A New Adventure

Have you ever prayed for new dreams?  Dreams that seemed to be meaningful, eternally minded, and for something way outside of anything you could do?  Dreams that make a difference?    Well - that's what I started praying about a year ago and God has definitely been working!

Amanda and I were fortunate enough to go to Sierra Leone last summer with an organization called 4HIM.  How incredible it was to spend time with the people of Sierra Leone.  It was after that trip that God began working in both of us and thus a dream was born - Bany Trading Company.

Sierra Leone endured a brutal war from 1991-2002 that resulted in the deaths and displacement of more than 2 million people.  During the war, many women and girls were taken and kidnapped by the rebel militias as sex slaves.  They were exposed to untold human sufferings and left with little hope for the future.  Many of the girls were released but already had unwanted children and were too old by that time to complete any formal education.  They had no skills to support themselves and as a result, many had to rely on sex as a trade for survival.  It was due to this challenge that the Orphanage Vocational Training Centre was started.

The primany purpose of establishing the school was to improve the living standards for these women, giving them hope through the gospel of Christ, while also giving them skills to support themselves and their children.  The school has 6 programs available including tailoring, hair dressing, tye-dying, catering, carpentry, and computer science.  The women are also taught literacy, numeracy, and business.  The ultimate goal is for the women to start their own businesses following graduation.

The school currently has over 200 students and 14 teachers.  As funding is always a problem, this school is no different.  The students are offered free education, which is unheard of in Sierra Leone.  They are asked to assist as much as they can with supplies for practicals but many of them are barely able to provide enough meals for their children or themselves.  The school faces many challenges and Bany Trading Company is hoping to ease some of the burden for these women and the teachers.  

So, what is the project?  The main component right now is the Purse Project.  We are having the women make purses out of their wonderful material and selling them here, with the proceeds going back to the women and to help support the school.  It is still a new project and we are working out a lot of logistical things but we are excited.  We are working on starting the company, getting a website, etc.  Please pray with us that God would continue to lead and guide our steps.  We are just two girls available to what God is calling.