Bundles (and Bundles!) of Beads

Every month bundles of beaded products are brought in to the Wild Hope team here in Arusha. But Wild Hope's artisan-made products begin to take shape miles and miles and miles from where they end up on display. Carefully threaded onto the stiff wire and bent by the strong, skilled hands of our Maasai friends, the products first take shape in the remote villages where our friends live.

From the village, the product is loaded onto the backs of donkeys and walked for half a day to connect with a friend who has a Land Rover. The Land Rover delivers the product along dirt trails to the closest "public transport vehicle" which travels along the paved road to Arusha. It can be a 2 day process just to bring the product in to town.

Each month, Peter Ole Kukan and 2 or 3 of the Artisan women deliver the wares to Tammy, Grace and Philemon. Together, they now begin the 3 day process of sorting, counting, scrutinizing for quality control, paying, making new orders, assisting the women as they supply with new stock, and sending the little party of Maasai friends back out. When the delegation gets home, the process begins again with 80+ women launching into the work to fill the new orders.


The lovely ornaments and decorations move along to buyers. Some of them end up in high end tourist shops in our town. Some of them end up in Europe, New Zealand, Australia and the U.S. All of them provide a fair trade for traditional artisans who would not necessarily find employment otherwise.

We love the story of how the product gets from village to town. Even more, we love the stories of families provided for by the faithful work of these skilled women. Proceeds go back into the project, building communities in far away places.

A Delightful Light... A Kind Gift... A Changed Life

Perhaps the biggest blessing for our recent visitor, Tehur, was the relationship she developed with Josephine and Eva. Jo and Eva are the ladies who produce all that lovely dry fruit in our kitchen. Earlier posts will have told you about how they are generating income through this small business venture. We are delighted for them!

Though Tehur doesn't speak Swahili and the ladies don't speak English, the 3 of them just hit it off across the language divide. Tehur was touched by the joy apparent in their lives, despite dramatically challenging circumstances. Their lives were one of the ways that God spoke to Te while she was with us.

As Tehur's time came to a close, she felt led to give a gift of a hundred dollars to Wild Hope. She could feel in her gut that this gift was hers to give, even though she knew she was returning to no job in Portugal and this literally was the last of her cash. We didn't say anything either way, knowing that sometimes people need to follow the promptings that God gives them, but also knowing that people need to weigh emotions against good sense.

A few short days before Tehur's departure, she arrived in Byron's office with her gift. "I really want to give this," she said.

Then Byron had a thought. Why not take this gift and get something really useful, a true blessing, for Josephine and Eva? They had been such a light to Tehur... How could she bless them?

Enter the D.Light. This wonderful little solar light was developed by a former Peace Corps volunteer who saw how dangerous, expensive and un-green kerosene lanterns are. With its own little solar panel to charge it up, this light has 3 brightness settings and can run for 20-200 hours, depending on which setting you use. It also has a little jack that can used to charge up a cell phone. How cool is that?

The ladies were overjoyed. They literally laughed and danced around with their neat new solar lanterns.

We love these little lights! They are safe and clean and efficient and cool :-) We're hoping to promote them in Tanzania through sales and strategic donations to raise awareness and profile these money-saving sources of light.

And PS 24 hours after Tehur and Byron decided on the lights, Te found out she had a job waiting for her back home in Portugal. A stretch of faith and a kind gift gave Tehur an experience of God's faithfulness.

Win! Win! Win!

Sometimes it's the Little Things

Eva is one of the lovely ladies in our fruit drying project. We've told you about her before. She's the one with 2 young children and husband who walked out on them.

Eva is a pleasant presence in our house as she carries in baskets of heavy mangos, bananas or pineapples. She washes, slices, dries, packages and sells fruit with the energy and commitment of a mom who knows she's making a big difference in the way the future will play out for those 2 little ones she loves so much. Eva also makes us laugh, which is a nice plus since we share kitchen space at this point in the project's life.

At Christmas we decided that Eva needed a simple mobile phone. For work, you know? Also, for life outside of work. The project could afford to buy her one so we bought one and then started her off with the gift of a phone card to get her going with minutes.

Eva's parents live far from our town. I'm not exactly sure how she did it but Eva got a number for a neighbor at home who had a phone and arranged to call her Mother and Father on Christmas Day.

It was the first time Eva had spoken to her parents in over 5 years.

I almost fell over when I heard that.

Byron asked her if she cried.

She smiled really big, nodded her head, and said, "Yes."

A $35 mobile phone and a little bit of credit? That's all it took to be a blessing? This tiny gift made the most precious difference to Eva.

Sometimes it's the little things.

Little Rays of Hope

Mr. Ndetu is our night guard. I like him a whole lot.

I like him a whole lot and wish, for his sake, that he had a better job than guarding our house at night.

That's how security works in many parts of Africa. There is no 911 or 999 to call and security is the responsibility of the private citizen. We hire Mr. Ndetu. He arrives on his bicycle to our house at about 5:30 p.m. and he leaves again next morning some time between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m.

During the hours between, he hangs out. He visits with Byron if Byron is puttering in the veggie garden or in the work-shop. He helps us feed the dogs and rabbits and is generally a pleasant, if very subtle, presence. He brings his pack dinner and every night, before I go to bed, I make him a thermos of chai. I'm sure he dozes off from time to time. He also tells the dogs to stop harassing hedgehogs.

Ndetu takes his work seriously. When Byron and the kids were away and I was home alone, I got a bad flu that knocked me out. He knew I was sick and so he didn't leave in the morning till he saw that I was up, even though that was about 3 hours later than when he would have normally headed for home. "Just wanted to know that you were alright," he told me.

Ndetu's daughter just passed her exams and has been admitted to secondary school. Surprised, he went to see her teachers. A pass is, truly, no small accomplishment and her teachers shocked him further with the news that she passed easily. She's a strong student. He just didn't know it.

Secondary school will cost him. There are all manner of hidden fees that seem small to us, but are overwhelming to a family like Ndetu's.

Byron asked Ndetu if he wanted this for his daughter. We know that Ndetu's own father had not sent him to school because someone needed to herd the cattle. He has told Byron that, sadly, herding didn't take him very far in life. The cows are gone now and here he is, staying up all night to make a living.

"I'm a good worker, " he said.

"People like me. I could have a much better job in life if I could read and write. Yes, I want this for her."

Together, they worked out a way to make it happen.

"You're giving your daughter what your father couldn't give you," Byron told him.

"You're a good dad."

So much struggle in Africa.

One young girl I know is taking a step forward.

Little rays of hope for tomorrow.

-lisa