area woman touches lives in Kosovo
I known Joan Henderson for more than 23 years. She canada goose outlet parka a mother, grandmother and active member of our church family in Whitefish. She is known locally as the regional canada goose clearance sale coordinator for the annual “Operation Christmas Child” shoebox campaign. But few people know about how she has touched the lives of some needy and vulnerable women in a faraway corner of Europe.
Q. Joan, you recently returned from the country of Kosovo. Where canada goose clearance exactly is this little country and how many times have you travelled there?
A. I have visited cheap canada goose uk canada goose factory outlet Kosovo five cheap canada goose times. It a small country in southeastern Europe. It originally was a province of Serbia. Kosovo separated from Serbia after a war between the two countries in 1998. The people of Kosovo are ethnically Albanian and primarily of Muslim background.
Q. Why do you go there and what exactly do you do?
A. I was canada goose outlet uk sale in a missions meeting a number of years ago and they canada goose uk outlet were talking about women projects in third world countries. One of the things they were teaching is sewing. I thought, “That is something I really enjoy doing and have developed a skill for.” It intrigued me canada goose outlet reviews to think that maybe I could use this skill to help marginalized women. So I applied to a number of missions.
A soon received an Canada Goose Jackets e mail from a canada goose uk black friday girl working in Kosovo with women who had fled very abusive situations. She wanted me to go and teach five of these women how to make bags and purses. Interestingly, in the proceeding months I had been focusing my sewing time on making purses. So buy canada goose jacket I put together a program with hands on projects for the women Canada Goose Online and headed to Kosovo on my own.
The plan canada goose outlet store was that one of the ladies doing this project with me would take what she had learned and teach it to young girls in high school. We canada goose outlet canada hoped this would help them stay official canada goose outlet in school because they drop out https://www.estrategias.de far too young. From the original launch of this project, this woman is continuing to teach these young girls sewing techniques and has also opened a shop of her own making and selling cosmetic bags. The business has a number of obstacles to overcome, but it is able to support her and her children and employ one of the young students canada goose outlet sale from her classes.
Q. What is the greatest blessing and the canada goose outlet nyc greatest challenge for you in this ministry?
A. John Bunyan lived in the 1600 and is quoted to have said: “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” We find ourselves trying to experience so many shiny things that apparently will make us happy when, in fact, knowing that you have changed a single life is of much greater value than the entire goose outlet canada list canada goose outlet store uk of “must haves” dangled before us.
Travelling to and working in a foreign setting has many logistical problems that could make you want to quit. Long flights, a language you don know, cultural oddities and unsettling situations alone, tend to cheap canada goose stack up. You need to put these all behind you if you are going to see successes.
Q. Thank you, Joan, for this inspiring interview. If someone reading this wanted to help too, what could they do and who would they contact.