Karama!

As I've started back up here with my new role, I wanted to share some of the excitement and vision for this coming year.  As most of you know, I am back in Tanzania working full-time on staff with the (incredible!) organization Karama.  Over the course of the past year here teaching (which was wonderful in so many ways and definitely the role God called me to here last year), God led me to Karama and to a more long-term role with them. He is graciously using the gifts, visions, and desires He has placed within me to help assist the lives of many here.... the beautiful yet marginalized individuals on this continent.... and I couldn't be more honored for this privilege and the position He has given me.

Karama was started about 4-5 years ago to support marginalized individuals in Africa by giving them sustainable work, with fair wages, which in turn gives them lasting DIGNITY.  We do this by purchasing *beautiful* hand-crafted products from them {jewelry/scarves/bags/home goods} and selling them in the States.  Many of the artisans we support are disabled or HIV+, and the others are otherwise marginalized in society and would likely be reduced to a life of poverty and begging if it weren't for the provision provided by the employment we help give them.  We partner with many other established organizations (other non-profits who work with local marginalized people to give them sustainable work)- by purchasing & selling products from them (and in turn increasing the impact they are making in the lives of these artisans)- as well as supporting other disadvantaged artisans we have developed relationships with (by selling their beautiful items and training them in their skills in the process so that they are set up for more long-term success and sustainable employment).  There is MUCH that we do- too much to contain in one small blog post- so please check out our website for more on what we do and more on the artisans that we support (and to see some of the beautiful products that we carry) :-)  www.karamagifts.com  Proceeds from our sales also go to Young Life Africa's ministries to send kids in Africa to camp (where they have the best week of their lives!), to grow Young Life's ministry here and the eternal impact that they are making on this continent.

I am actually the first person to be on staff with Karama (and still cannot believe the honor & privilege God has entrusted me with through this role!), as it has been all volunteer-led up until this point.  Dyan Larmey (the founder) started Karama as a small vision and dream ("on the side" of her many other roles & callings here) to support disadvantaged Africans, and over the past few years it has grown to the point where it is now, where we need actual *staff* to keep running and growing things! (cue in *me*)

My year will consist of a lot of designing, relationship-building, encouraging, exhorting, loving, planning, organizing, ordering, working long days & long nights, traveling, dreaming, and following. (Following the Holy Spirit as He leads us where He intends for us to go).  I will be helping to design new products which will be marketable in the States, helping to then market those products in the states, helping to organize and run our systems so that we can function efficiently and then have much room to GROW, helping to develop our relationships further with the artisans we support, and acting as a voice to people in the West to "defend the cause of the poor and needy" (Jer. 22:16.... a verse God just keeps bringing me back to....).  There is SO much opportunity and potential ahead of me and all of us associated with Karama.... to GROW and GROW....  and to thus grow the impact we are making in the lives of the disadvantaged here.  I deeply covet your prayers as I move forward and go where God is calling me to go (and all of us at Karama).  I truly could not do this work without the prayers of others!  (please never underestimate the *huge* and *eternal* impact prayer makes!!)

Some of the beautiful women we support.... These women make our paper bead necklaces in Uganda (beads which are each hand-made by individually rolling recycled scraps of paper.... turning otherwise discarded pieces into something of value & beauty.... one of our favorite purposes at Karama :-))

 

The Karama Mamas :)

(on a trip here to Tanzania from the States last year)

Dyan Larmey (Founder) is on the right and Jill Morley (soon to be Executive Director) is in the pink.

Each of the other ladies (Heather, Jane, Susan, Kim) is hugely important to Karama and helps make it what it is (by investing *huge* hours on a volunteer basis!)

SO thankful for these incredible women and SO humbled to be part of what God is doing through Karama!

********

Stay tuned for more stories about Karama and the beautiful people we support.

And check out our Karama Blog in the meantime! http://www.karamagifts.com/blog/

Pics!

Haven't posted any pics in a while so here's a little pictorial update.... :)

 (and internet is MUCH better this year so I'll be able to post more often and more pics....!!)

my hands-down favorite part of Tanzania: children smiling, waving, running in the streets everywhere..... Nothing in the world beats it.

Reuniting with my Bajaj driver friends here was pretty awesome.... The Bajaj world and its drivers: def. one of my fave aspects of life in Dar :)  Love these guys
[this pic was taken at the end of last year, after Laura and I had distributed some devotionals in Swahili to ones we'd made friends with]

{**special shout-out to the other blonde in Africa**}

[Laura isn't here this year :( she's making a difference in the lives of kids who majorly need her in Orange County]

 LG, I miss you like craaaaaaazy!!  Life in TZ is not the same without you!!! 

LOVE YOU!!

Just selling some fully furnished fish tanks....

 transportation in Dar

the new dog in my life, Fluffy :) he's the pet of the new (wonderful!) family that I'm living with here, the Lotterings.... I love this dog!!

 

Dyan Larmey & Me... Words cannot express how much I love this woman and how thankful I am for her!!  Excited to help change the world and the reality of many Africans with her through our work with Karama!

 I was blessed to be able to go camping on the outskirts of Selous Game Reserve this past week with the Larmeys & Lotterings.... a wonderful re-introduction back to life in Africa and a great opportunity to pray, reflect, plan, and vision-cast for this coming year.  

Saw hippos, crocodiles, elephants, giraffes... and lots of the glory of God through His incredible creation.  What an Awesome God.

Listening

As I am back and trying to transition back from life in Dallas to life in Tanzania (too many extreme contrasts to even try to list!), God has been sweetly speaking to me and reminding me of many truths.  Truths which are often easier to grasp here- easier to see and to believe... probably because they often feel so much more necessary to cling to here. 


"We must go through many HARDSHIPS to enter the kingdom of God." Acts 14:22


Paul and Barnabas spoke these words to the churches in Galatia after being persecuted and abused there.  Paul was stoned and drug out of the city, presumed to be dead.  This passage in Acts describes them as being "filled with JOY and the Holy Spirit" (Acts 13:52).  It wasn't in living for themselves or in protecting themselves that they found joy or the filling of the Spirit; it was in enduring hardship and pouring out their lives for the sake of Christ.  THAT is when they were filled with joy and the Spirit. 

As I transition back to my life here in Tanzania, I am once again confronted with all that I must give up and deny in order to fulfill the calling that is on my life here.  Honestly, some of what feels 'hardest' for me to give up right now is hard to admit.  One of the biggest things?  Having pretty, straight, manageable hair.  (ugh, this humidity!!)  I'm sure that sounds petty- and believe me there are many more hardships here that would sound a lot more "honorable" (the incessant & uncomfortable heat, the power outages, running out of water, missing my friends and family....), but right now this is frankly one of the hardest things for me to let go of.  But it's one of the things that I must.  When we follow Him, we must be willing to let go of ANYthing and everything to follow Him.  Big or small... honorable or petty... nothing is worth holding onto when it comes in the way of following Him.


"If anyone would come after me, he must DENY himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it." Mark 8:34-35

"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much..."  Matthew 19:29


Though it may seem more real for me here in Tanzania to "leave behind houses or brothers or mother" for the sake of Christ... to "lose my life"... it is a calling on all of us.  And when we fail to do so, we are not only forsaking Him, but we are deceiving ourselves. We are clinging to our lives, where we will NEVER find life.  Not true life.  Not the abundant life He offers.  It is in dying to ourselves, sacrificing our lives, spending ourselves on behalf of others, where we find true life.  Never when we cling to our lives or to what we think will make us happy.  It is in giving that we receive.  In pouring ourselves out that we are poured into.  In sacrificing that we are satisfied.


"If you *spend yourselves* in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.  The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs... You will be like a well-watered garden... you will be called Repairer... Restorer." Isaiah 58:10-12


Pouring myself out?  Sacrificing my desires?  Giving instead of receiving?  The ways of His kingdom are so contrary to how we naturally think and believe.  Yet they are TRUTH.  And in following them, we find lasting satisfaction. 

Jesus came to live as a servant.  Nothing about His life was spent to make Himself "happy".  He poured out His life... Offered Himself as a continual sacrifice... Endured incredible hardships.  And when I experience hardship for His Name and for His sake, I come face to face with HIM.  I come to know Him more.  I come to experience Him more.  I feel His presence more.  (1 Peter 4:12-14) .... And He fills my longing soul.


Thank you, Lord, for reminding me of these truths.  Thank you for calling me here.  And for all that you have entrusted me with.... which is MUCH.  May I use the time, resources, responsibilities, relationships, and influence you have put in my life in ways that honor and glorify You.  To whom much is given, much is required.... May I live this life worthy of your calling. Thank you for reminding me of these seemingly 'contrary' truths of your Kingdom.  In them I find Life, and in them I find YOU.

Back in Dar!

Hello, Blog!  It has been a while.  I meant to update over the summer but that didn't exactly happen.... Hope some of you still read this!  I just got back in Dar today (yesterday? messed up with the jetlag...) and it is good to be back.  I had a wonderful 3 months in Dallas (and traveling all over!) for the summer and am SO thankful for that time.  It did make it a little hard to leave.... I'd just been there long enough for it to feel like "home" again so it was hard saying my good-byes, but I figure I can't complain that I have 2 wonderful places I can now call home full of so many loved ones! 

I am really looking forward to the new role I will have this year and to the potential before me to create lasting change for so many people here through Karama (more of an update on Karama and my new role to come).  And I am so incredibly thankful for my faithful and generous friends and supporters in the States who have made it possible for me to come back here.... I truly could not be here and do this work without you!!  You are a part of this, too!

I'll write more soon.... And plan on blogging more this year.... but wanted to at least give the update that I'm back!  Excited for the year and all that is in store.... It will be different in a lot of ways than last year and I am excited to see those changes pan out and to see what God does from here.  I do miss my friends and family in the States so you can pray for my transition time back here.... But I also foresee a lot more Skype this year than I did last year so plan on that, friends! :)

The verses God gave me for this coming year: 

**Delight yourself in the Lord** and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your ways to him, trust in Him, and He will do this:  He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn and **the justice of your cause** like the noonday sun. ~Psalm 37:4-5 

What good words.  Thank you, God. :)  I can't wait to delight more in HIM this year and to see His justice done through the work I am a part of!

Another Devotional

Here is another devotional I wrote in the same series back in March.  Thought I would post it here now, too, while I was posting the other one...  This one is on Matthew 23:13-36 and the Pharisees' hypocritical attitudes (and our sometimes frighteningly similar qualities):


Join the Journey Devo. March 29

Devotional

So, I haven't exactly done my job of keeping up with my blog this summer while I'm home.... :-/  But I wanted to link a devotional I wrote for my church's devotional series (which is going through the Gospels this year).... It is on Luke Ch. 7 (v. 18-35) and John the Baptist's doubts while imprisoned (and the doubts that we carry)...  Hope you enjoy!

Join the Journey Devo. Aug. 1

Update on Esther

Just a quick update on Esther and on God's faithfulness....

Literally within 5 minutes of posting that last blog post, a good friend of mine in Dar called me saying that she saw my blog post and was in need of a new houseworker because hers had moved.  So without missing a beat or a day of employment, Esther was/is now employed in a situation that could not be more of a blessing!!  I am SO incredibly thankful for God's faithfulness (and for my friend who saw the need and responded in her typical always-finding-a-way-to-be-a-blessing manner :)) ...  Esther now has continued work, is starting English and cooking classes under my friend's leading (which will give her lifelong skills that will continue to make her employable), and is in a family situation which I *know* will be a MAJOR blessing to her.  Thank you all for your prayers and for caring about sweet Esther!! :)