday night! Just in time for a quick turnaround to get to the Mwanza Mamas workshop early on Saturday preparing for the School Family Fun Day in the afternoon! It was a great opportunity for the Mamas to again be selling in the community, and Amisadai was working with them to practice their English, but most of them got a little shy! It was good to share a table with the girls from Christ's Daughters again. Laura had been staying with them for four nights last week and had been making cookies with them to sell, while she practiced her Swahili! It was a fun community event and we were glad to share in it! Jeni was even brave enough to ride a horse ...the others couldn't contemplate the thought of getting on, certain they would fall off! And they all enjoyed their first taste of cotton candy!

Jeni has her first horse-ride!

Upendo wa Mama and Christ's Daughters table

And now, Tim and Amisadai are in Kenya while Louisa and I stay in Mwanza. As I write they are on the bus and have just crossed the border and should be in Nairobi by 5am! On Friday and Saturday they will be at the African Society of Evangelical Theology where Tim is presenting his paper  … more about this in the next blog! Then they have some time to enjoy coffee shops and buy hundreds of honey jars and meet various people from churches and projects there. We look forward to being all together again on Thursday … albeit briefly before I am off to the beekeepers and mamas in Malya and Ngudu with Bhatendi … but those are events for another week!

Celebrating with People with Albinism

The other week we celebrated in Mwanza the 10th Anniversary of Under the Same Sun, the NGO working to help people with albinism overcome often deadly discrimination through education and advocacy. It was a fantastic opportunity to appreciate as well as celebrate all that UTSS have achieved in these years to help and empower people with albinism!

At the Anniversary Celebration

Rachel speaks on behalf of the Upendo wa Mama women

As well as the celebrations, the Upendo wa Mama group was pleased to welcome Peter Ash, the founder of UTSS, and his team to visit our workshop. We were able to show him the work the women are involved in and serve them all some chai and honey spice cake! We are excited that Under the Same Sun is going to support the mamas group financially as we start a Social Enterprise Bakery and the team was also able to visit the neighbouring site for that. Watch this space … plans are underway and renovations could start very soon!

Peter looks at the all work the Mamas are doing

Site of the new bakery! 

After the Anniversary Celebrations, UTSS hosted a 4-day seminar on trauma counselling with Dr Rhodes. There were over 100 participants who work with people with albinism, including teachers, school matrons, doctors and nurses, social welfare officers and church leaders.

Dr Rhodes teaching the trauma counselling seminar

We joined the UTSS Canada and Tanzania teams at Pastor Charles Mkumbo's church in Mkuyuni on the Sunday before events began. It was wonderful to also have all the children on the UTSS school sponsorship program come from the Musabe Schools for the services. On the following Sunday, we joined the Dar and Mwanza UTSS teams and Dr Rhodes at MICC. Again, it was so great to see all the children there! It was lovely to see them treated with honour and respect as they were saved the centre front seats so that they could see well! As Tim prepares to present next month at the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology on the role of the Church for the Reconciliation of People with Albinism, we are thinking more about how the church together can step up in their role in fighting this battle.

MICC

Many of you have long been following our journey with people with albinism, particularly with the lovely women in the Upendo wa Mama Group, and we are so thankful for your prayers. The atrocities faced by people with albinism have been sadly too real. Witchcraft remains as real and powerful as ever, as you may have seen in recent reports on the child murders here and in Njombe(and these are children without albinism). But we pray and work for change. And it is so wonderful to hear the testimonies of the young people who have been through the UTSS education program and been forever transformed! It is so encouraging to hear the testimonies of the mamas and see the hope they have. May the power of love and life through our God be ever powerfully at work against the powers of evil and darkness!

Hope of Mother's Love

Things have really been moving with the mamas! In these past eight days, we have met three days as a group and then also been part of a two-day women's seminar on "Understanding Albinism." It's been a pretty busy week for the Mongers, also with guests for meals, agricultural training days, other project meetings and of course, that "back-to-school" rush (I think both girls managed to pack themselves a lunch every day!)

Upendo wa Mama Group

A NEW PLACE!

First of all, the best thing for me about this week, was moving with the Mamas Group into their new working space! It is fantastic! For so long, we have prayed and hoped for this day! We are incredibly grateful to Standing Voice for their help and support! We have a beautiful room with a large table to work at with chairs to sit on. We have a sink with running water and an electric kettle and can share chai together! We have a shaded outdoor space to work in and a beautiful garden to look at!
 

Outside "our office"
(I love that this property was recently loved and lived on by good friends of ours!)

So with orders mounting, the mamas are now increasing their working hours! Meeting every Saturday and Wednesday, they are busy making cards, soaps, jewellery and beeswax products. We are currently looking into the possibility of getting an oven and sewing machines now that we have a place for them! With that, we are excited about starting more training (and therefore hopefully more products) in tailoring and baking. It all sounds exciting and wonderful (and it is, really) but it is also rather overwhelming! Trying to maintain quality control in the chaos is exhausting! Trying to maintain a focus on the One who holds all things together and a priority on relationship when surrounded by the distractions of money-making projects is not always easy. But evident this week was the gratitude of each one of us to God, for this place, and for what, through Him, we can do together. There is so much hope for the future!



I love this photo! It sums it all up ... the Word of God surrounded by cups of chai
and a colourful mess of creativity working around it!

UNDERSTANDING ALBINISM

We were all involved in a seminar on Monday and Tuesday on "Understanding Albinism." This was organized by Under the Same Sun for thirty women who either have albinism or have children with albinism. It was an excellent time for the women to learn about the genetics of the condition they face, the scientific truth which combats the lies and curses they have heard. It was a wonderful opportunity for them to share with one another; sharing their stories, their fears, their troubles and their hopes. It was well attended by social welfare and community development officers and also lawyers who deal with the terrible cases of attacks and murders of people with albinism. The women were given contact numbers of people who can help; they were taught about human rights and social justice; they were encouraged to start groups and it was encouraging for the other women to see what the Upendo as Mama group has been able to do. It is such a wonderful thing to see hope and excitement in women who have faced so much stigma and pain!

 

Group discussions

Members of the Upendo wa Mama group sharing

Esther gives out valuable suncream for the mamas and children 

The Upendo wa Mama Group with a number of our children!
This photo was taken by UTSS at the Summer Camp!