Week 1 is done

In case you haven't checked, please refer to our other blog: www.grainofriceproject.blogspot.com .  Ashley and I are posted more details there about how things are going with our business venture.  We have finished four days of actual working time with our group.  Things seem to be going pretty well.  People are arriving only about 30 minutes late (a huge miracle), and we've gotten pretty much accomplished I think. We have a lot of half started projects because it's easier for Tall to cut out lots of patterns of purses at one time and then do all the sewing at once.  The cutting part is something Ashley and I are actually able to help with.  We weren't sure at first what our part would be.  I cut a bit of leather today for the bracelets, but mostly we are professional paper bead rollers now.  It's tedious work but it needs to be done.  It's a little bit crazy to me that it can literally take an entire day to make a decent amount of beads before you are actually able to string them into a bracelet and in turn they are only selling their paper bead necklaces for 100-150 shillings or $1.50-$2.00.  We are trying to pay people for their labor and for what they make.  We actually paid them a bit more than what they asked with the hope that we can sell things for more in the U.S.  We have learned a lot more about everyone in the group each day.  Both women from Kibera are struggling to send their kids to school and pay for food to eat, so having the opportunity to work is a help to them.  Yesterday they told us how happy they were that we read the Bible together every morning and that we love Jesus.  They are encouraged to see the Bible out when they come in the house.  Emily said that if she forgets to pray at night her kids wake her up and insist that they must pray before sleeping.

Yesterday I went with Edwin in the afternoon to pick up his great uncle from the airport.  When we arrived there was a huge group of people standing in one of the parking lots.  When we pulled in we learned it was a group that had come to welcome back Prophet  , who had been in Columbia preaching.  Edwin tells me that this man is all about preaching repentance and turning to God.  He prophesied about the earthquake in Haiti before it happened and about the recent aviation disasters (Ghana, Nigeria, etc.) that have been happening.  People had come from Nakuru (many hours away) to greet him.  They were all dressed up in suits and dresses.  I saw a few peopl wearing shirts that said, "Pastor prayed for me, and now I am HIV negative."  What really moved me though was the way people were singing and worshipping God, not the prophet, right there in the airport parking lot.  Everyone was so joyful and seemed so drawn into God's presense that I started crying.  It's hard to explain but it was just a moving experience being there in the car watching. 

Last night we went out to watch the Portugal/Czech Republic          soccer match.  We found a nice place in Karen to watch it live.  This is us above: Ashley, Tall, Edwin, and me

Me rolling the beads

Ash and I dipping the beads in varnish to seal them

Wednesday, Pamela (one of the women) went to varnish the beads and hung them on the clothesline outside the house.  They dripped all over two shirts on the clothesline of the 2nd story of our building...oops!  We felt really bad and I tried washing the shirt out to fix it.  We even went knocking on their doors offering them shillings to replace the clothing, but no one answered.  We decided today to find a new location to hang them.