First 2008 class graduates

July 10, 2008
Well our first class for 2008 graduated from their six month sewing course and, on Tuesday July 8, ten women received their new sewing machines. One of these was Gladys (3rd from left in photo). While all of the other women walked to class, Gladys had to take two taxis and a train to get to us as she came from Red Hill, another informal settlement. In all this time, she missed class twice. I asked her to share what this experience meant to her and she told the audience at the church that she could not sew and had longed to learn. She enjoyed this experience and planned to use her sewing machine to help her family. She also spoke so deeply of her love for the Lord. I drove her home and as I watched her walk to her house at the top of the steep path,muddy because of the rain that has fallen for more than a week, clutching her new sewing machine, my heart filled with so much emotion. It is women like Gladys who make my time here so precious.