Jewelry Project Video

Dear Friends of Hope’s Gate, I have an exciting report of how our jewelry project is continuing to move forward and an opportunity for you to make a difference in the lives of teens rescued from human trafficking and those at high risk in both Africa and India!  A few weeks ago, I had the privilege to travel to Uganda to launch a jewelry project with a shelter that takes in at-risk teens orphaned by AIDS and other diseases. At SIITA Nest I met Ruth.  Both of Ruth's parents died before she was 5. She ended up being taken in by some extended family and tragically someone living in the home raped her and gave her HIV when she was a child. At 17 she now lives at SIITA Nest home and has started going to school, but is so...

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Widows and Orphans Home Adama

Today our team spent time at the Widows & Orphans Home in Adama. The home is run by a very capable Ethiopian woman, and is home to a group of widows and orphans awaiting adoption. There is a mural painted on the wall of the baby nursery says "But God had a plan to save them all". We heard stories of many babies abandoned in the countryside. The people of the villages nearby know when another baby is abandoned because they hear the hyenas finding them. I particularly fell in love with a little 8 month old who was found near death with bugs & worms coming out of his nose & ears. Today he is thriving and waiting for his loving family to bring him ho...

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Helping destitute widows in Ethiopia

Last night our team landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and we hit the ground running this morning. We loaded up in a van to join some friends who work on the ground here to deliver much needed supplies to a group of widows in a remote village near Adama. These widows are destitute. They don't have anyone to care for them and huge smiles covered their weathered faces as we delivered mattresses, pillows, sheets and a few other necessities. They literally kissed and kissed our shoulders out of gratefulness. We partnered with a local pastor & his wife who live in the village and love these widows faithfully. Today it was difficult to hold back the tears as I saw sheer & unrestrained thankfulness for basic items that we take for granted every...

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Jewelry making training

Friday we returned to SIITA Nest home and continued to train orphan teens in jewelry making. I heard an incredibly heart breaking story, Ruth's story. Both of Ruth's parents died before she was 5. She ended up being taken in by some extended family. A family member raped her and gave her HIV when she was a child. She now lives at SIITA Nest home and has started going to school, but is so far behind she struggles with the exams needed to progress into higher levels of education. When she talks about her life she weeps, but she has also come to the place of freedom from shame and is open to tell her story. Our jewelry project is giving young women like Ruth practical hope for the future by providing job skills training that she can use to earn...

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Clinic reaching remote village

We also spent time with the staff and patients at a clinic in the middle of a remote area outside of Jinja. A little baby named Blessing has been sick with an upper respiratory infection for a while now. His father asked if our team would pray for his son. We gathered around him and asked the Healer to meet this family and make the baby whole again. This clinic is the only way the residents of this village have access to health ca...

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The Foster Family Network

We spent the morning with Irene who with her husband lead the foster family network here in Jinja. The FFN is a community support network who collectively have taken in 250 at risk kids into their homes, really embraced them into their families. They work together, they support each other-it's incredible. It could very well be the best example of community I've ever seen. They've just started a farm to help provide additional food for the foster families, since the cost of food is skyrocketing in Uganda. All the families participate in working on the farm. Irene held beans in her hand that will provide much needed protein in their diets. Since being here we've met children whose parents have both died of AIDS, and discovered that a huge risk...

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Day 1 part 2

Today we also pulled in to Siita Nest Mother's Love Home, which is home to 63 children and teens. This is the day I have been waiting for! The young people have all come from various backgrounds: some have lost both parents to AIDS, some fled the atrocities of war in the north after losing both parents, all have a painful past but have found joy here at SIITA. You can see it in their eyes. Today I worked with the older teens on the jewelry project. It was a very fruitful time. We will have a training time again on Friday! they ooo'ed and aaah'ed over the samples Wendie created using the paper beads they made by hand. James is a young man who grew up at Siita from the time he was 14 when his parents both died. He has just finished university...

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