ALL Aboard...Next Stop Africa: mission trips & online store

First of all we would like to say a HUGE...

{source: imagine foundation}

for the AMAZING support we received over the weekend. We were completely blown away by all of the enthusiastic and heart felt customers we met. You ladies ROCK!

Several of you were very interested in future involvement. Many were wondering about purchasing more jewelry on an online store. Great news! We have found a site that will fit the bill for us and it will be up and running shortly. 

The other common question was - how do I sign up to go? Oh how this makes me leap with joy! We LOVE to meet people who are being called to GO! So for those of you who asked, I am staying true to my word and posting the next steps here for you. It is most likely CTK will have two trips heading out this summer:  One to Arusha, Tanzania and the other team is the one my husband and I lead to Nairobi, Kenya. The information meetings and training meetings will be posted on the CTK Missions Community Page. There is also a separate page for CTK Kenya Mission trips and Tanzania as well. 

Again let us give a great big SHOUT OUT to all of  you who stopped by and supported what we are doing. We are so, so, so very thankful for each and every one of you!

Weathered Hands & Loving Hearts of the Masai Women

Masai women of Engikaret beading with  a friend who helps them to sell their goods.

You really wouldn't believe how hard these women work. That is until you took a glace down at their hands. Instantly you become aware of the intense labor these women face daily. They cook, they clean, they gather, they build. They do almost EVERYTHING in order for their families to survive. The women are the ones who gather the materials, prepare and build their manure/mud huts (Boma's). They are incredibly amazing. 

Whenever our family is in Maasailand we always jump at the opportunity to walk out into the great expanse of what appears to be nothing but desert. It never fails - I will be walking for what seems like quite some distance along a barely evident trail in the dirt when all of a sudden we stumble into a village of boma's. 

It is amazing to me how the huts blend, by design,  right into the surrounding land. These villages are built & maintained by the women but ruled by the men. Many of the Mama's of this land are still what we would consider to be children,12-14 years old. As much as this may seem heartbreaking in our culture it is very common in theirs. The girls are chosen by the husbands at a young age. Many are still in their Mama's bellies when they are picked for marriage. It is quite common for them to be one of 10-12 wives to their husband. Their lives and activities are chosen for them pretty much from beginning to end. 

Take a moment and think about what it might be like to have no voice. No matter how hard you tried to speak, write or communicate nothing would come out. Or if you could manage to finally blurt something out you would be beaten, knocked down and wounded. I imagine this is what life holds for them. 

I can tell you LOVE can bring change. 

I have seen it with my own eyes - I have touched it with my own hands. 

Love brings hope. Hope springs forward into a new way of life where you can see possibilities that you were once blind to. These women are learning that they are loved. They are being cared for. These precious women are learning that God loves them and has a plan for them. They are also being educated about health, as well as being taught skills. There is opportunity for them, hope and most of all LOVE! This is life changing.

Making jewelry is one opportunity these women have been given to help change their futures. Culturally beading is woven throughout the history of the Masai.  However creating a product that the world wants to purchase and wear is one of the areas that our friends have been helping them with. I do believe they have done a splendid job with the final product though!

These are just a few of their beautiful designs. There are many more in my etsy store listed at the top right. Won't you help me in the journey to help make a difference in someone's life. Bringing hope to  the hopeless is the BEST thing you will ever do.

Hope can RISE in the Kibera Slum - Nairobi, Kenya

As we are forming our team to head to the Kibera Slum in Nairobi Kenya, this summer of 2012 I find myself once again clouded with memories: smells, sights and sounds from my trips past. Often these memories are so deep in the recesses of my mind I have to soak a bit to draw them out. Somehow the busyness of our culture frequently has me preoccupied with my L O N G list of to-do's. Yet this week I can scarcely keep my mind focused on any given task on my list of all I need to accomplish. I keep finding my chest heaving and my eyes leaking as the memories are so vivid to me. It isn't one trip that is standing out either but a collection of the three trips we have taken there. 

As I have been sauntering through the old pictures I have gathered images that I think will touch your heart as well. This boy in the pic above was SO precious. This shot seems to capture what I think every child in the slum is forced to live with:  "Be brave, be tough, stand strong...don't let 'em see ya weep". Yet there is an unspoken silent prayer that cries out from inside of each one of them. Help me...PLEASE...HELP ME!!!

The slum is not pretty, it is not healthy, it is not hopeful. I believe it can feel claustrophobic, limiting, debilitating:  H O P E L E S S.

Yet HOPE can rise in a dry and weary land. It is as close as one person making one decision. Whether that is a decision to go or a decision to help, it is still only one decision to be made. 

The need is SO GREAT there. Picture a 10 mile square with 1 to 2 million people. Imagine no running water, no clean water. Imagine generations knowing nothing different. This is the Kibera Slum. Yet... we have found a way to help. We have joined hands with a local couple who work every day in the slum. They run a school in the middle of it: Saviour King Academy by Garden of Eden.  They provide education, meals, prayer and H O P E. It is a joy to work alongside them.

Our family tries to offer SEVERAL ways for people to be informed of the needs. We try to provide many opportunities for people to find ways to give, to help support. Imani Design is one of those ways.  I have created MANY jewelry designs with beads from Kenya (which are on sale at etsy), we have bags made from fabric we purchased there. There is also opportunity for those that want to contribute to the trip directly without purchasing a product. AND OF COURSE you can always join us on one of our trips.

You can browse through here and see some of the items we have for sale. We will continue to add more as well. Sign up to follow this blog and you will receive updates as we add them.

Remember it is as simple as one choice. Together we can make a difference.

 Psalm 63:1-8

¹ O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
   my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
   as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
² So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
   beholding your power and glory.
³ Because your steadfast love is better than life,
   my lips will praise you.
⁴ So I will bless you as long as I live;
   in your name I will lift up my hands.

 ⁵ My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
   and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
⁶ when I remember you upon my bed,
   and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
⁷ for you have been my help,
   and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
⁸ My soul clings to you;
   your right hand upholds me

We usually give them rice and beans when we visit.

The school is PACKED.

Introducing Awana Games to them for the first time in 2008.

Team that returned in 2009