One of our women's story

Day Four Under a Tin Roof!

Happy sharing her story!

After spending a few days getting to know this close, beautiful family one thing is clear, Monika is not the average single mother. She has so much help and support from her three oldest children, Happy, Rosemary and Jennifer.  In Tanzania girls take on responsibility at a very young age. They begin helping with the housework around 8 or 9 years old and sometimes even younger. Their chances of education depend on the financial situation of the family and many never pass Primary School (7th grade). They know there is no money for them to continue school and their load of work at home often becomes too much to study and do well at school. Their future is finding a husband and having children. This is not the case with Monika's children. Monika has struggled to keep her girls in school. Although they are a huge help around the house they still study hard and hope for an opportunity at College.

I spoke with Happy to hear her story. Happy, the oldest is waiting to go to College. At 18 years old she has not only finished Secondary School but she has passed her exams. This is rare for a girl in her situation. The problem is there is no money to send her. Even though Monika has worked hard learning the skill of beading and sewing she doesn't make enough to send Happy for the 2 and a half years it's required to get her degree which is only $2,000. And so Happy waits. She is waiting for a miracle. Maybe help from another family member or the off chance her mother will find enough money so she can go. Most likely Happy will have to find another way to make her way in the world. My fear is that she will see that finding a man and having a baby is her only option and settle for that. A young girl sees marriage as a chance to change her status in this culture. Right now she is nothing, or so she feels. With no husband and no children and being a girl she is as low on the social scale as she can be in the eyes of her community.

This story is so common. When I mee
t and interview the women that come into our program I often hear how they thought marrying a man and having his child would make their life have meaning, that they would be something, if only a mother and a wife. Most of these women are left abandoned with out any way to support their child. The husband leaves or wanders coming in and out of their lives. This story is so common and so sad and yet at Shining a Light we are breaking that cycle. We are providing opportunities for women to support their families and change their future.

Happy has hope right now. A hope of making something better then her mother had and someday supporting her younger sisters to attend school. We will continue to search for a path that her mother can afford and a path that can further her younger siblings in life. She has two more sisters that are doing awesome in school and will one day need to decide where and how they will spend their future. Happy wishes to be a role model and Shining a Light is determined to assist her in making a way and changing the fate that so many of the Tanzanian women face.

Day Three Under a Tin Roof!

Jennifer helping with laundry

I follow Monika home with Elisha, here youngest running behind. I am expecting the same routine as all the other days and wondering how these women can live day in and day out doing the same thing over and over. But today is not the same. We don't start preparing dinner right away. Instead we start doing laundry and everyone helps. One of the things that brings me some peace is that Monika is never alone in her work of managing this large family. Her 3 oldest daughters, Happy 18, Rosemary 16 and Jennifer 14, all help. Without even being asked! Such a heavy work load is not for one but shared by 4 and their relationship is a marvel to watch. They are family for sure but what is so interesting is that they are friends too. No sister squabbles and no rebukes from mother. It's as if the know their mother needs them as much as they need her.

Washing clothes

Monika teaching Rosemary to bead

We wash clothes together and it's not a chore. There is laughter and singing and telling stories. After the wash is finished Monika pulls out a little stool and table and begins beading sandals. She's not taking her work home, she's not doing this to get ahead at our training center. She is making sandals to sell to earn extra money while she trains with us. Not only that but she is also teaching her daughters the skill. She is passing it on and empowering them. Our goal at Shining a Light is to create a woman who not only gets empowered but empowers someone else too.

After it gets too dark to bead we move inside under the light of a lantern. Today I have brought coloring books and crayons which breaks up the routine of just sitting and waiting for dinner. All the kids, even the cousins cram in the little room to color. Even Happy the 18 year old joins in and we make a contest out of it. Each one trying their hardest to stay in the lines and make their picture the best. Every one of them constantly asking of my approval.

Monika is in the other room preparing a traditional Maasai meal. It's beans and corn mixed together and by far the easiest to prepare and the yummiest yet! After dinner we sit by the light of the lantern and Happy reads from the Bible. Some are doing their homework but as we read the story of Daniel in the Lions Den not one peep is made. After the Bible story we all crawl into bed. There are four of us in mine. No room to spread out and no room to toss and turn but it's warm and cozy and we are all grateful for another day!

Jennifer Beading

In the morning we all start at 6:00. I wake to hear Monika praying, something she does each and every morning before leaving the bed. Her life is hard but her Faith is huge! I am blessed to be apart of this family this week.

The coloring contest by lantern

Over the past few days I have talked separately with some of these family members (some are too shy to talk). I hear about their struggles and their fears for the future. I will be sharing these stories over the next few days. One thing is sure. They have hope because of what Shining a Light is doing for their mother and for their family. This is only possible because of all of you back in the states and your amazing generosity!

Thank you from Me and the Lewanga Family (Monika, Happy, Rosemary, Jennifer, Vincent and Elisha)

Day Two Under a Tin Roof!

Monika's kitchen/bedroom/storage room

Helping Elisha with his Homework

If I thought each and everyday was the same for these women I was wrong and pleasantly surprised that they do have some variety in their lives.  Yesterday Monika began preparing our dinner while home on lunch break. I was expecting another piece of bread and tea for lunch but I was served a hot meal instead. Happy is Monika's 18 year old daughter and had been home preparing our lunch.  Happy is waiting to go to college if they can find the funds. Monika has 5 children and each one has the hopes of passing primary school, passing secondary school and then heading on to college.  Funds are tight with Monika with no husband and 5 children but they have huge faith in God that he will provide.

Gorgeous Monika preparing corn!

We came home for lunch with the youngest, Elisha and were greeted by a meal of Dega. Now, I have been here for 5 years and have avoided this meal of tiny, TINY fish the entire time. They sell it in plastic bags that sit on the shelf for months before sold and I have always been extremely afraid to try it for obvious reasons. But I am spending the week trying new things and trying my hardest to live like a Tanzanian so I could not refuse (oh I forgot to write that I ate cow intestines the night before and survived).  Although I would never seek this meal out again, it was hot, filling and prepared with love by Happy so how could I not be grateful?

After lunch it was time to get Elisha (the baby, 3 and a half) dressed in his play clothes and off to the day care center for the afternoon. Monika began to prepare for dinner by getting the corn ready and so she would have time for others things after work. I guess I will find out what those are this evening.

Elisha getting his play clothes on!

I want to say that I have been talking with Monika for the past two days and her life is Hard! Hard doesn't even describe it. She has been training with Shining a Light for two years now. She knows how to bead, she is learning English, she does our inventory at the shop and she is developing business skills but she stills struggles to survive. With 5 kids all planning on college she must figure out a way to make a living and a good one at that. Hanging out with her this week is doing exactly what I had hoped. It's helping us figure out new ways to help these women. It's bringing new ideas to mind of how to help them set up business and market their products. We are figuring out where they are still struggling and what we as a program can improve on. It's exciting to have break throughs and develop ways to excel!

Looking forward to sharing more soon!

Lunch of tiny TINY fish

Day One Under a Tin Roof!

Although I feel called to Tanzania and I have lived here for over five years I have never Slept in a house with no electricity and no running water. I have never shared a bed with 3 other people and I have never washed dishes at 6:30 in the morning while squatting down because there are no chairs.

Yesterday I was welcomed into the home of Monika Lewanga, one of the Shining a Light students and was able to finally, after all these years witness first hand the every day life of a Tanzanian woman.

The pictures shown here are what greeted me as I approached her home. I wasn't prepared for all the green lush property that Monika inherited from her family. Her neighbors are her brothers and sisters that all live in harmony and care for each other and each other's children.  Our first task arriving home is getting dinner prepared. Although we start this job at 5:00pm because of the lack of a kitchen, running water and ample counter space our meal will not be ready until 8:00 or 9:00 that night.  We purchase local beef, veggies and charcoal to start the preparations.  After walking through the village gathering all  the ingredients we begin chopping wood to boil water for the kid's bath (she has five children ages 3 thru 18).  After the water is prepared we begin to clean the vegetables and cutting them. As I said there is no kitchen, no counter space and no cutting board. We cut these vegetables with a knife squatting down, hovering over the pot. The sun begins to go down at 6:30 so we move everything into the house. There is a portable stove that uses kerosene and a portable stove that uses charcoal. These are both moved inside to cook the beef and vegetables in a stew and to start preparing the ugali. Ugali is a Tanzanian staple made with corn flour that they make into a porridge in the morning and drink and at night they prepare so that is stiffens into what they call a stiff porridge. The porridge is scooped on to your plate and does not have much taste. The taste comes after you break off a chunk, roll it into a ball in your palm and dip it in your beef/vegetable stew, taking on that flavor while also filling your belly.

After dinner it is now 9:00pm. I have sat with all the children alternating back and forth from the sitting room to the make shift kitchen slash bedroom to help cook. Where we have brought the portable stoves inside to finish making the food under the light of kerosene lamps is also two beds, piles of dishes and kitchen ware, boxes of clothing and any other item the family needs to store. In the sitting room are Monika's 3 youngest children plus about 3 or 4 more cousins from next door. We sing songs and have a snorting contest, yep, a sorting contest which makes them all break out in hysterical laughter. Those children all stay for dinner. Monika has barely enough to feed her family but no one will go hungry at her home. I imagine that when her children visit their aunts and uncles next door they get a hot meal too.  No matter what is available there is always enough for one more.

After dinner it's time for bed. There is no TV or any other form of entertainment (well maybe me this week) so we all pile into the few beds that are around.  I crawl in bed with Elisha the 3 year old , Vincent the 10 year old and Monika herself and within minutes a soft snoring takes over the small house.



This morning we wake at 6:30. Everyone is busy dressing and brushing their teeth. I help wash the dishes from last night's dinner that we will use later on tonight. Tea with loads of sugar and a small donut called mandazi is served and then everyone departs for school or work.

This experience is way outside of my box for those of you who know me. I was pleasantly surprised by the warmth and welcome I received, by the hospitality of those with nothing and by the comfort of a mud hut, lumpy mattress and dirt floors. I look forward to the remainder of the week with Monika's family.

Fatuma

This is Fatuma. She is 25 years old and has two daughters. 

She grew up in Moshi, about an hour away from Arusha with 2 brothers and one sister. When she was little her mother left to go bury her mother in Arusha for two months and when she returned she found her husband (Fatuma’s father) married to another women. So her mother returned to Arusha with her and her younger brother leaving her older sister and brother in Moshi. When she was 5 she went back to her father in Moshi. She went to school in Moshi but never did well because her stepmother didn’t allow her to study and did not help her. She was mistreated by her stepmother who never had her own children. The father was never around to help her. She was only fed when she worked around the house and farm. After primary school (7th grade), which she did not pass, she started training in sewing but she  always arrived late and her step mother  caused problems so she wasn't allowed to continue at the school. She felt her only option was to find a man and so when she had the opportunity to marry her sister’s brother in law she grabbed it. She was 17 years old and he was 25. They were always fighting because he was drunk. She went back to her stepmother but was mistreated and abused there. So then she went back to the husband and suffered whatever treatment he gave her because she had nowhere else to go. She did odd jobs like carrying water and washing clothes for money to feed her baby. Then she had her second daughter and when her youngest was 2 years old her husband came home and gave her money to buy food she bought the food. But the husband came home drunk and wanted the money back and when she didn’t have it he beat her and stabbed her. She ran off to another region of Tanzania to work as a house girl. One daughter went to her mother’s house and the other daughter went to live with the father’s mother.

This is the story as Fatuma told me one raining day as we sat in the workshop. Tears streaming down her face she tells me this story of fear and hopelessness. From what I can see she never had a chance, no one ever loved her or cared about her future. She was never encouraged to do well at school or to even go to school. I can't even relate. My heart to broken. How can I help someone like this? Someone who thinks that they are

worth nothing because that is all they have ever been told. So much abuse and neglect can break a person.

But Fatuma has hope! She's excited about learning skills that will guarantee her a job and a hope for a better future for her and her daughters. At Shining a Light she is also learning how to be a mother. For so many years her family has been scattered and she is now pulling them back together. It's wonderful to see her grow and transform into a woman that will create, inspire and empower!

New Day Care Center

Shining a Light has opened a new day care center for the children of our students. Monika is one of our graduates and she will be running it each day. Right now we have seven children that will take advantage of the free care while their mama's are learning to bead, sew, learn English and many other skills that will provide a  brighter future for their children and themselves.


The children will be feed, given naps and have plenty of room to play. The day care center is right down the road from the workshop where the mothers can come each day at lunch to play and visit. This is one less thing
for these women too worry about
while they train with us.

Clean Water

The students in their clean water seminar 

Clean water is so important. We know this because we have been told in the west to drink it and drink a lot of it. It's the best medicine for any sickness and prevention to many diseases. Here in Tanzania clean, safe drinking water only exists on store shelves or after extensive boiling. Tanzanians don't buy or boil because bottles are expensive and wood for fires is costly too.  So, they chance it. They deal with diarrhea on a daily bases. They spend money that they don't have on doctors and medicine and they live with it knowing there are no options.

Putting together their filters

The women (our students) each get educated about clean water and the many benefits of having a filter in their home. They gain understanding that the water they are using now is harmful and puts them and their family's at risk.  They also are trained in other ways to clean and purify their water such as boiling and buying but in the end they realize that the cheapest most effective way to bring safe water into their homes is through a filter.  They also learn about the financial benefits of clean water. They spend less time sick, less time going to doctors and less money on medicine.

Jennifer VanderGalien (SAL Founder) pitching in

After our training all the women want to purchase a filter.  We sell the filters to the women at a very low cost but must charge them something so that they will cherish it and use it. Last week we trained 11 new students on clean water and distributed 11 water filters. There are now 11 new families in Tanzania that have access to safe, clean water.

If you are interested in donating a water filter to Shining a Light please go to our website www.shiningalight.org and donate $45 for a Sawyer water Filter. Your donation of $45 will alert us that you want to purchase a filter so that an entire family in Tanzania can have clean water.

Before & After

Our new students receiving Bibles

It's just two weeks back for me over here in Arusha and I hit the ground running. It feels like I was only gone a short time but yet so many things have happened while I was gone. We had a group graduate and a new group start. Our sandal sales have increased from 70 pairs a month to 200 and the needs of our women just keep growing. I have learned so much these past two years since we have started and see the many growing pains as learning steps to make us stronger.

Rukia, one of our graduates sharing her story of transformation.

These past two weeks I have met with our graduates and interviewed our new students. These two groups are drastically different. As I listen to the new women my heart breaks and there is a shadow over my day as I hear stories of neglect, abuse and hopelessness but the shadow is lighter this time because my next meeting is with one of our graduates and her smile lights up the room. She is radiant! She greets me as a friend and an equal. We sit and discuss her new sandal business and make arrangements for her to fill orders for us that keep piling up. She tells me about the opportunity to send money back to her home village to her mother so she can start a business of her own. She discusses her daughters future and how the entire family has hope! So as I meet and build relationships with our new students I have a sense of excitement about the transformation that is about to happen to them. They too have that same excitement because they see our graduates and how a new life has begun for them.

GRADUATION

This past month our first group of students graduated.  Our students have worked hard to learn the skill of beading sandals, working with leather, and basic sewing techniques.  The graduation ceremony was a time of celebration, reflection, prayer, singing, and praising God for this opportunity.  

Each of the students presented a piece of work they had created to the Tanzanian board.  Beautiful Maasai sandals, a child’s school uniform, and women’s dresses were all fashioned and displayed for this occasion. 

 Pastor Stanley was our key note speaker and presenter of certificates. He gave a very moving message about the importance of completing this training school well and moving forward in each of their new endeavors with Jesus leading them. 

Congratulations Graduates!

My Visit to the Refuge for Women House

As the director and founder of Shining a Light I take on the full responsibility of fund raising and spreading the vision of our work. As unrealistic as this is I have to constantly remind myself of who's ministry this really is and who is in control. That is why when I was invited to speak at a small farm house in the hills of Kentucky to a group of women battered and bruised by the world, rescued out of the sex industry and in hiding to protect their new lives I was excited about the opportunity to forget the bottom line and just LOVE!

We headed out there one Tuesday morning and were greeted by smiles and hugs. These women didn't appear to be angry or bitter they were loving and grateful. The Refuge for Women House wasn't a place of brokenness and sadness these were women who were healed, women who were hopeful and secure in their future.

I shared my story of addiction, sickness and sin and how God, who had no reason whatsoever to rescue me, pulled me out of a life of darkness, despair and death. I shared how He took all my pain and replaced it with respect, hope and a chance to give this love away to others. As I spoke I could see the light ignite in their eyes. I could see it begin to register that they too could recover, receive and change the world. That this life of pain and suffering that they had been given could be transformed into a life of love and hope, ashes could be turned into beauty.

The morning ended up with all 8 women digging through boxes of sandals picking out their very own pair, a gift from my dear friend and hostess Amanda Bledsoe and her amazing husband Todd. The picture shows the sandals they chose. Have you ever seen such beautiful feet? They are feet of women who were lost but now are found, women who were blind but now can see because they serve a God who is bigger then any addiction, abusive relationship, any job in a strip club and any mess we can ever get ourselves into.

We Need Your Hearts & Thumbs For 24 Hours

Thank you for opening your heart to learn about the women of Arusha, Tanzania and about Shining a Light. We are in desperate need to raise money to continue to grow our program. We need your help and the help of everyone you know.

 24 Hour Twitter & Facebook-a-Thon Fundraiser

   March 4th & March 5th starts at 7am 

                       

Every donation, every tweet, every pair of sandals sold and every like of our Facebook page; 
increases the awareness of Shining a Light and helps the women and their families that are members 
of our “Women to Work” program.

Arusha, Tanzania is stricken with poverty, single parenting is the norm due to HIV/Aids and rape. Hundreds 
of children live on the streets. Problems are everywhere, it is heartbreaking, we can choose to look the other way or we can break the cycle of poverty by offering a hand up.

Here’s How You Can Help 

Like & Share Shining a Light Facebook Page

Ask your facebook friends to help promote 
our 24 Hr Twitter & Facebook –A-Thon

Copy & Paste these tweets March 4th & March 5th

Follow us @ShiningaLightTZ 

            

24 Hr Tweetathon $10 Changes The Lives Of Women & Children Donate at Shining a Light Please RT #ShiningaLight

           

24 Hr Tweetathon Buy A Pair Sandals With A Soul A Hand UP Not A Hand Out #ShiningaLight Please RT 

24 Hr Tweetathon Every Dollar Helps Donate Now Help Empower Women Please RT #ShiningaLight

24 Hr Tweetathon Sharing Is Caring Donate Today Every Dollar Helps #ShiningaLight Please RT

Learn about Shining a Light

Buy a pair of Sandals With A Soul hand beaded by the women in Shining a Light organization

Visit  Shining a Light to learn all about the women in our program and to make a donation

From the bottom of our hearts thank you for your help! Want to talk with Jennifer (517) 974-3006

Since November, Shining a Light has been traveling the midwest and a few other places sharing the amazing stories of transformation in the lives of our women in Tanzania. Stories of hope and faith, ups and downs but most of all stories of Empowerment.

Our training center in Arusha, Tanzania is based around women who have had missed opportunities and a lack of resources to do the most basic of things, provide for their families. But now thanks to many generous supporters, lots of prayers and dedication of a few visionaries we are seeing change not only in these women but in their husbands, children and their communities.

Our founder, Jennifer VanderGalien is in the states until May. There are many more opportunities to catch her story and the story of Shining a Light but to also book your own speaking engagement. Just send us an email jennifer@shiningalight.org or find us on our website www.shiningalight.org or many of our social media sites Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN.