In 2017, we planted a church in the middle of a Muslim village, Nanton. Pastor Josiah and his wife Ayisha supported the work till 2019, when Pastor Josiah went to be with the Lord due to poor health. It was a horrible day for me because Pastor Josiah was my friend. I learned many things from him and the work in Nanton. Josiah was full of life and loved the work of God. A few weeks ago, when I saw Ayisha, she reminded me it would be two years since Josiah passed away. I’m told that Salina, Josiah’s mother, still cries every day.
Today, we have had the opportunity to help Ayisha, the widow, and her daughter Sienna. Ayisha is a seamstress who makes dresses, backpacks, and tote bags. She has her own sewing machine; in Ghana, it is a considerable investment. She has been selling enough to make ends meet but not enough to establish her own business. Her friends say that she is an industrious woman, and “she will go far.” She shared with us that she would like to establish a location where she could sew and display her goods. We asked, “How can we best support you?” she said, “ I need help with a business location to display my goods.” We told her to come up with a business plan and budget. Her business plan described purchasing ¼ of a container to be converted into her store and place it in central Tamale; she had permission from her aunt to put the container in front of her home. After asking some key questions and thinking it all through from a business perspective, we came up with a viable plan.
It would have been easy to provide the money to her for her dream. Yet, the mission team had more vision and thought about an avenue to earn the money herself. We came up with a product we knew Ayisha could make and we could sell in America. We sent Ayisha a video demonstrating the product we thought could be useful. It didn’t take long for her to duplicate the tote bag from the video while making some improvements to add strength. You can view the two videos on youtube at Iglesia Hispana de Vallejo look for tote bags video 1 and 2.
Ayisha negotiated a price to make 100 tote bags just like the one you have. We agreed to pay her the cost of the bags and sell them for her. When we got to Ghana in November, we surprised her by offering her the price of the bags plus a hefty profit, which equaled the amount needed to purchase the container and the labor to make it a storefront. She was speechless as it would have taken her years to come up with that amount of capital. The cost was less than 700 dollars. We are confident that Ayisha will now be able to support herself and her daughter for the long haul.
Throughout this project, we witnessed how the Lord built Ayisha’s confidence by answering her prayers and hard work. She made us 100 beautiful, strong tote-bags in less than a month. We are proud of her industrious attitude, perseverance, and strong faith in the Lord.
We tell you this story because we have many other young men and women standing in line, waiting for similar opportunities. We are creatively looking at each project to see which one we can best support. We pray that you would enjoy the bag and tell people about Ayisha. We hope that you would partner with us as we look to help others. The bag is our gift to you for your partnership with us in advancing the work of God through missions.
If you want to help by donating or know someone who could use a bag, we would be glad to send them one to share our story. We are grateful to God to be able to help Ayisha and many others establish their dreams.
Thank you for taking the time to read this testimony and your support
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Check: IHDV 640 W K ST, Benicia, CA 94510
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