Sunday, May 3, 2009

SEWING 101

I've been in a lot of classes in my 56 years...
from Sunday School to Traffic School...
but never in a SEWING CLASS.

So my friends from African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM) took me to a sewing class to meet some new friends in Goma, Congo...
And you just never know who you are going to meet along the journey...

At the ALARM women's training center, young moms who have suffered through terror and personal abuse I cannot describe here, are being trained to sew and market dresses so they can feed and support their families. It is a way for these ladies to gain back some sense of control and dignity, that has been so savagely taken from them.
These are women who do NOT want to fall into a 'refugee' mindset...they want to take care of their babies...to see them thrive and someday go to school...and see those children break this generational curse of tribal clashes and so...here they are in class...babies in tow...learning to sew.
The head instructor is all of 4'8'' and trying her her very best to keep me from distracting her students and disrupting the lesson...this has been a lifelong struggle of mine...but this is a photo BEGGING to be taken.
If you'd like to know about the wonderful work ALARM is doing, inside Congo, go to their website...

visit    http://alarm-inc.org/

good Christian folks giving encouraging tools to local pastors and their church members...
 You don't have to sell your house and move to Congo to be an advocate for these ladies...you can pray...you can encourage...you can write...you can donate so they can buy some fabric...you can buy a sewing machine...you can be a voice in a thousand ways...
then again...if God is telling you to go...better do what He says...