The Terranova's

hello blogger friends - I know it's time to update when I get emails asking me what we're up to. So here we go:

Joe and I have a had a bumpy month. Things are going super slow and made even slower by having to re-adjust the whole tailoring team. So we stepped back and tried to see the bigger picture of tukula and although we started this journey with the desire to help small businesses flourish it's turning into something I never thought I would be the slightest bit interested in...sustainability through sanitation and health. As much as we love that we get to help a handful of ladies grow their tailoring businesses we also love the idea of getting to help whole communities grow also.

A couple of weeks ago I watched some very young girls carry large amounts of LAKE water in jerry cans back to their house where their mother (their only parental figure) was in town looking for money to pay for medicine because she was sick. As I helped the oldest carry water back to the house I thought about how if they had access to clean water maybe the mother wouldn't be sick and the children would for sure not be walking to the lake at night to fetch water. And instead of using the money on medicine they could use it on things like a garden so they can grow their own food and even sell it if they have more than enough.

My thoughts became faster and faster and I knew in all reality I was being completely idealistic but I began researching Rain Water Harvesting and Humanure anyway. I learned the benefits of having these systems and how people were thriving by using them.

In September with the excess profits we make this summer (from selling bags made by some lovely ladies in bukaya and jinja town who I will update you on in our next post) we are hoping to do a small scale pilot project to see if in the future we can actually make this happen for larger communities.

Please keep these plans and our current tailoring team in your prayers and please e-mail me if you have any helpful thoughts on any of this! (melissa@tukula.org)

grace and peace,
melissa