Surprised by Hope Blog: Jacaranda Creations

Showing posts with label Jacaranda Creations. Show all posts

Friday, May 23, 2014

Jacaranda Creations in Marurui Slum

Having visited the Marurui branch of Jacaranda Creations several times before, I was surprised to find a newly paved road leading up to the very edge of this area. That new road contrasts starkly with the narrow bumpy lanes leading through the Marurui slum in Kenya. This slum boasts power lines and paths barely wide enough for vehicles, but still vehicles can be found traveling through. One of the smallest of the 22 slums in Nairobi, Marurui is said to house about 25,000 people in just over 1,500 shanties. That’s about 16 people per house, somehow I suspect many sleep on the streets.

Jacaranda Creations ministers the Gospel to the poor, especially women, teaching them creative ways to provide for their families, lifting them to a place of dignity an empowerment through practical training with the Word of God. Another way they achieve their mission is by teaching sewing skills in a variety of slums around Nairobi. They train up branch managers and those branch managers train up others all of whom are responsible for making the beautiful products we all love.

Jacaranda is involved in a number of ministry projects, which makes schedule coordination a challenge. The challenge was no less significant this time around, but we agreed to just go for it. Given that I am familiar with the Marurui branch and that many of those ladies know me, all our concerns were for naught. We had a great time together.

Seven of us gathered around a small table to learn together. While I don’t usually teach in such small groups, I really enjoyed this experience because it was so personal, we knew one another better, and I could speak specifically to their needs. I’m so thankful we finally got started and I firmly believe this experience will make our next schedule easy, we won’t have to fear we’ve not planned well or that the timing is right. I can just go.

I love this ministry and these ladies with my whole heart and can’t imagine my life without them. Thank you for welcoming me more than 3 years ago and for making me feel like one of the gang.

Surprised by Hope Sustainability

Surprised by Hope strives to reach 50% self-sustaining and 50% supported giving ministry income. We’re not all the way there yet, but part of that self-sustenance includes reselling handcraft products made by a few of our ministry partners. I want to take a minute to highlight the work Tony and Marti Mehari do to help achieve our goal. Here’s a message from Marti:

Tony and I were in Mason MI today [Saturday, May 3] for an outside craft show. We have an EZ up tent from last year, so thought we were prepared (that's your first clue!). The day started out at 45 degrees and threatening of rain, but we got all set up with winter jackets and gloves on, but no rain. People were coming by, but hurrying through - a few sales. Then the rain started, but only lasted about 15 minutes. Then about noon the wind picked up.

I had a stand to hang the necklaces on and that blew over while I was holding everything else down. So got that back up and all the necklaces untangled, put some weight on the base (we had the tent weighted down, too, and tried again, but it blew over again and broke part of it off. Put it up again and tied it to the tent. Everyone around us is having great trouble too. I gave upon standing up any bags or animals, and just tried to get them to stay on the table. Then came a big gust and out tent went flying, with the weights hitting the tent across from us, as she is trying to hold hers down. Unfortunately, I was helping a customer and couldn't grab ours fast enough.

So everyone around is scrambling to pick up our tent (it didn't break), and pile everything back on the table. Then someone two tents down brought over some stakes and pounded down the tent in addition to the weights. While they were helping us, their table with glass vases blew over and broke a lot. Then another big gust, but I caught the tent before it took off with the weights and the stakes, but all of the bags, animals, etc all blew away.

Well, that was the end - we put everything back in the tubs while trying to hold everything together, and finally got it in the car and headed home. Everyone else was having similar problems except the one guy next to us who was selling painted bricks! (Got any bricks?) All in all, it was an interesting day. There was a lot of people traffic, but the weather did not cooperate. Bottom line, we sold $211, but I think could have been a lot more if we didn't have to chase everything around. I'm sure the weather kept people away, too. Lots of NICE people. It will be a show we remember! Not sure I can get my hair untangled - not sure I want to try! Considering everything, I think we did really good!

What an amazing gift to Surprised by Hope, dedication that surpasses even the postman!

If you’d like to have a handcraft party at your home or workplace as a way of supporting Surprised by Hope and the ministries we work with – a bit like a Pampered Chef, Tupperware, or Silpada party – please send us an email at info@surprisedbyhope.org. Here are just a few of the beautiful handmade items from the women in the slums of Kenya.

Jacaranda Babies’ School

The rain poured down the day before, leaving the trails amidst the Marururi slums almost unnavigable. Brenda and I slipped and slided down these roads (mostly on our feet) to visit a few possible relocation sites for the growing babies’ school. Jacaranda Creations is a ministry that empowers women to work, and during its formation Brenda acknowledged a fundamental problem. When you see toddlers roaming the slums dirty and hungry and without anyone to care for them…you have to do SOMEthing. And thus, Jacaranda Kids and the babies’ school were born.

We peeked in at the young ones learning just like the big kids but in their tiny classroom. Three adults barely fit into that small room, but we wouldn’t stay for long. We did, however, enjoy our devotion time with these children…their little eyes closed and their hands together in prayer. My goodness, what would these little lives be like left untouched by the love and faith of this one woman. Yes, faith. Brenda sees the needs of the people and acts. She doesn’t wait for a plan or a prompting…she just moves in to fix the problem. “We can’t leave this child on the street for even one more day,” she thinks.

I thank God for people with such huge compassionate hearts. But we also need to pray for them and support them. Brenda moves in faith and that means she needs us to help. That means she needs us to be obedient to the prompting when the Holy Spirit tells us to move. Our response is the only way Brenda and people like her can sustain the kind of care these children need.

Chaos or Cultivation

The sound of treadle sewing machines can be heard throughout the various slums where Jacaranda Creations’ women work diligently to stitch beautiful new products for you. Preparation is the best way to describe what I see happening here, particularly in the leadership team. God is readying these beautiful women to step into something he’s been preparing for some time now. You can tell this is what’s happening because of the growing pains. But if you look carefully, you may notice that what seems like chaos is really cultivation (have you read The Shack?).

Everyone is learning new skills, new business practices, and new work habits as they strive to step away from their small organization paradigm and revision themselves as a medium size organization. The product line is expanding, sales and marketing practices are developing, and operational efficiencies are enforced. All this growth is occurring amidst frequent power shortages, upcoming election unrest, and fluctuating resources.

Even with all this cultivation, I can’t help but come away with this feeling that I was in the midst of something spiritual…something beautiful. I look back over my shoulder as I walk away for the last time and feel like there’s so much more I could do, would do…just so that I don’t have to leave.

Encourage One Another

"Hi Brenda," they're all shouting. These are the babies under the care of
Jacaranda Kids while maamas are hard at work.

Our final day together came much too quickly. On one hand I’m anxious to get home. On another, I’d love to stay a few more weeks. I felt less well prepared for this visit than I should have been in this sea of opportunities and it was only toward the last day that the ladies really started telling me what they wanted and needed. I could have easily come with an agenda but their own self discovery was essential to the willingness to receive and implement change. Now that they’ve reached that marker…it’s time to go home. Grr…I’d love to stay the whole time Brenda is away but God will strengthen and encourage them and he will give them the wisdom they need to become the leaders he designed them to be.

The children tugged and pulled at me but when the camera came out,
the poses were on.

Pauline organized a meeting with the parents of sponsored children in the Marururi slum. She encouraged them to participate in the education of their children both academically and financially. Sometimes providing outside help creates a sense of entitlement that leaves parents expecting (demanding) more. Yet Jacaranda wants to be sure that parents understand they have a role in co-laboring with Jacaranda to educate their children. Managing child sponsorships is so tricky. Fees increase, unique needs arise, things change. Still, just as we co-labor with God one of Surprised by Hope’s and Jacaranda’s values is that people co-labor with us toward their own betterment. It’s a biblical model.

Aggrey, Sarah, Linda, Gertrude, Shaan, Pauline, and Sheila

Our last few hours together were spent as a team encouraging one another and building each other up. We talked about the grieving of losing Brenda’s daily tenderness and attention to each detail of the lives of every one of the Jacaranda leaders. This realization helped everyone understand how much they love and appreciate her and that she is not gone (she is in the States), but she is also not able to meet that relational need in the same way as before. The realization also helped them think more about how the people in the slums where she visits will also be missing her and that they have the opportunity to minister to them in a new way. We also talked about the need for unity of the Spirit as the enemy would surely use Brenda’s absence as an opportunity to create division and frustration. Please pray regularly with me that this would not be allowed a stronghold.

Sarah, Leslie, and Shelia

On a more practical front, we discussed the importance of balancing income and expenses and ways to decrease expenses and increase income. Everyone shared some great ideas and I challenged them to take action rather than leave them on the table as ideas. We also talked about some very important ways to be productive during slower periods – by investing in ministry and training the branch leaders, by developing new product ideas, by seeking new markets, by practicing spiritual disciplines.

I cannot tell you strongly enough how very much I love these precious people. I wish I could be here all the time to learn from them, to encourage them, and to help them. They are truly a group of gifted people and these are the people you support when you purchase a Jacaranda product. Thank you for making this possible!

Sarah shows Lynette how to measure a product and
create a pattern from that item.

Every day Lynette appears at Jacaranda hoping for work. She most well known for her delicious cooking but she is also an eager learner. This day, Sarah is teaching Lynette how to replicate a product by taking measurements, drawing a pattern, and cutting the fabric. Sarah patiently looks on as Lynette overcomes her awkwardness with the scissors and pins – the same awkwardness I saw in the Konoweka ladies when learning to sew the girly dresses.

Once the pattern was cut, Sarah guided Lynette in sewing that product together. Just about then, the power went out and the treadle machine broke. I never did see the finished product before I left but I know this template turned out beautiful. I had hoped to be the one to purchase that first run but it wasn’t to be. Now Lynette will be the only woman who knows how to make this lunch bag type product and will likely get work as a result. The ladies will be challenged to find a source for selling these and all the beautiful Jacaranda products.

Managers deliver products from their branch for inspection by Sarah before being paid for their work. Sarah – the one woman, one slum, one sewing machine lady because of whom so much of Jacaranda was built – carefully looks over the stitching and notices the improvements in quality between this and the previous order delivery. While they’re not perfect, they are beautiful, she accepts the order. Sarah is such an encourager. She helps these ladies overcome their insecurities through encouragement and reinforcement which results in better quality work in the jacaranda product line.

I had a lot of time to talk with Sarah about her methods and ways and learned so much from her. I believe she is absolutely right when she says the ladies of Konoweka need a mentor who is already an excellent tailor to help them practice rather than leaving them to themselves or to a spiritual leader. The model is forming in my head about how to make possible the financial arrangements needed to have a staff tailor who can travel from group to group teaching and mentoring. I can never learn enough from Sarah and am so thankful to her and to Brenda for their time and investment in these ladies and in me as I try to help other groups of ladies.

Jacaranda Maururi Branch

No trip to Maururi is complete without checking in on the ladies working in the branch office. The beautiful purple painted walls of the two room office boast a hand painted jacaranda tree. Four sewing machines fill the back room and a worktable with an iron and other implements complete the front room. This is the place the microfinance workshop was held during my last visit.

Inside we found the ladies working hard on our orders. Charity is making the aprons you love. I enjoy seeing these ladies working. That means business is good and they’re getting money for their families. It’s also kind of neat to watch them making things for my order. That means I will have actually watched the ladies at work making some of the things I bring home for you. Exciting!

Maururi Slums

The wide lane narrows as we enter the slum area. Dust covers everything. Houses are made of rusty iron sheets, crooked wood stakes, torn canvas. Electrical poles support a wire or two. Flowers poke up here and there. Adorable children swarm all around.

Brenda is a beautiful woman who cares so much for the people in the slums of Kenya. During our hectic day of business development work, we took a break to visit the Maururi Slums. We got no more than 10 meters into that area before she began greeting people by name…dozens of them. She knows almost everyone in that ramshackle town and as she greets them she cups their faces in her hands, looks into their eyes, and tells them how much she believes in them and that she loves them. I’m so honored to be part of this experience alongside a Godly, compassionate woman like Brenda.

Jacaranda Creations Leaders

Linda, Brenda, Sarah, Gertrude, Leslie, Pauline, Lucy (not shown)

Linda assists Sarah with production and in ensuring orders are organized and shipped on time. This is the first time I met Linda and she seems very smart and quick in all she does. She flitted from task to task getting many things done during an open house tea Jacaranda hosted. I look forward to getting to know her more on future visits.

Brenda is the founder and director of Jacaranda Creations. She manages not only the business but also the ministry of Jacaranda...and Jacaranda is a ministry. Brenda spends time getting to know each individual, she prays for them, she finds creative ways to meet unusual needs, and she's always being a wonderful model for all those growing through this ministry. I love learning from her about the realities of business as mission as well as keeping ministry the main thing.

Sarah is the “one woman” who joined with Brenda to begin helping the people living in the slums of Kenya and I had the opportunity to spend some time learning more about her work. She functions like a production manager for Jacaranda and Sarah taught me about the processes she uses to get orders sewn and prepared for shipping by the various branches throughout the many slums in Kenya. (Sarah also speaks Luganda so I feel a little bit of home when I can great her in this way.) We put a few simple systems in place to help her be more effective.

Gertrude is the office manager and she really has a passion for learning, particularly office skills. Gertrude manages the cash flow, inventory, and a host of other administrative functions. She’s quite proficient on the computer using QuickBooks as well. Yet all of the women need more training to see how the whole system works, what happens when one piece breaks, and how to anticipate the consequences. I love the opportunities God puts in front of me to use my particular skills to help others learn.

Pauline is the women who struggled with me to get access to an online database where child sponsorships are recorded. As soon as we got access the power would go out or the internet would go out and we’d have to start at the very beginning again. We must have done that at least 10 times on Thursday. Pauline picked up on how to use this new system very quickly. For now we’re doing a bit of debugging on the tool created specifically for Jacaranda but I’m very confident that Pauline will have everything ship shape in no time. Pauline also speaks Luganda (yea).

Lucy (Not Shown) works part time for New Song church and Jacaranda Creations. She was only in on Monday this week so I didn’t get to spend much time with her during this visit.

A Dolly for Martha from Judith P

The dolls, dresses, and Bibles got pulled out of the giant duffle in preparation for visiting the Maruri Slums. Gertrude began examining and admiring those dollies, which I found very odd. Here is a woman who sews for Jacaranda Creations, she is quite capable of finding a pattern and making such things with her own hands…she even did ask for the pattern. Jacaranda makes African style dolls too…yet Gertrude liked these dollies.

In a soft voice she asked to have one of these dollies. She told me about her niece and her grand-niece and well…I couldn’t resist. I was so flattered that this capable woman would fall head over heels for such a thing. Here’s the letter Gertrude wrote in thanks for this small gift.

“My name is Gertrude Muhando. I love your doll. I have taken your doll to give to my niece called Jackline. She is 25 years old and has a child of 2 1/2 years called Martha. She lives upcountry in the village called Karia, near Kiambu. She lives with her mother as my brother, her dad, passed away in 2000. The man who made her pregnant had promised to marry her and did not. She is at home without a job and has no livelihood. She depends on her mother and elder siblings. She is 3^rd born in the family. I will give Martha the doll for Christmas. Thank you very much and God bless you.”

Coaching people from another culture about work ethic is challenging, especially in a part of the world where work is so often unavailable. Yet Brenda persists in modeling and teaching the women who work as part of the leadership team of Jacaranda Creations so that they can grow and become positive influencers on people in their own communities…usually the slums.

The main office is located in a few tiny rooms just outside her home where two sewing machines are always on the move, their rythmic hum soothing. The walls are lined with shelves, which are typically overloaded with products made in the office or delivered from one of the many branches around Kenya. The floors hold baskets filled to the brim with an array of in-progress products.

You never know what new goodie you’ll find awaiting unsuspecting visitors but you can be sure you’ll always find a warm greeting and maybe even some tea.

East African Artisans Party

Christmas is coming soon. Be the first to get all your shopping done and help underprivileged people in East Africa at the same time. You'll hear about the self-sustainability plan we're working on for the Konoweka ladies and you might get a sneak peek at the girly dresses I'm making to help with that project.

Even if you only want to visit, please come. I hope to see you at the party on Saturday, October 1 at 10:00.