New Beginnings

OK - so blogging isn't our forte, as evidenced in the last post. We're better at program development than computer technology. Good thing we work in Africa and not at Microsoft or something! We'll try to improve with time.

In spite of a lot of logistics still needing to be completed (still no running water, furniture not all done yet, plumbing issues, water issues, etc) we've had some neat opportunities to fellowship with and minister to our women. The first week we were here we took a suitcase full of Braille books to the Panlap School for the Blind. These books were all donated by ministries to the Blind in the States. The women who work and teach at the school were so appreciative of the opportunity to read Christian books and devotionals in Braille. Some wonderful books were donated including a full set of the Beginner's Bible for children (the original book is about 1 1/2 inches thick - the Braille version is 9 two inch volumes!), a couple of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, a couple of books by Billy Graham and Joni Eareckson Tada, some devotionals and many others. As we distributed the books, the silence increased as each woman took a book and began to read. The silence was only punctuated by their comments - "Oh, listen to what this says!" "I get that one when you are finished." "I'm so happy to read books about God and His Word."

The meetings with our staff helped us to get a better understanding of the issues that need to be addressed and where we need to focus our attentions.  One difficulty that we faced was having our Program Manager resign one week after we arrived.  It had become evident to all that her giftings and skills were not being best utilized in this program and she felt that she needed to follow the Lord's call into full-time youth and music ministry.  We released her with our blessing to do what He has called her to do.  As we evaluated the structure of the program, we realize that we have a critical need for a Director, someone who will focus primarily on administrative issues and finances, as well as an additional field worker to bolster the mammoth task that Ruth has in working directly with the women with disabilities.  We are currently advertising for these positions and hope to fill them soon.  We need Divine guidance as we interview and make decisions on the women to fill these important roles.  

On the last Saturday of every month, the women with disabilities hold a joint meeting to discuss issues facing them and talk about the advances of Women of Hope.  We were able to join this meeting yesterday, and it was truly a blessing and motivation to us - emphasizing why we are here. 

Before we could hold the meeting in a church that graciously allowed us to use their facility, we faced the issue of disability access head-on.  We had to somehow get all of those women into the building - but there were 5 large steps barring the way.  About 20 of the most severely impaired women had to be carried into the building - on our backs.  Some had to be carried chair-and-all.  Once all were safely, if not conveniently, inside, the meeting miraculously started promptly on time.  Over 150 women showed up for the meeting.  This is not only amazing in the sheer numbers, but even more so when you think of how far many of those women had to walk on crutches, or hand-pedal their push carts, or be led by a child or a friend over barrier-strewn roads.  Their persistence in attending that meeting put us to shame.  

Several of the women from various disability groups spoke about the issues that those with their particular disability face.  They articulated the problems and encouraged the other women to be patient in suffering and have hope for a better tomorrow.  The opening prayer was led by Matilda, a women who was a victim of childhood polio, and who loves Jesus and shows amazing initiative and leadership.  Her prayer moved me to tears.  Loosely translated, here is what she said - 

"Daddy God, we accept how you have made us. And we even appreciate our conditions, because you have given them to us.  But like the Israelites who cried out in their suffering under Pharaoh, we cry out and ask you – in a very kind way – that although we appreciate everything you have done for us, you will see our suffering and deliver us.  This shape and form that you have given us gives us great suffering.  And we don’t want to be ungrateful, but we beg you to find a way to relieve us of our suffering in this life, before the end of our days.”  

 

Matilda praying

After distributing 180 little baggies of Kool-aid (which we had mixed and tied into baggies the night before) and cookies, we carried the women back down the stairs to their waiting hand-powered trikes.  The whole meeting was a wonderful reminder of why we are here and the vast needs that confront these women on a daily basis.  The task often looks completely overwhelming, in all honestly.  But we must persevere so that they can hear the hope of the Gospel and find their ultimate soul-healing in Him. 

Settling in to Salone

The Women of Hope International Administrative team, comprise of Tim and Kim Kargbo, their three children and myself (Kelsey) wearily arrived in Sierra Leone on the evening of March 5th. In spite of all of the preparation done for this four-month stint on both sides of the ocean, we quickly learned upon arrival that just one lesson God would have us learn so far is in patience and contentment.

As we checked into the New Harvest guesthouse in the capital city of Freetown, we discovered that we had been bumped from our 2 rented rooms.  They had one room, though, with one big bed that we could all share!  We thought maybe not, so Tim and Josiah went to Tim's brother's house to sleep.  We also discovered that our shipment of household supplies, sent out in late December, was yet to arrive. The shipment contained such things as sheets, towels, cooking utensils, a water filter, tools, the solar panels and other essential materials for home construction. In spite of the lack of materials, Tim and the eldest son, Josiah, left for Makeni early to start on the wiring and guesthouse preparation. Tim and his electrical expertise would only be with us for ten days before he was to return home to his job. In the meantime, Kim and I and the two other kids spent five more days in the city because the house wasn’t yet livable, and to purchase some additional food and living necessities. After doing as much preparation as we could, we left Freetown to join Tim and Josiah in making the best out of our new home.

The compound our staff on the ground had rented for us and for future short-term teams was a pleasant surprise. We had seen a few pictures of the outside of the guesthouse but were relieved to see the good condition of all the rooms and the convenience of having a small house in the front for our support staff while we’re here. We are fortunate to have the help of Rebecca Kamara, an old friend of Kim and the Kargbo family. Rebecca, her son Junior, and friend, Mallay, have truly been a gift in helping us create a home, as well as conduct the daily activities that are much more difficult without the comforts of America. Things like laundry and food preparation are made challenging with no refrigeration, running water or electricity. The many challenges in Sierra Leone require EVERYTHING be a team effort, providing a beautiful example of community in addition to the many growth opportunities for us very individualized Americans.

Rebecca doing our laundry

Living in Sierra Leone requires that some adjustments be made to the "norm."  For example, since we had no cups or other dishes, we had to be creative to get in our morning cup of coffee from Starbucks.  

 We cut off water bottles to make cups.  A little powdered milk and drinking cocoa later - and we had a steaming Mocha Latte - almost. 

Showers were also a little problem, given that we have no running water and the bathrooms weren't complete yet.  Tim built us a quaint little "washyard" outside from mats.  There is something rather refreshing about a bucket bath out under the stars in the night breeze though.

         Washyard from the outside                                                                      Washyard on the inside

Kim worked arduously in coordinating all of the projects happening at once in addition to taking care of the kids and conducting other WOHInt duties as Chair. I tried to fill in where I could and keep busy helping with errands and house projects. There continues to be a steady flow of handymen installing screens for the doors and windows, tiling bathrooms, wiring rooms and dropping off furniture. It is important that the guesthouse be fully functional and well equipped because our plan is to rent it out to other NGO’s and ministry teams in our absence to generate additional WOHInt funds.

Kelsey's bedroom 

The yet-unfinished kitchen

In between moving in and home improvements, Kim and I got to meet with our wonderful WOHInt staff and evaluate the work that has been done since we were here with the rest of the Board of Directors in October. It has been so encouraging meeting with the staff and having opportunity to see what He’s been doing through our local team, and yet we’ve only scratched the surface of the work He has for us to do! 

Wowed by God

Four days ago, our Board of Directors sat on a conference call crunching numbers.  We had our tickets to Sierra Leone, but that was it.  The bank account was virtually empty.  It was looking a bit dismal.  While our hearts told us we had not heard wrong when the Lord said "Go," our eyes were saying something altogether different.  We tallied up the figures - $2,500 for furniture, screens, a water tank and other set up costs, $2,500 for program expenses (salaries, etc) for one month, $2,500 for our living expenses for one month, including setting up the internet and buying all the initial food and supplies, and $2,500 for registering Women of Hope International as an NGO with the government of Sierra Leone.  $10,000 for March expenses.  Seeing as how it is so difficult to get money to Sierra Leone, we were hoping to carry over 2 months worth of case so the board wouldn't have to pay exorbitant wire fees to get us April's money.  But, that was an additional $4,500. 

So, nine days out from departure, we needed at least $10,000, and we had a few hundred.  That isn't even counting the fact that we don't have a vehicle when we get there, which makes it pretty hard to do much of anything at all! 

Enter the miraculous...

A friend from church asked me (Kim) if I'd be at AWANA on Wed night.  I said I was dropping off the kids, but couldn't stay because I had work to get done.  She said, "Well, be sure you find me.  I need to talk to you and it's really important."  So, I found her.  Now mind you, this family is not especially well-off.  In fact, they are in financial need right now due to a number of circumstances.  So, she tells me that the Lord spoke to her husband very specifically about helping Women of Hope and told him to sell some of the shares that he gets from his company as a perk - and told him the number to sell.  So, he did.  The check had come through that day and she then handed me a cashier's check for - TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!  I was floored.  Stunned.  Awed.  And I cried. 

The exact amount we needed for March's expenses...?!  I called Kelsey.  She and I had both been having pretty miserable days.  The reality of what this ministry is costing in personal sacrifice was looming large that day, and we had both been assailed by doubts and fears, leading to a spirit of complaining and wondering if God really was going to come through like we originally thought.  When I told her the story she... well, I'll put it mildly.  She cried too.  And so it went on through the Board. 

What an amazing God we serve!  And how humbling to be allowed to participate with Him in this great plan of His for the redemption and restoration of broken women. 

Yes Lord, we believe.   Help our unbelief!

The Countdown is On!

In just 10 days, Kim Kargbo, Kelsey Martin and Kim's 3 children will move to Sierra Leone for 4 months.  Kim's husband, Tim, will also be accompanying the group, but only staying for 2 weeks.  Since there is no electricity in Makeni, where Women of Hope International is headquartered, Tim will be installing solar energy systems for the guesthouse rented for the administrative team and the WOHInt office.  He will then return home to his job in Memphis, TN.

The guesthouse, at the moment, not only doesn't have electricity, but it also doesn't have running water, screens on the windows, or furniture!  Other than that, it's a really nice house (we think - we actually haven't seen it)!  The WOHInt staff is working on getting things in order for the team's arrival in 10 days, but things don't usually happen as you wish them to in Sierra Leone, so we're not holding our breath.  We're praying that at least the screens get installed to keep the malaria-ridden mosquitoes out of the house at night. The rest we'll deal with as we go.  We can always take showers out of buckets and sleep on mattresses on the floor until furniture is made and a water tank can be installed.  We wouldn't mind if you want to pray about these things with us!  Life is already hard in Sierra Leone, so a few little conveniences can make all the difference.

There is so much to do to prepare to be gone for 4 months, as you can imagine.  Credit card auto-payments must be stopped, pets cared for, mail delivery dealt with, bills dealt with, and many other things.  Keeping it all straight is the hard part!  Then there is packing.  Fortunately, we shipped all the household goods over to Sierra Leone already, which makes packing a bit easier.  We have 5 drums and a couple of boxes of things on a ship which is supposed to arrive 2 days before we do.  We'll see if that happens!  But, packing up the remainder of a school year, clothes and shoes for 3 kids, supplies and resources for the program (like Braille books and sign language videos), and personal items takes some thinking.

We'll keep you posted as we step out on this great adventure.  It's a wild ride - but an exciting one!

The Inside Story

Thanks for coming to the new Women of Hope International blog.  We wanted a place where people could stay informed of what's really going on with Women of Hope and the women we serve on a more intimate level than the monthly newsletter snippets.  This is where the "real stuff" will be - the ups and the downs of this ministry, the things God is showing us, the needs we are trusting Him for...

Come back and check here often.  As our administrative team leaves for Sierra Leone in 2 weeks, there will be regular updates and stories from the field - the day to day ins and outs of working with and ministering to the women we've been called to touch.  You can rejoice with us, laugh with us, cry with us and pray with us in the journey that is Women of Hope International.