Those who know me well, know that I’m anything but quick at jumping on the bandwagons of technology, fads or even just quick at leaving the house! It’s probably not in the least bit surprising that it’s taken me so long to start a blog to keep in touch with those whom I love and who have supported and encouraged me through this growth opportunity called Women of Hope International. Some years ago I had a collision with God, and my life hasn’t been the same. He has broken my heart for what breaks His and invited me to be apart of what He’s doing for women with disabilities in Sierra Leone, West Africa. I admit that the thought of sharing my thoughts and experiences with the World Wide Web struck me as pretentious at first, which explains my hesitancy in writing. I thought the world probably doesn’t need me to add to the chatter, but being away from those closest to me, and finally admitting my tendencies toward ill-communication has forced me to change my mind about the whole blog issue. This being said, I humbly submit this first blog, and invite you into this crazy journey.
Women of Hope International has become an expression of my own heart. I’m blessed to be a part of His ministry. For this reason I have left Washington to become the full-time Program Assistant for the ministry. As I participate in the inception, my role as the Program Assistant doesn’t look like that of the typical missionary or Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) worker. The WOHInt Board of Directors and myself believe God wants this ministry to be indigenous in Sierra Leone, and so Kim Kargbo (International Director and close friend) and I have committed to making disciples of our staff, training and equipping them to run the organization, while casting vision for the ministry we feel God has called us to birth. Since launching the ministry in Sierra Leone last March, I have been working full-time with Kim in program planning and implementation, staff development, fundraising, grant-writing, donor-management and coordinating volunteers. I am still “residing” part-time in Olive Branch, Mississippi (twenty minutes from Memphis Tennessee) with the lovely Bartlett family who has graciously taken me in when I’m in the U.S. The rest of my time is spent in Makeni, Sierra Leone. I have been in transition for about the last nine months, living out of a few pieces of luggage and working on my Krio and my Southern twang! I am very much in process.
At the same time, I’m finally starting to settle into this chaotic season of life as WOHInt and myself consistently grow. I feel truly privileged to get a front-row seat at watching how God uses broken vessels (the WOHInt team) to bring about restoration and then repairs those same vessels in the process. God continues to remind me that the name of the game is “dependency.” WOHInt has been His lesson in dependency for me, as He has called me to a task that is impossible without Him. I’m learning that He often asks us to do exactly that which we cannot do in ourselves so that His glory is magnified in the extraordinary completed by the immensely weak.
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