Our first full day in Kenya was a wonderful and relaxing day. It was nice to recuperate from the plane flight, and soak in Kenya for a day. We went to Amani Ya Juu (means peace from above, or a higher peace) which is the most amazing women's ministry I have ever seen. It is a Christian sewing and marketing training program for women who come from difficult backgrounds. Some ladies are from Kenya and others are refugees from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia. All of the ladies are able to come and learn to make their own fabric, sew and do book-keeping and marketing, so as to provide for their children and family. The women have daily Bible study, worship, and prayer time, and fellowship with other women in similar circumstances. Every few months their children come to Amani for Bible teaching and crafts. Because so many of the kids are refugees, it is common for them to want to return to their former country and seek revenge once they are older. At Amani they are equipped to return to their countries as Christ's ambassadors, armed only with the good news of the gospel.
We were able to take a tour of the center and meet all the women. They stopped sewing and hugged us and then sang a song for us in Swahili. (One thing I noticed on this trip: If you are African you have an amazing voice. It's like a requirement or something. Every person I met had a great voice and I am not exaggerating). One of the ladies showed us the Unity quilt that the women had sewn. Each patch represents how reconciliation is celebrated by all of the different tribes and people. Reconciliation and forgiveness is taken very serious in Africa. In Ethiopia if two families get into a dispute, the elders of the tribe come and mediate for the families, then the two families must drink milk from the same cup, and then they are considered brothers and sisters. The elders tell the families that they can no longer have any conflicts, and then they all pray together. The families slaughter a sheep and have a coffee ceremony. During the ceremony they burn olive leaves which represents peace. Then the families dance and sing together celebrating the peace they have. Different patches on the quilt show different ways of making peace according to each tribe, and in the center of the quilt is a huge cross. The cross represents the ultimate peace making ceremony: Calvary.
After we finished our tour we were able to shop in the store at Amani. All of the money goes directly to the women who made the items. These ladies are some of the most talented seamstresses I have seen. After shopping we ate lunch in the garden at Amani and met all of the missionaries we would be working with. Lunch was soooo delicious, which is saying a lot coming from one of the pickiest eaters on the planet!!
The picture above is of Maggie and I. She is one of the ladies at Amani, and is by far the happiest women I have ever met in my entire life. She has something horribly wrong with her hip and has the most severe limp I have ever seen, and yet she could not be any happier if she tried. It was so encouraging and challenging to me to see someone in severe pain like myself, and still be filled with that much joy. I wish I could be half as happy as her amidst my pain!
The website for Amani Ya Juu is http://www.amaniafrica.org it shares about Amani, explains the Unity quilt, and will have an online store soon! It is such an encouragement to see what God is doing in so many women's lives through sewing! I love how creative God is in accomplishing his will and glory.
1 comment:
I love the sentence that you wrote: "the cross represents the ultimate peace making ceremony: Calvary". What a perfect way to put it. Oh, your journaling makes me pant for Africa, mission work, and just plain living to serve the Lord. I can't wait to read more!
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