In this month's wonderful Tearfund Footsteps, they posed a challenge to excite people about the work you do, by speaking it out for no more than 2 minutes.
I tried to do it in Church this week (it’s not easy in 2 minutes), and I set the challenge to The PottersHeart Trustees. Janet came back with this and I thought I would share it with you:
PottersHeart in two minutes.
Try imagining, after a long journey, a dusty and remote village where a group of men and women are sat on the ground waiting for you. The look of despair and the villagers’ demeanour emphasises their plight – hope shackled by a world that doesn’t seem to care. This was our initial visit to Dagara, and it broke our hearts. A disparate group of people, displaced from their different villages, then brought together by the government on land with poor growing soil and without water. Where was their hope for the future?
Working with people desperate to improve their life circumstances is such a privilege. The joy of seeing smiles on faces when once there was despair is immeasurable. But this is also empowerment, helping individuals gain the skills to restore hope and dignity. This restoration is possible because of the villagers’ willingness to share their lives and partner with PottersHeart in finding solutions to their hardships and build a new tomorrow.
PottersHeart provides adult education for some of the poorest of the poor in Kenya. Working in the villages we enable students to grow personally and collectively, to realise their potential. Communicating and empathising are crucial as we talk together finding out what the hurdles are to improving their lives. With this shared knowledge, we jointly begin helping them find their way out of poverty and share the joy of their growth and fulfilment. Together we find solutions which are sustainable and provide long term answers. Once connected with a village, PottersHeart aims to visit and provide education at least five separate occasions over two-three years.
As we kept returning to Dagara we could see that the group was becoming a community with its members beginning to work together. They decided to call themselves PottersHeart Dagara – this really touched our hearts. Moving forward, they have instigated a trial growing soya beans – something they had not thought of before our partnership. The trial has been a great success. We truly believe that this team will go far and replicate this success through the teaching of others.
So, what does PottersHeart do? We sow seeds that empower others, enabling those whom we teach to bless communities by reaching out to other villages. What they have learned will not be kept to themselves but will enhance the lives of many as they become self-sufficient aspiring to greater things.
Thank you Janet x
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