These Women: Our Friends

The women we've met in Kenya are strong. Even the pastors and church leaders say if you give a good Kenyan woman a seed, she will grow a tree that produces shade for her family, fruit for food and seeds to sell. We've seen these same good women have a keen sense of finding fragile threads of opportunity, and from them, weave hope.

Our desire is to help them bring their hopes into reality. We work with them to identify their dreams, articulate their stories, and receive training. Then, we give them a seed.

By providing a basic foundation that reveals who Jesus Christ is to them, who they are in Christ, how to share their giftings and principles of good management, we've experienced the joy of watching these women move from victims to contributing members of their communities, happily raising their children instead of having to leave them in orphanages. They're not shy about giving God all the glory for the great things He has done!

We are blessed to call these women our friends.

We had our first training with Carolyne, who had no resources to raise her son and orphaned nephew. Now she runs a successful grocery kiosk and is director of Love in Action, a ministry that serves widowed moms.

Our second training was held in a small room set up near Carolyne's shop.

Communion with the widowed moms.


 Lois and her small son, TAVIN (yes, she named him after our boy).



Lois sews and embroiders to provide for her children.


 
She also  shares the blessings God's given her with other widowed moms.

Florence sells vegetables to earn a living so she can care for her two boys.

Florance's boys, who now do not have to live in an orphanage.

Florance shares her faith and training with other widowed moms.

Please pray for these women and the others who will participate in the training. May the Lord continue to pour out his favor on these forgotten ones who have so much to give.

Check back for more to read about other moms'
testimonies of redemption. We're currently designing a blog for them to share their stories. We'll let you know when it's up and running.

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and support.

hugs from the haugers

Shula = School

Tavin and Taleah started classes Tuesday. They attend a small international school on a hill, nestled among mango trees, overlooking the shores of Lake Victoria. There's about 75 students ranging from primary to secondary levels; they come from many different countries – India, Germany, Australia, Uganda, England and of course, Kenya. Only 7 students are from the USA, two of them are ours.

When time allows, Mark and Lisa join the kids for lunch. Small tables line the playground wall and when the bell rings (literally, a studentstands at the top of the administration building steps and rings a hand bell) chattering children emerge from the low, windowless, wood-framed classrooms. Dressed in a white shirt and kaki capris, Taleah skips over to us, her braids bouncing. She's smiling. Tavin wanders over with a shy grin. Other kids join us - Shamel, a young Indian boy and Brian, who has newly arrived from Virginia. Both are in Tavin's grade.

Out over the playground field, hanging in a tree, is a monkey. He keenly watches the food dropping on the ground, waiting for an opportunity to scavenge the remains of chapatis and bananas. We visit with other parents and find there is a community of Christians who meet in homes for bible study on Thursday mornings and family worship on Friday evenings. The bell rings again and the kids hurry off to their classes. We linger for a few more moments, listening to the weaver birds and enjoying the gentle breeze off the hazy lake.

After one full month here with minimal complications, we seem to be settling-in and finding the place God prepared for us. We're encouraged by the children's easy transition and the warm welcome we've received. We're happy. Oh, And what happen with the monkey? Well, he looked pretty happy too, munching on his leftovers!

Click on Tavin's page to see some pics and his news. Click Taleah's page to see her first school assignment she wanted to share (especially for Aunt Kiki and Uncle Bob!).

We appreciate your prayers, support and encouragement.

Hugs from the Haugers

Lovely Sunday

Such a lovely Sunday, worshiping with our Kenyan brothers and sisters. Thankful for Christ's precious family worldwide.

This afternoon we met with church leaders and submitted the proposal and curriculum for discipleship and income-generating training with widowed moms for review. Carolyne and Lisa have been diligently working on fine-tuning the training so it can accommodate Kenyan facilitators. We were welcomed to share the vision the Lord laid on our hearts. So very blessed, yes, blessed is what we felt when we heard Carolyne, once a victimized, widowed mother, speak passionately about her desire to help others find their place of influence in God's kingdom.

One of the leader's who met with us actually works for a very BIG development agency. He expressed great pleasure to see a development curriculum that was not only biblically-based, but focused on helping the women create their ministries to the poor. We agreed to meet again for a “formal acceptance” (whatever that means...). Anyway, next Monday, these spiritual leaders of the community will be gracing our humble home. Yikes! We'd better get busy cleaning and cooking!

This coming week brings some firsts for us! Tavin and Taleah start school on Tuesday. It's an international school so we expect they'll have some interesting experiences! Thanks to some thoughtful friends (you know who you are) we've gathered enough funds to buy food for the orphaned kids at Covenant House (the kids who spend Friday's praying to eat...) so we get to bring the first bags of rice and beans. Taleah had a great dream that her and Tavin we're praying with the kids at Covenant house and then the kids started to pray for each other. So, guess what we're doing next time were there?

We appreciate your prayers and support. Your comments and e-mails warm our hearts and make us smile. It's good to be a part of the family of God.

Even in the midst of a storm, God's light shines through, encouraging us to keep our eyes on Him.