New Products, Upcoming Shows & FREE SHIPPING!

The infamous "container" finally arrived! I saw on the BBC website where they are following a container around the world. I feel like that's what I've been doing for the last several months! Our products started in Kenya, many of them from the northern most desert area, to the bustling city of Nairobi; to the port at Mombasa; to Salalah, Oman; through the Suez Canal; across the Atlantic, to Charleston; then taken off of the ship and put on a semi-truck;to Atlanta for U.S. Customs inspections; and finally to my drop-off point. Just know when you buy these products or give them as a gift, they have a story to tell, for many reasons!

I know everyone is pinching their pennies these days, so we are offering FREE SHIPPING during the holidays! Check out the website to see products.

Or, click here to see a list of the SHOWS where we are displaying, including my open house all next week. I want to make it easy on you to see these products in person if you are in Atlanta.

Newest, handmade nativity scenes - amazing detail!

Will trade rum cakes for donations!

Many of you know, I have baked goodies for the last three holiday seasons to raise money for this ministry. Although I had many takers and much good feedback, it involved so much time and I didnt really make a whole lot more than I spent for the ingredients. So, no huge baking campaign this year.

But, I have had many requests - might I say humbly, much begging and pleading - to make my rum cakes. So, I'm making this offer...

make a $100 donation or more to House of Hope
before December 19th and I will deliver
the most scrumptious rum cake to you

As with all donations, there are no administrative expenses so 100% will go towards House of Hope, and of course it is tax deductible.

Click here to donate, then email me to request your rum cake.

House of Hope Opens!

I am so happy to tell you that the House of Hope in Lodwar, Kenya opened a couple of months ago with our first 15 children!

A little background...most of you know, I partnered with SERV Ministries International out of Woodstock, Georgia in the mission of creating the House of Hope. SERV was going to this drought-ridden area with relief food for the people suffering there. At the same time, I was going to help the women who make beautiful baskets. Together, we partnered with SHARE International, a Kenyan group based in Lodwar. Their leader, John Nakara, grew up as an orphan there and always had a vision to help other orphaned children. For the last year, we have been looking for a proper site and making plans for construction.

But, thank goodness, God had other plans and in April SERV found a boarding school that had been in use only one year and the owner wanted to sell. It gave us the ability to start the home right away! Many of you know I have been visiting the children that would be helped by the home over the last year. It is so good to see the children out of some of the situations they were in and happy and thriving in this home.

I made another trip to Lodwar in September after the kids and staff had been in place for about 3 weeks. Here are a few pics from that trip.

Click on the picture to go to Picasa and view as a slideshow.
(Thanks to my friend in Kenya, Laura Dickerson for some of these pics.)



Below is an aerial shot of the House of Hope.
It is set in the middle of 34 acres.


I went up to Lodwar from Nairobi on this last trip with two of my friends who are both missionaries living in Kenya. They are also both nurses and used their expertise to train the new staff in several different areas. In order to allow the teacher, Agnes, to be a part of the staff training, I took the children during their school hours. Wow! I have a whole new appreciation for Agnes and all teachers! Of course the children didn't speak English so that complicated things. Many of the children have never been in school so we worked on the basics: ABC's and numbers, 1 to 20. And, I'm pretty sure they learned at least two words in English, "sit down!"

NEXT STEPS:
When you have children's lives in your hands, it is a good idea to grow slowly and that is our plan. There are so many orphaned children in the Turkana area, that it is tempting to add more to the home - and fast. But it is important to do things right. With the existing structures, the home can handle between 50-60 children and there is plenty of room to build more over the coming years.
For now, the goal is to continue raising donations for the following:
- remaining installments for the purchase of the property
- daily expenses of food, staff pay, etc.
- short term needs including clothes, electricity, repairs to the property, etc.
- long term needs including a water bore hole, worship center, secondary school education, etc.

I know this is a tough time for so many, but if you would like to be a part of helping children who would not otherwise have a chance, this could be very rewarding for you. Your donation is made directly to SERV and they have NO administrative fees - 100% of your donation goes directly to the fund for the orphanage. Your donation is completely tax deductible. Click here to go to my website to donate.

Thank you for your support and prayers for these children!

This has been a crazy nine months of 2008 as I continue to get Gifts on a Mission up and running! So much so, that I haven't kept the updates coming and I apologize for that. Now I have lots of news! I'll try to break it up over the new few days but here are the highlights:

WEBSITE ORDERING: Finally, after months of tedious work, the website is ready for ordering. It is certainly a work-in-progress but it is ready! You can order now, although I will welcome orders even more in a couple of weeks when my very overdue container arrives. I'll send another email at that time.

NEW CONTAINER COMING: 45 days has turned into 4 months so I can say, for certain, that container shipping across is the world is never boring! We expect the container in a few days and will be adding new products to the website then.

UPCOMING HOLIDAY SHOWS: Gifts on a Mission will be displaying at several holiday shows. Click here for all the details. Remember, many of the products are only made in small quantities so I always have things at the shows that aren't on the website. Also, if you have any ideas, I am available to have a show or talk about House of Hope and Kenya at any home, office, event, etc.

HOUSE OF HOPE OPEN: This is the most exciting news of all and such a blessing! I just got back a couple of weeks ago from my 3rd trip to Kenya this year. I was able to visit the 11 children of the House of Hope home for children that we just opened. I've got great photos of the kids and will be sending the entire story to you in the next couple of days.

Unfortunately, one bit of bad news: Last week I got very sudden news that the McDonough Street Market closed. As you may remember, this is the market in Decatur that I moved into back in May, along with 10 other artists and vendors, and it has been very successful. We were all so excited about the possibilities. It was the perfect spot for me because it allowed me to have a small space that was permanent. Though this closing has been a very frustrating and disappointing experience, I truly believe another opportunity like this will open and I'm already looking into other possibilities.

As always, thank you so much for your support of this mission! The two purposes of this ministry are to give opportunity to artists in developing countries and to support children in those countries. Your purchases push forward the first purpose and your donations have made the second purpose possible. Thank you so much! Blessings,
Jackie

Gifts on a Mission displaying at fun market!

"I Am Handmade" Craft Market Event - April 19th, 20th
at Irwin Street Market in Old Fourth Ward

This is going to be really fun and I am happy to be a part of it! Irwin Street Market is sort of a co-op for hand-crafted items, all together in the building that houses Jake's Ice Cream in the revitalized Old Fourth Ward. During this weekend, the market will expand to include several artists that aren't a part of the everyday market. The event is sponsored by The Piedmont Review and will include music, food and fun. It's being called "an outdoor craft fair catering to the eclectic and funky tastes of people who love that original and handcrafted feel." I hope you can stop by!

Saturday 4/19 10-6
Sunday 4/20 10-6

For directions:
http://www.irwinstreetmarket.com/map.htm

Info about some of the artists:
http://www.iamhandmade.blogspot.com/

Just a few of the beautiful pieces the Kenyan artists have been working on...come see more at the two markets listed below and listen for news on ordering on the website very soon!

April 4th Update

Shipment just in from Kenya!
Everything made it through Customs last week and I have some beautiful pieces ready to go! A few photos are shown below.

Ordering from the website - ALMOST!
Okay, so I've said that for a while, but we are very close! I'll send out an email as soon as the ordering section is ready.

In the meantime
Come visit me at these markets over the next two weekends:
Downtown Decatur Market
Saturday 4/5 10-6
Sunday 4/6 12-5
For directions and more info, click here: http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=whvtplcab.0.0.5lfddjcab.0&p=http%3A%2F%2Faffps.com%2Fdecatur.html&id=preview

Scott's Antique Market
Friday 4/11 9-6
Saturday 4/12 9-6
Sunday 4/13 10-4
This is one of my favorite places! If you haven't been here, you need to experience it.
Click here for directions and to get a coupon:
http://www.scottantiquemarket.com/atlanta_shows.htm


House of Hope Update
As you know, Gifts on a Mission is partnering with SERV International in Woodstock, Georgia and SHARE International in Kenya to open an orphanage in the extremely tough area of Lodwar, Kenya. We are continuing to prepare for construction of House of Hope. Members of SERV are headed to Kenya next week to finish preliminary details and I will be back there the first week of May. Although we haven't officially started fundraising, many of you have already been so generous and I thank you so much for that. If you would like to donate, please go the following link on my website, Donations.
Stay tuned for more ways you can be involved and news on the start of construction. This is one way God has allowed us to help orphans in dire need in this extremely harsh area.

January '08 Trip to Kenya & Product Update

Hello dear friends! I’ve just returned from a 3-week trip to Kenya. Yes, I knew it was during the elections and, no, I’m not crazy. (I’ve had to answer that question a few times.) The horrible violence that has gripped the nation was a surprise to me and everyone else.

In case you don’t know, Kenya’s presidential election was December 27th. I checked on the situation before I left on the 29th and there was tension because the election results had not been announced yet, but certainly no violence. Unfortunately as I was in the air, the winner was announced and violence erupted. There seemed to be corruption and rigged results from both parties. The predominant tribe of the party that lost began killing members of the tribe that won, even people who had previously been their neighbors and friends. Many businesses were burnt and people were forced to flee their homes. To date, reports are that 850 people have been killed and 300,000 displaced. “Displaced” sounds like such a nice word but what it means is that people grabbed anything they could in about 30 seconds and started running for their lives. Now they are huddled together by the thousands, seeking refuge at police stations or other so-called safe areas. Food, water, blankets, clothes—all of life’s basic necessities are gone—as is any sense of safety or certainty of the future.

For the most part, I was safe the entire time I was there. The night I arrived at the airport was a bit dicey since everything had just erupted and it was not safe for my friends to come get me. I managed to make friends with some people who were going to a nearby guesthouse. Thank goodness they had a room for me.

Much of my trip was spent with my friend, Amanda Smith, whom many of you know. She moved there in September as a full-time missionary and has been in Swahili classes ever since. Her apartment is in a safe area in Nairobi but it is very close to downtown where a lot of rioting occurred. Each day we tried to figure out what was happening and make plans in case I needed to get to the airport. Keep in mind; there are no multiple channels of CNN or Fox News showing minute-by-minute coverage. We tried to watch the news that came on every night at 9:00 on a very bad TV. There is Amanda (right) trying to get reception!
Needless to say, we didn’t learn much from that TV. For the first week, we had to stay inside for the most part, although we would definitely try to get a paper first thing each morning. I intentionally made this trip longer than the others from last year with the hope that I could spend more time relaxing and visiting with friends. Well, I certainly got that this time! But. after the first week, I was able to get out and about and accomplish my goals for the trip.
Here is a shot from inside our car window of the many police lined up in full gear to stop protestors.

Never too worried about our area, I was more concerned about my friends who live in the slums of Nairobi where groups of people were looking to harm other groups of people. To date, all of them are safe but the situation changes each day. Many of them did witness things no person should ever have to see—limbs and heads cut off, women and babies accosted or, at the very least, constant worry that their house was going to be burnt down at any minute. It is hard to even write those words much less to think of someone being in the midst of that kind of violence.


Peace Agreement Signed But Violence Continues
I returned to the U.S. on January 17th and in the days following it seemed like things were calming down in Kenya. However, last week new violence emerged, much of it worse than when I was there. I was “texting” with a friend last week who was surrounded by gunshots and screams outside his apartment. Thank goodness he is fine. As I write this today, former UN Chief Kofi Annan is mediating talks between the two parties and a peace agreement has been signed but there is so much work to be done. The violence has now taken on a life of its own, apart from the original election dispute.

My heart is broken for the people of Kenya. It has been a stable country for years. Most people there are not tribal fundamentalists. They are peace-loving people and are extremely proud of their country. And, by the way, everyone there votes. Most drive hundreds of miles to their homeland and stand in lines for 10 hours with no food or toilets to make sure they vote. This is a disgusting result of what was supposed to be a fair election.

But, like most Kenyans, I am extremely hopeful. I know they will suffer some tough times in the coming months no doubt, but I pray that things will get better and better. There is so much more I could write on the situation there but I’m sure I won’t do it justice and, truthfully, I don’t think I have processed it all yet. I learned so much on this trip about people—how one or two politicians, with just their words, hold the power to save lives or take lives, how resentments and prejudices from years ago always linger, how the mob-mentality can work, how hunger and dire need for a lifetime can boil over in anger in an instant, and how people at times cannot save a situation but instead God's supernatural powers are necessary.

If you have an interest in learning more, I suggest the following links. Some are personal blogs and I may not agree with their views, but it is interesting to see the situation from all different angles.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
www.vigilantejournalist.com/blog (warning—graphic)
http://www.kenyanpundit.com/
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18468272


How You Can Help the People of Kenya
First, pray for them - the situation, the leaders, those who have lost loved ones, those who are scared of new attacks, those who lost their homes, those who are in camps and hungry and afraid of the night time. If you feel led to donate money, I’m absolutely positive it can be used. People have lost their homes and all their belongings and many are not even able to leave these camps to go back to their homes. The situation is dire for so many. I know many people on the ground there who are investigating organizations where your donation will truly get to those who need the help. If you are interested, let me know and I will pass on that information as they give it to me.


Next Steps for Gifts on a Mission
The purpose of this trip to Kenya was:

• To visit with the artists who are making items for Gifts on a Mission, discuss upcoming orders, and to find new artists
  
• To continue plans for the orphanage we will be building in Lodwar, including visiting with the children who will live in the orphanage

It's strange to think of pottery and purses when people have lost their lives or their homes. But, the mission of this ministry and business has always been one simple thing: OPPORTUNITY. First, to give opportunity to people in a country where unemployment is anywhere from 50-90%. Second, to give opportunity to children through the profits of this business and through fundraising. This disaster has only made it worse for people to keep a job or get a job. The craftspeople I work with have already seen their business drop. And, certainly the children who are awaiting the orphanage we are building don't need to suffer anymore. So, as weird as this might feel to work on purses and pottery, that's exactly what I am doing. I believe God's calling is the same for me as it always was and I am moving forward.

Please Hold On! Products Coming Very Soon!
You all know that starting this business has been a fascinating learning experience - dealing with U.S. Customs, dealing with freight forwarders in Nairobi - these are the times when I know it is a calling from God and not necessarily a beautiful business model! Well, progress is being made and soon there will be no gaps in inventory like I have now. For the moment, I am expecting my next shipment in March and then a larger one shortly after that. I found more wonderful artists and more neat products on this trip and am excited to share them with you. By the time the March shipment is here, I will have the ordering section of the website up and running. Then, I will sell from the website, at various festivals and fairs throughout the year, and will be working on getting products into retailers.

So, watch out for announcements as soon as the products are ready!

House of Hope Home for Children - Fundraising Begins!
As you may have seen from my website, I am working with SERV International out of Woodstock to build an orphanage in Lodwar, Kenya, to be called HOUSE OF HOPE. This is an area where SERV has been ministering and taking food and where I have been working with the women who make baskets. It is a perfect fit for both of us and I am so excited to be partnering with them. We have already begun fundraising - thank you so much to those of you who have already donated!

On this trip, I was able to visit with the 12 children who have already been identified as those who will live in the home. We are working with SHARE, a ministry based in Lodwar. They are doing what they can to take care of the children until the home is built. Here are a few pictures of the children. They are Rebecca, Esekon, Kabo and another Rebecca with her brother Benson.

In addition to visiting with the children, I was able to meet with a local official to ask questions about the construction process and licensing of the home. He reminded me of some of the statistics including that there are 18,000 orphans in this region alone, the Turkana region of northern Kenya. But, truly, all children in this region are vulnerable considering there is very little food and very little opportunity. We plan for House of Hope to follow the new model of orphanages in Kenya where extended relatives of orphans are supported and encouraged to take them in. The home itself becomes more of an outreach tool into the community. As a last resort, the child will be brought into the home. The format will be more family-style with children broken into small groups and living with house parents.

We are in the process of gathering construction costs and hope to begin building in late spring or early summer. It can't be soon enough for these children!

Here are a few more pictures from the January '08 trip....
(you should be able to click on the pictures if you want a bigger view)


Good Shepherd Orphanage
I had the benefit of visiting a new orphanage in Nyahururu, Kenya that I was told was a great example of how an orphanage should be run. My friend, Pastor Simon Mwaura, started this home called Good Shepherd a little over a year ago. His goal is for the home to be completely self-sufficient within a few short years. They have a huge garden that provides all the fruits and vegetables the 50 children need and lots of cows, chickens, rabbits and ducks. They have been able to hire workers to harvest maize in some nearby leased land. This provided enough maize for the year for the children and much more they were able to sell. Of course, a lot of these revenue-generating options are tougher in Lodwar where water is scarce. But, it was a great learning experience to see how Simon and his wonderful staff run the home and how we can apply that in Lodwar. Here are a few pics of the home, their gardens and a couple of the sweet children from the home.


Admist all the violence in Kenya, it might be easy to forget the beauty. But, not for long. Right near the Good Shepherd orphanage, we were able to visit Thompson Falls, a beautiful waterfall and gorgeous cavernous areas.



The Basket Project in Northern Kenya
While in Lodwar, I spent time with the women who make baskets. They have nearly completed the recent order I gave them including many beautiful pieces. Below are pictures of them with many of the baskets. We took as many of those as we could in the truck with us back into Lodwar (about 50 miles). Then, we had great discussions about how to get the next load into town. It's never boring! After they get into town, we will be working in the next few weeks to get them to Nairobi. That stretch of road (about a 24-hour drive) has been affected by the violence so we will have to wait and see what happens.



Now what would a trip to Kenya be without a little adventure?
These pics won't do it justice but just imagine with me. The small plane on the left is the Cessna 5-seater that we used to get out of Lodwar. This is like many of the planes I have taken there before, but this time we had to make two stops to pick up other people before we got to Nairobi. These two stops were actually in more remote places than Lodwar - hard for me to believe! It's hard to make out, but in the picture on the right we are about to land on the dirt strip at the first location. Unfortunately, there is a huge herd of steers crossing the runway and they are not moving fast. The pilot decided to buzz them to get them to move. Not even a flinch. We were 6 inches over their heads and they couldn't care less. Meanwhile, we are short on gas. We do a loop and come back around, coming down again to "shoo" them away. Again, not even a flinch. Three more loops and buzzes and Amanda and I are getting queasy for sure! The steers never flinched but finally the last one stepped across the runway and we were able to land. It was a great roller coaster ride!





Christ Compassion Rehabilitation Center
I got to spend some time with my friends at CCRC, a home for street boys and girls. The sweet girl in the pink is one of the last children to get through the chicken pox. She was not feeling great but sure put on a sweet smile.


Some of the children have formed a choir and they put on a great performance for us! Click the link below to see a video of them. (My video skills are not quite up to par but I'm getting there!)