Yesterday I had an amazing meeting with an amazing women named Sarah who is earning her masters of theology at Uganda Christian University.  She was introduced to me through Dr. Nassaka.  We sat on the lush green lawn of UCU and discussed writing a theological Women’s development curriculum for village women.  We decided it would be a 10-week curriculum and discussed the following issues:

1. Traditional Culture, Modernity, and Christianity
2. Who is God? And What about the Trinity
3. Bible Interpretations and Methodology
4. Women’s worth and leadership in the story of Deborah
5. Gender Roles
6. Health Practices and Sickness
7. Family Planning
8. Polygamy and Domestic Violence
9. Basic Financial Knowledge – How to save, how to invest in small business, how to spend
10. Marketing – buying and selling products

This is no small task, but I have yet to find a curriculum like this one that addresses all domains of life – physical, spiritual, relational, emotional and intellectual.  Some focus on financial development, while others focus on health practices and others spiritual needs.  We are hoping that each teaching can stem from a Bible story and/or example and empower all domains of the women’s life.  We are going to co-write the whole thing.  Parts that I will write will be added to and reviewed by Sarah… I am very excited!

In addition Rose has just started building the United Methodist Women’s Empowerment Center of Jinja! She is going to teach the women to raise Chickens and grow mushrooms in addition to financial and business development.  More on this later –with pictures!

There is so much amazing and exciting work to be done here and it is being completed by women who love God and others with their whole hearts.  I am thankful to be part of their team and hopeful that I will continue to discover what it means to love God and love others though this work and their example.

Yesterday our professor sent an email about Jacqueline Novogratz’s efforts in a social enterprise called Acumen Fund which is working on a project called Jamii Bora — an affordable housing project outside Nairobi, Kenya.  This is a piece of her email:

“Recently, I visited a development with 750 constructed houses along with thriving shops and a full-fledged school. More than 240 families – or about 1,300 individuals – have moved in, and many have painted the trim on their block houses, and planted gardens in backyards. Most thrilling to me was visiting Jane’s home, for I had spent time with her a year ago in her temporary dwelling in the Mathare Valley slum (here’s  my TED talk on her journey).  Her house was beautiful: trimmed in orange and green with sunflowers touching the roofline, it seemed a palace compared to the shanty where Jane had spent her life.”

After reading the email I watched the TED talk and discovered that this organization is truly doing amazing, sustainable, and authentic things to help people suffering from poverty.  I also love the idea of poverty presented in the video as measured beyond income.  Dr. Doug Meeks expands this idea beyond the physical domain and into emotional, relational, cultural, and spiritual domains.

Jacqueline wrote a book that was released yesterday called The Blue Sweater. I’m looking forward to reading it when classes slow down because I must continue to learn how I am going to change the world like Jane and Jacqueline — one step at at a time!