On any given day I feel about 10 different emotions. Sometimes those feelings come all at one time - even when I don't think it's possible. But for the past few days sorrow is the only emotion that can really be reached.

Uganda experienced a really hard hit on Sunday night.
I'm still trying to process what happened and every day there's a point when I think I might break.

During this time we are also aching for a dear friend whose baby girl is fighting for her life. We are all praying harder than I think we ever have. I invite you to pray with us.. for everything and everyone. It's heavy around here but God is ever present and faithful.
hallelujah

"Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives? When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.” But I say unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed. Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced. When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall."-Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran

Sorry about the lack of blogs! I'm fired!

Just thought I would let you all know that you can now purchase the summer products on www.tukula.org

were excited!
celebrated with some good ol' boy meets world and oreos (yes yes all sent from "the 'merica")
: )
certainly lots to celebrate!
*









love,
Joe and Melissa

thirsty?

my next door neighbor is an extremely old woman who I call JaJa Pius - she sits in her ditch and waves to me while she collects water for her family.

my best friend once told me about a time she was house sitting for a family and she had to give their cat BOTTLED WATER everyday.

think about the insanity of that.
then also think about these facts:

3.575 million People die each year from water-related disease.
43% of water-related deaths are due to diarrhea.
84% of water-related deaths are in children ages 0 – 14.
98% of water-related deaths occur in the developing world.
884 million people, lack access to safe water supplies, approximately one in eight people.
The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease. Less than 1% of the world’s fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human use.
An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the typical person living in a developing country slum uses in a whole day.
About a third of people without access to an improved water source live on less than $1 a day. More than two thirds of people without an improved water source live on less than $2 a day.
Poor people living in the slums often pay 5-10 times more per liter of water than wealthy people living in the same city.
Without food a person can live for weeks, but without water you can expect to live only a few days.
The daily requirement for sanitation, bathing, and cooking needs, as well as for assuring survival, is about 13.2 gallons per person

and house pets are drinking bottled water......

there are seven children who live down the road from the road from meand they lost their father when they were very little and recently lost their little brother who was poisoned. They live in a room (with their mom) that's a little bit bigger than my bathroom.

think about that...8 people living in a room the size of my bathroom where I use more water showering for two minutes than they would all use in an entire day.

THEN think about the 2,000 verses in the bible that talk about the poor and marginalized. The one's that talk about how they are thirsty but no one will give them anything to drink (matthew 25: 41-43). or how about that one verse that talks about how we need to sell everything we own and give to the poor and only then we can go and follow Jesus. (luke 18:22)

THEN think about your lifestyle and if you're anything like me this will scare you. This fear will then cause you to justify every single one of those verses because if we even dare to think about how serious God is about ALL of the people in this world that would mean we have to change something about the way we live and interact with others. This same fear that does all that will then have you looking at every other verse in the bible to find the one thing that you can discuss with strong convictions because it doesn't cause you to look internally...verses about homosexuality and politics...verses that make us feel like we're really following God's word.

all this to say...I have a lot of lifestyle changes and internal examinations that need to happen.

"Lead me to the truth and I will follow you with my whole life." - Mumford & Sons

Here's TRUTH:

¹Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. ²This is what the ancients were commended for.

³By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. ⁴By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

⁵By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. ⁶And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

⁷By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

⁸By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

¹¹By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because considered him faithful who had made the promise. ¹²And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

¹³All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. ¹⁴People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." ¹⁹Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

²⁰By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

²¹By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

²²By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.

²³By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

²⁴By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. ²⁵He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. ²⁶He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. ²⁷By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. ²⁸By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

²⁹By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

³¹By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

³²And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. ³⁵Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. ³⁷They were ; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— ³⁸the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

³⁹These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. ⁴⁰God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11)

I will follow You with my whole life.

oh, June, you move way too fast

So much to write but not much time.
This little one has been occupying much of our time:



along with cleaning up several food messes, killing ants and cockroaches, trying to be a better wife, trying to figure out this whole tukula business thing, trying to figure out what this super complicated crying baby (who I love unconditionally) wants, future thoughts, researching the world's water crisis, making meals, washing pooped clothes/sheets (by hand no less!), Joe being sick, me feeling sick, kampala, fabric fabric fabric, crying baby, dealing with our super particular but sweet landlord, date nights, the bat-man, playing with the neighbor kids, crying baby, attempting to return emails, meeting new friends - fostering relationships with old friends, etc etc etc

good and bad - I love it all.
Becaham's up and here goes another day...

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

I get asked very often what I do and why I am in Uganda.
My answer to question number one is: I own a business.
My answer to question number two is: I'm following Jesus.

I am not in Uganda because I own a social business that works with young tailors - I am in Uganda because Jesus called me to be a disciple and I said yes...then he called me to leave everything again and I said "I'll go" - reluctantly but I said it. THAT is why I am in Uganda.

BUT because people are usually interested and I get asked to "elaborate" a lot I will fill you in on "what I do"...

I wake up around 6:30 am (or in today's case I wake up at 1 am and can't go fall back to sleep - fingers crossed that as soon as this blog is finished I will!) I wash my face, make tea, check all the many accounts I have on the world wide web (internet works best in the morning). around 7 am I usually get bored of writing emails and stalking my friends and family back home so I wake up my husband. I then make us breakfast (which usually consists of eggs or oatmeal or like yesterday a banana because electric was out and I didn't feel like lighting the charcoal stove) and we usually chat a bit. After that I usually shower (the shower part only actually happens about 3 days a week) and get dressed. Joe and I then coordinate schedules and decide if we want to go to town before lunch or after (we try to be back in bukaya for lunch [which consists of leftovers usually] to save money). When we're in town you can find us carting large amounts of fabrics or bags of materials or groceries or sometimes (only one time really) a broken stove top that needs to be fixed. : ) - Currently all tukula tailors work in town or around town so we visit them a lot and make sure things are going well and no one is running out of any sort of material. You can also find us in central market (main market in jinja) a lot - buying food or random materials like the burlap we just purchased for a very special project we're working on.


When we are home during the day we are usually doing research, screen printing bag pockets, dyeing fabrics, making receipts, schedule planning, chasing chickens, cleaning the house, doing yard work, going to bukaya market, editing videos for amazima and shc, etc. etc.
Usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays if we don't have anything planned in the afternoon we go to Masese to hang out with our friends at Serving His Children.



We really aren't too extremely busy and usually let things wait until tomorrow if we really need to - because first and foremost we are disciples and that means taking time out of our schedules to help a little girl carry water, stop & chat with a complete stranger, or hold a baby who just needs some lovin'. : )