Seth Barnes - Good news from Swaziland

In the midst of the chaos coming out of Swaziland, we're seeing good news too. We just about doubled our purse ministry project. Here is Julie Anderson's report:

We trained about 40 women during the week. 20 came to the community center on Mon-Tues and the others came on
Wed-Thurs. I wasn't actually sure what all was going to be accomplished during our time, since I wasn't totally clear on the skill level of the women or exactly how many we'd have attending, but we were actually able to complete each 2 day segment with several finished products. The women were so eager to learn, and caught on quickly to the patchwork table runners.

Philile (seated on the far left) is the wife of the Pastor AIM works with in Nsoko, and also just happens to be a seamstress by trade, which works out great for us! She was a huge asset during the week as she translated for me, taught the women how to sew, helped to correct their mistakes, etc etc. She is really what is making the addition of the Nsoko women to Timbali possible, and will be facilitating most of what happens there with Timbali.

The group of college students that were also in Nsoko for the week helped me to get pictures and bios of all the women. This is Celiwe Makoma, and her story really hit us hard. She's only 19 years old, was married at 14, widowed at 18, and has had 2 children that have both died. Her only prayer request was that the 12 yr old orphan boy she is caring for will grow in his faith. When Celiwe was asked her birth date, she said October 15, 1989, which just happened to be the day she was being interviewed. Nikki, who was interviewing her, said, "That's today!" Celiwe smiled shyly and said, "Oh! I didn't know!" Ellie was happy to sing happy birthday (her favorite song!) to Celiwe. We talked a lot about God's care for the women during the week, and the value that He places on their lives...I pray Celiwe knows that her life is precious to the Lord.