Welcome!

Greetings friends and family!
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For most of us the devastation, instability, and fear known by a refugee woman is a foreign reality. It's difficult to grasp the experience of fleeing one's home because of violence, poverty, or alienation. For the women of Amani ya Juu, these painful experiences are an intimate reality. Yet, because these women tell their stories of pain leading to hope and suffering giving way to healing through the works of their hands, we have been gained a glimpse into their lives. In doing so, we've begun to witness the life-giving work God is doing to bring peace from above into broken lives.

We are writing you to share with you a little bit about Amani ya Juu and what it has meant to each of us. Amani ya Juu (Swahili for "peace from above") is a stitching project in East Africa where marginalized women come together to learn job skills while discovering the peace of Christ and its power to heal and renew their lives. Amani is far more than a job-training program—it is a community of women empowered by God's love and grace to be agents of peace. At the centers in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi, women are cared for in body, spirit, heart, and mind.

Since its inception, Amani has remained closely connected to an ever-widening circle of people in the United States. Recently, the Amani family has experienced great growth in depth and breadth. Amani's work is inherently relational—believing that true development happens when we get to know one another and act in response to relationship. As a part of this, our group of six women is endeavoring to take the next step in our relationship with Amani and our own journeys to becoming Amani women—women of peace.

You may have come to this blog because you are connected to this family as well. Or you may have come here some other way ... by God's design. Either way, we are excited to share with you the opportunity we have as a group to visit Amani Nairobi this July. We will be spending ten days at the Center, each paired with a host Amani woman who will share her life and experience at Amani with her guest. We will experience the many various aspects of Amani life including the production systems, shared spiritual life (morning prayer, chapel, and relational counseling), the Garden Café, shop, export, and design. We will all be seeking to bless the Amani community with our presence and skills as appropriate.

We look forward to encountering and working through this cross-cultural experience as a team. We see ourselves as ambassadors, bringing God's message of hope and peace from Amani to our own communities in the United States. And we would love to share our journey with you! For those of you in the Washington, DC area, we would like to host a tea to share more about Amani and our upcoming trip. This will take place in late April or early May, so be watching for details. Also, our "DC Amani Safari" will be chronicled here in our group blog. Keep checking back for updates every week or two before we leave in July, as well as while we are in Africa. And please leave comments on the blog so that we will be encouraged along the way!

Our hope is that this trip will offer greater opportunity for Amani's family in the US to grow and deepen. We hope that you will join us in this. Any of us would be happy to talk with you about Amani and its work. If you would like to tangibly support us in this adventure, we would ask for your prayers for us as individuals and as a team, that we might be unified in following God's leading and faithful in responding with love and grace. You can also join us by contributing financially to the cost of the trip. As a group, we are raising $21,000 for the trip. You can support us by sending a check to PO Box 28133 Chattanooga, TN 37424. Checks should be made payable to "Amani Foundation." Please indicate "DC Amani Safari" in the memo line so that funds will be designated for our trip.

We look forward to sharing more about this journey with you and thank you for your support!

Amani Iwe Nanye (Peace Be With You),
Lou Ann, Sharon, Debbie, Jessie, Rachel, and Brittany

Meet the Team…
Lou Ann
Lorton, Virginia
I grew up in the Buffalo, NY area and became a believer at a very young age. In 1996, I moved to the DC metro area to teach 8th grade math in the public school system in an ethnically diverse area. I have a love for teens, foreign cultures, and math and technology. In 1999 I went to Holland with a group from Immanuel Bible Church to work with missionary kids from all over Europe and North Africa while their parents attended missionary conferences.

I was introduced to Amani about a year and a half ago, and was instantly hungry to become more involved. I have developed a heart for the stories of the women who come to Amani because although we are all so different in some ways, we're all very much the same in God's love and in our responses to His involvement in our lives.

At the Amani center, I hope to help with administrative work and technology training. I look forward to meeting the women there, to connecting with them, and to building foundations of lasting relationships that will ultimately bring glory to God and minister to others.


Sharon
Springfield, Virginia
I've been volunteering with this ministry since 2004 and feel as if I know many of the women already through their stories, pictures, and even talking by phone. God has been using Amani to touch my heart and re-focus my life as an "empty nester." Visiting the centers will give me first-hand experience and help me better represent Amani in the US.

I am especially excited about meeting the children of Amani Watoto. My background has been in teaching and working with children, so I hope to learn of ways that I can better support the Amani leaders who provide for the spiritual and physical needs of these refugee children. Many of these children will eventually return to their war-torn homelands and influence a new generation. I know that these precious women and children will have a great impact on me, as I learn more about them and the world they live in.


Jessie
Rock Island, Illinois
I am a senior at Rock Island High School and am graduating in May. I plan to attend college in the fall. I am excited to go to Africa this summer. It has always been interesting to me. When I found out what Rachel does with Amani, I wanted to go visit and have experience it myself. When the opportunity arose to go with the group this summer, I had no hesitation in saying yes. I feel that this is where God wants me at this time in my life, and I hope I will come back with a changed heart and a different person. I hope to see how God can use me in the US with the knowledge and experience that I have gained from the African women at Amani.


Rachel (US Amani Missionary)
Washington, DC
This will be my 3rd year with Amani, and I have the privilege of leading this wonderful group of women to Amani in July! The women who make up Amani were influential in challenging and strengthening my faith, and I'm thrilled to be able to bring others to experience firsthand the ministry center in Nairobi.

I have been praying that this trip will speak to each team member in a unique way, guiding her in seeking the Lord's perfect will for her life. The Amani women we will be working alongside for ten days tangibly demonstrate the Lord's transforming work in their lives, and because of this I know each one of us will be challenged in our faith.

Amani started as a ministry of three women, and we have seen the Lord use it to spread His message of transforming peace across the globe. This team is an extension of this peace-building and peace-sharing mission. This team of "ambassadors" will have much to share on their return!

Brittany
Washington, DC
I am very excited to be returning to Amani this summer with this group of women. Personally, I've been connected to Amani for a few years now and, at the Nairobi center in 2006, I marveled at the depth of this relational ministry that reaches far beyond mere economic opportunity for those it serves. It has given me a great deal of hope for international partnership, holistic women's ministry, and my own life in DC.

I'm looking forward to sharing this cross-cultural experience with our team as we endeavor to bless and be blessed by the community of women at Amani in meaningful, Spirit-led ways. I pray that we will have the open eyes, sensitive hearts, and discerning minds to enter into our time at Amani. We are just a handful of people who can testify that the peace being sewn at Amani and impacting lives across continents and cultures.

Debbie
Springfield, Virginia
As a mother, I have support my children as they have sought to serve the Lord in various ministry callings in the US and abroad. They have taught me a great deal about how to rely on the Lord to prepare and take them into new cultures. Since the winter of 2004 when my daughter Brittany came home from Africa talking about Amani, it has sparked an interest in me. The idea of a sewing ministry for refuge women captured my heart since I have a love of quilting and fabric arts.

After Brittany came back from visiting Nairobi and the Amani center there, God began to create in me a desire to visit the women and learn more about them and the art they create. Now, it seems that the Lord is preparing me to go and learn more from others in a culture far different from my own. I wish to see this first-hand at the Amani Nairobi center. What I do know is that we are all women seeking to serve the Lord with our gifts and talents.