After a physically and spiritually challenging week, day 7 brought departure from Boise. Departures are always bittersweet, and good-byes never feel right.
We packed and headed to the church for a pancake breakfast. Tyler & Angie made pumpkin pancakes with the pumpkins from the garden. Most of the staff was there to spend those last few minutes together.
At the same time we ate, we were able to watch Brent in action as he taught the refugees in the culinary portion of the training program. I learned a lot as well about eggs of all things. I've been cooking for years since childhood and never knew the little tidbits I overheard.
Ian clowning around
lesson for refugees
Departure was hard for me in a different way as well.....as usual, I bought a LOT of things without thinking of how to get them home. Retail therapy for a good cause always gets me. I bought several things that support sustainable living for those in poverty or in impoverished countries, many in the form of turning junk and trash into beautiful objects for use and to display the artist's handiwork.
Isn't God like that? He uses the junk in us to transforms the brokenness to display the beauty. Here's what I'm most proud of:
A perfect gift for your favorite wino(s)!!
Apparently, glass accounts for a lot of junk in Boise so this organization turns junk into treasure. Here's info:
Sustainable Futures is an IRS 501(c)(3) organization operating in Boise, Idaho. Our mission is to address social, environmental and economic needs in our community, helping the underserved to build work maturity while making recycled glass products. We achieve this mission by recycling and repurposing empty glass wine, beer and spirit bottles into other usable glassware—from drinking glasses to wind chimes and other products—that are sold to restaurants, retail outlets and the general public.
Through recycling and repurposing, Sustainable Futures reduces the amount of glass in landfills, provides jobs and vocational training and creates a new revenue stream that helps support the organization’s mission.
Visit their ever-so-cool site (and buy some Christmas gifts)
here!
I love easy (mostly already prepped) eats! These are assembled by women part of the Women's Bean Project. Each one is stamped with the name of who handmade the item. I love it--eat for a cause!
Here's info about them:
Since 1989 we have been helping women break the cycle of poverty and unemployment. We are a nonprofit organization that teaches job readiness and life skills for entry-level jobs through employment in our gourmet food production and handmade jewelry manufacturing businesses. Women come with the goal of transforming their lives and moving toward self sufficiency.
To visit their website (more great gift ideas) visit
here. BTW, it's not just food either.
soaps made by Palam Rural Centre (India)
About Palam:
Palam Rural Centre (“People’s Association for Leather and Allied Manufacturing”) offers employment opportunities to people of the marginalized Harijan community in a village in Tamil Nadu region, southeastern India. In the Tamil language, Palam also means “bridge”; Palam Rural Centre seeks to build a “bridge” to the markets of the rest of the world. With money from product sales, Palam has purchased land and homes for artisans (ownership traditionally unavailable to lower castes) and built a school for artisans’ children. Other artisan benefits include health care and retirement pensions. Palam artisans see education of their children as the key to hope and change. Through this work, Palam Rural Centre is providing dignity and security to artisans and helping to break down caste walls in society.
Started in 1978 by David Edmunds, Palam Rural Centre was founded to improve the lives of people of the Harijan community in Tamil Nadu. Traditionally leather workers, they found little market for their products. Very poor and often exploited, they did not own land, suffered from illiteracy and ill health, and were underpaid working as seasonal agricultural laborers for large landowners. In the 1980s, the leather market declined with the rise in synthetic materials and with multinational corporations moving into Indian markets. After several years of experimenting with soap making, Palam Rural Centre diversified into vegetable oil-based soap production. It also continues to develop new designs of leather items.
To order: visit
here.
Onward to my favorite:
such detail..
My prized possession -- I stared at this for days...I wasn't sure if I should splurge. I couldn't get it off my mind so I finally made the purchase. Then, I had almost had a panic attack when it wouldn't fit in my suitcase making me explore a million ways to get this baby home in one piece!
As you can see, "we" made it. I envision it in my office or at some point, in the bedroom of my adopted child.
It was an old oil drum (who knows, we Americans may have left that trash) in Haiti. It is cut and painted by local artists. Here's some info regarding the organization:
Haitian handcrafts are a reflection of the vibrancy and creativity of its people, and for over 30 years, Comite Artisanal Haitien (CAH) has been committed to working with Haitian artisans to find markets for their products to help them earn a dignified living.
CAH represents more than 170 individual Haitian artisans and groups, including the artisans from Cite Soleil and other poor areas in and around Port-au-Prince, who create beautiful works of art from recycled metal drums which have become hallmarks of Haitian craftsmanship.
In Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, jobs are scarce and the money earned from craftmaking is not just supplemental, it is often the sole source of income for most artisans and their families.
