October 23, 2018 written
by Julie Sherrill
Yesterday was my birthday but I asked Mike and Gail to not
make it known to others. I wanted to
not have the day about me. I also had a
plan for the day to connect with the leather trainees more and make it about “us”.
John Paul Kodet is the Director of Livelihood Projects for CLIDE.
He and I met with the six women then the four men that are being trained in
leather crafting. The ages of the
trainees range from 20 to 53. I
briefly shared some photos of my family, dogs included, and my role on this
team.
Many shared how they weren’t sure of what to expect with
this training. They were willing to take
a step of faith. For a majority of the
trainees, this was their first-time using scissors, measuring tape and
especially the intimidating manual sewing machine.
John, the leather instructor from Kampala is patient and
encouraging. He only sees their
potential and their desire to learn! He always
gives them positive feedback and corrects them gently
The women shared how excited they are to return home and
share what they have learned. They know that
it will impact their children too as they watch them making leather
products. They look forward to teaching
their children and grandchildren. Many know
that their husbands will also desire to learn leather crafting and they will be
very proud of them for doing this.
Three of the young men are 20,20 and 21. One has a wife and two small children. He shared with me that he will perfect this
new skill and go on to mentor others. I was thrilled to hear those words from
him! He also is looking forward to
learning how to make shoes and laptop bags.
Simon is 53 years old.
He is not an elected official, but he is a leader in the village. He is also a certified teacher. The villagers respect and listen to hm. Simon shared how this leather training will
create unity, teamwork and pride in the village He shared that others will see the value in
education and want training.
What has please me has been to watch these 6 women and 4 men
arriving early to practice, attentive to the instructor, learning from each
other, laughing, smiling and enjoying the whole experience. They talk about how this will benefit their
families and their village. Never have I
heard one reference to me, myself or I.
Some students shared concern about how they would get their
supplies and items home from the training.
I knew that we had tote bags for them, but the plan was to give them to
the students on the last day. I wanted
to lower their level of concern by giving the bags to them early.
I went to get the bags and returned to the group singing ‘Happy
Birthday’. There was a beautiful cake
for me. I learned that this was the
first piece of cake for each student.
Oh, can you imagine the smiles of the three 20-year-old guys. They had a second piece! I passed out the tote bags and Gail gave
them one pen. They were overjoyed and
had enormous smiles! My birthday was made
complete. It was full of sharing hopes,
dreams, joy, love and cake!
You were in your place of contentment, for your birthday. No doubt the Father was singing along with everyone else!
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