Welcome Sweet Home Farms Women

Friday November 7, 2008
For some time I have shared with you my desire to help some other young women who want to learn how to sew. They are part of a program called the Warehouse that issupported by an Anglican diocese here. The ladies particapate with about twenty others in an HIV support group led by Warehouse missionary Joy Klimbashe. Today I introduced them to our class and to teacher (in red) Namgamso. I was amused and delighted to hear them chatter away in Xhosa as I drove them from Ottery to Fish Hoek. We came past the ocean and I could sense this was a new experience. All of them live in shacks mired in sand and with little conveniences. When they arrived at our beautiful campus they were delighted. I introduced them to the class and left them to their own experiences with the students. The first thing they told me when I returned was how nice Namgamso was to them and how much they want to learn from her. They are eager to start when the new class begins next year. They will need to take two taxis and the train in a commute that could be one hour or more but we will help pay their way to classes. On the way home, I drove them over the mountain road with the ocean below and there was little conversation as they drank in the scenery. This work now with the women from Sweet Home Farms is a wonderful next step as we extend our help outward from Masiphumelele to another informal settlement. We do this in partneship with a organization whose work with the poor is soaked in prayer and guided by Biblical justice to the those who were left behind during the apartheid years. Already we purchased some sewing machines for two groups of women at Sweet Home Farms. One is the younger women and then there are the grandmothers who have already started to make throw pillows and aprons to sell to earn some income. I visited them a few days ago and they said thank you for all the help and encouragement from Evangeline Ministries. With each next step God's purposes for our work here unfolds in ways that bring joy to my heart.