Meet Our Mommas 2

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. Proverbs 31:25-31

I'm so excited to introduce Xavera (X-uh-vera) to y'all! She is our boss. Truly. Xavera is a natural leader and her work ethic is something to behold. I don't know that I could describe her any more perfectly than the verses above; a wife of noble character, indeed.

Xavera is one of two married mommas at No.41. She and her husband, Leo, both grew up at the Noel Orphanage and, now, they and their 3 kiddos are our next door neighbors! Xavera had already long moved on from Noel by the time I got there, so when I was gathering lists for who would be working at No.41, her name never came up. 

As I moved into the new house and the project got underway, I started to become friends with Leo. (I think all of my neighbors had some kind of take-care-of-Tara pact.) Leo, who was unemployed, was in charge of handyman services. He would come over in the evenings and just start fixing things, any things. Changing lightbulbs, fixing a dripping faucet, hanging curtains...Leo did all. 

One day, he came to the house to ask for a job for his wife. I had never met Xavera and, at that time, things were growing at such a rapid rate. We had more than twice as many girls as we had machines and people were coming to the house every day to ask for a job. I had to say no, to so many, until we decided to start making paper bead jewelry. 

Making paper beads required no extra space and very little in the way of materials. I immediately told Leo to ask Xavera if she could show up for training on Monday morning. She showed up, introduced herself to me, hugged on the girls, and she set about the task of meticulously cutting strips paper and turning them into beads. A quick study, Xavera became a teacher and eventually a manger. Not once has she looked back. With the addition a new house and additional machines, Xavera eventually learned to sew and continues to manage with a high standard of excellence. She is not only up for any challenge, she challenges me. She is the voice of reason and everyone looks to her as an older sister; she knows the girls, knows their habits, and they respect her (even if they don't always like what she has to say).

Xavera is a hero in my book. She leads our crew with a quiet confidence; she is willing to learn and unafraid to stand up for what's right. The income Xavera makes at No.41 supports her family, but Xavera also supports countless other families in her community by providing school lunches to students who would normally go without. Momma, leader, sister, teacher, servant, friend. Xavera is world changer and an example to us all.

If you would like to honor your momma by honoring one of ours, there are a couple of ways to do that. You can shop the shop (free shipping through Saturday!!). Each woman is paid a fair wage for the work she does and you will get a card with each handmade item letting you know exactly who made it and a bit more of her story. With every purchase, the ladies donate 100% of the proceeds back into a feeding program created at a school in their community. So, like most moms, you'll be doing double duty. :)

Thank you for reading and sharing!! This isn't possible without you!

Come back Friday and meet our next momma! And if you missed Fanny, click here.

Meet Our Mommas

"To the world you are a mother, but to your family you are the world."

Mother's Day is just around the corner and I wanted to spend some time this week sharing a few stories of some mommas that are very near and dear to our hearts. Mothers who have been empowered to change the course of their lives, and to create a lasting legacy of hope for those who will certainly follow in their footsteps. Today:

Meet Fanny and Tarison.

Fanny lost both of her parents during the Genocide in 1994 and she grew up at the Noel Orphanage. Fanny attended boarding school and graduated secondary (high school) at the top of her class. Studies came easy for her and that, coupled with her fun, spunky personality, made her somewhat of a darling at school and around Noel. 

When my path crossed with Fann's and No.41 came to be, there were roughly 100 young adults over the age of 18 living in the Noel Orphanage. With no family and limited resources, the prospect of university or becoming gainfully employed was low. Along with that, confidence was low, dreams were small, and hope was almost non-existent. No.41 and learning to sew was never on any of these girls radar, but if they weren't able to attend university, most of them were happy to have a job. 

The first day the girls came to work was the first day I met Fanny. She seemed withdrawn and told me she wasn't feeling well. She was fairly inconsistent over the next three(ish) weeks. Finally, she came to me in tears to let me know that she would be quitting her job and moving to another town to live with her sister. She was pregnant and had been kicked out of the orphanage. I didn't really know Fanny, at this point. I asked her if her sister had a job. No. Was she in school? No. Would Fanny have a job? No. School was pretty much out of the question at this point and, culturally, so was marriage. I asked Fann how she planned to support her baby and she wasn't sure. She moved in with me the next day.

It has been a joy and pleasure to see Fanny come alive. It isn't always easy, but she is getting her footing and charting a new course for her life. Because of her income at No.41 Fanny is able to support herself and her son, Tarison, who is now 18 months old. She has provided 1,000s of meals for students in her community. She has been prayed over and poured into by countless visitors, and she has gained a new sister in one of our Campus Reps, Lacey. Last year, Fanny was sponsored in to university! She continues to work at 41 and has replaced fear of the unknown with dreams and a desire to achieve. Tarison will never experience the hardships his momma endured. Fanny is a world changer and the ripples will be felt in her family and her community for generations to come. 

If you would like to honor your momma by honoring one of ours, there are a couple of ways to do that. You can shop the shop (free shipping through Saturday!!). Each woman is paid a fair wage for the work she does and you will get a card with each handmade item letting you know exactly who made it and a bit more of her story. With every purchase, the ladies donate 100% of the proceeds back into a feeding program created at a school in their community. So, like most moms, you'll be doing double duty. :) 

We, currently, have 18 gals in university. The total cost, per lady, is $200/month. If you would like to donate one time or recurring, in any amount, you can do that here. 

Thank you for reading and sharing!! This isn't possible without you!

Come back Wednesday and meet our next momma!

How It's Made

Hi there!

Two things prompted me to pull this little post from the archives (and update it a bit) today. One, I have been watching How It's Made on the Science Channel. I am completely captivated to see how a pair of jeans comes to be or how rubber duckys are born, and two, I was adding a few new "oops" bags for sale on Facebook yesterday and I was wondering how much you knew about the production of our bags. SO, I thought maybe y'all might like to see our Signature Bags come to life. Cool? 

Great! A tiny bit of background, when No.41 started all of the women were unemployed and only two of them had ever sewn before (including me). I hired Medi (down there in the yellow) to come and live at the 41 house and teach the girls, the basics of sewing, for one month. Each Signature Bag is composed, start to finish, by them. Cutting, sewing, screen printing... but we'll get into all of that.

The day the doors of No.41 (aka my house) opened, there were 16 girls and 6 sewing machines. The ladies would take turns going between the machines (in the dining room) and learning some hand stitching (in the living room). As word spread and the program grew to 32 women, in just a few weeks, we also added some paper bead necklace making in the living room. 

The girls we able to learn another new trade, that required very little extra space or materials, and they were able to sell the necklaces to raise funds for more sewing machines. 

Below, Patrice is gaining skills by making little bags for her necklaces.

Sandrine

We make a pattern for everything (which doesn't always mean anything). :) Generally, we will talk out sizes or new styles with a couple of the girls in management. They will make a prototype, for approval, and then cut a pattern out of heavy paper to pass along and teach the rest of the crew. 

Below, Clarisse, previously a manager and now in university, is creating a pattern.

Ange adding interfacing to her straps

Fanny

It was close quarters in the house for several months, as our group continued to grow. We were so thankful when, in a serendipitous turn of events, our landlord built what seemed to be the perfect house for our needs, right in our backyard! We jumped at the chance to make it ours and the girls got to spread out a bit. Once we had the extra space, and some extra money, we bought a machine for every girl!

Just in case you were wondering, three of the 41 girls live at our house and three more call it home when they aren't at university. Amy is currently the mother hen and Program Director in Rwanda, along with Jean d'Amour, our Project Manager.

Valentine U.

Jeanette and Zawadi

Valentine T.

When we first started screen printing bags, our screens came from Texas. Which wasn't ideal, but it was what I knew, at the time. Clarisse was our art student, so she was immediately up for the challenge of this strange new thing. One quick online tutorial and the girls were off. 

About 100 bags in, the screens began to crack, as they do. I began to freak, as I do. And Clarisse, as she does, was on it! 

She figured that she could probably make the screens from now on and that's exactly what she did! 

She asked me to print out the logos that she would transfer onto the 'green stuff' to make the stencil.

She, painstakingly, cuts out each letter with a razor blade.

Next, the 'green stuff' is transferred onto a screen, purchased in Kigali. It is attached with paint thinner (?) and is a nerve-racking process. If any part doesn't transfer correctly, and can't be repaired, the entire thing will have to be cleaned and recut.

In a perfect world, the bags are cut, printed, and then sewn. For various reasons, that doesn't always work out, so here are Therese and Clarisse printing on finished bags.

We buy house paint (which is harder to find in brown than you might think) and the girls thin it down a bit with water. The paint is applied to the screen and pulled through with a squeegee (that's a technical term).

And, viola! Great celebrations are had by all!

I hope you enjoyed our little behind the scenes tour. I would absolutely love to answer any questions you might have about what we do and I am excited to start blogging a bit more. If you have any questions or topics for a new post, please leave them in the comments below.

Happy Thursday, friends!! And go grab you an "oops!" bag at a great price!

P.S. If you're new around here, "I" am Tara and all of our beautiful photos are taken by Alison.

41Day Wrap Up

I've been speechless about this for a while but, my goodness, 41Day was the best gift for so many reasons. It's been difficult to find the words to describe just how thankful we are for your participation in this movement. I hope you are sitting down because we raised $14,112 and funded 56,448 meals!! We also have 73 students who are fully funded for one year! That is just insane. That's world changing!

It is our whole heart at No.41 to prove how simple it truly is to change the world, for one. And last week we, YOU, did just that. As $2 and $3 donations poured in, from across the globe, (and $20 and $100, some of you are big eaters) we saw how quickly a little turns into a whole lot. Thank you is not enough, but a big, fat THANK YOU will have to suffice for now.

So, what's next? Well, we almost have term 2 of 3 fully funded, as far as food goes, and we have 73 students funded for a full year, but we are still looking for about 1,100 one-year sponsorships for $60, that's just $5 a month!! Would you be willing to share the cost of an average lunch, once a month, with a student? We are going to get these kids sponsored THIS month, then we can all go back to the regularly scheduled programming. 

What does that look like? First, you can share this post and our story with your friends. You all blew up social media last week and I got so many messages from your friends telling me how they heard about what we were doing.

You can host a trunk show. Next time you're hanging with your pals, tell them what we're doing, and we'll make sure you have all the info you need to do it.

You can sponsor a student. Or two. It's $60 one-time, or just $5 a month for a hot, healthy meal, every day, at school.

You can shop the shop. We have some fun, new items and each one has the number of meals it feeds attached to it.

We could not be more thankful for all you've done. This isn't possible without you. You are a world changer. You have changed our whole world. Have a great week!

41 Events

Y'all get excited 41Day is just around the corner! Just two more weeks!! 

What is 41Day you ask?

On April 1st, we are going to fast, pray, and donate what you would have spent on lunch to a student in Rwanda who wouldn't otherwise eat at school. This event is going to kick off an entire month of opportunities to create long-lasting and sustainable change in Rwanda!

So how can you get involved?!

• On April 1st, you can fast, pray, donate what you would have spent on lunch.
• Share the story and event with your friends on Facebook, twitter, instagram, your blog...
• Purchase a bag or a t-shirt.
• Donate here to sponsor a child for the year. ($60 feeds one student for the entire year or you can chose $5! recurring each month)
• Host a trunk show. You invite your friends and we'll take care of the rest.
• You could collect change for change! One quarter feeds one student one meal! How many quarters could you collect at school, at work, at church, in your car? This would be a great project to get the kiddos involved in!
• Do you have a small (or large) business? Would you be willing to donate a percentage of sales for one day, once a week, or for one event in April to feed students?
• You could have a garage sale.
• A bake sale.
• A lemonade stand. 
• You could show our video at your small group and explain how simple it is to change the world for one.

There are so many, countless, ways to join this crazy movement. Our goal is 41 different events, all across the county, on our calendar in the month of April. To add your date to the calendar, shoot an email to tara@no41.org and we would be happy to promote it on our social media. How will you choose to change the world for one?

Loaves and Fishes

Whenever one person stands up and says, "Wait a minute, this is wrong," it helps other people stand up to do the same. -Gloria Steinem

Hi there, I'm Tara. I'm bringing a little piece of my personal blog over here today. I wanted to share a bit about our feeding program, how our initial number was 250 students, and somehow, just two years later, we are feeding 1,200 students and teachers every day. God has been nothing but faithful and we are nothing but thankful, but we could use your help.  41Day is coming up on April 1st and I would love to give you some very practical ways to change with world for one.... 

So, y'all know my word for the year is seek. I have been completely blown away by the amount of times, in a day, I am pointed back to this word or the fruit of this word. I told y'all recently that I have been seeking Him by spending time in His word, every day. Yesterday, in my reading, I came across the story of Jesus feeding 5,000:

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. Mark 6:41

There are a few things that struck me. One, the disciples asked Jesus to send the people away to find food. It was getting late and they were in a remote place. Jesus' response was "You give them something to eat." (Mark 6:37, emphasis mine).

Two. Obviously, the men didn't have the means to feed 5,000, but Jesus asked what they did have and asked them to go and see. They gave all they had, five loaves and 2 fishes.

Three. Jesus took what they offered, he gave thanks, blessed it and gave it back to the disciples to distribute to the people.

They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. Mark 6:42-43

People ask me all the time what scripture No.41 is named after. And it's not. But it could be. You see, I believe God dropped this little nugget, Mark 6:41, into my heart as I was seeking him and seeking guidance. This is what we do every single day in Rwanda. If I'm being completely honest, we are in way (waaay) over our heads. We don't have the money to feed these kids, we never have. Yet, somehow, someway, we do.

I believe that we give God what we have, He blesses it, and then gives it back to us to create the miracle, just like Jesus did that day with the disciples. He didn't wave His finger and mounds of food appeared. He didn't hand each individual piece of miracle food to each person. He gave His blessing and let the disciples do that. And I believe He is asking us, all of us, to do that, too. To bring what we have, to let Him bless it, and then to see, first hand, what we can do with His blessing.

I say all of this to say, we need your help. Would you bring what you have? Prayers, money, influence, awareness... We are gearing up for our, second annual, 41 Day on April 1st (get it?) and we have, what feels like, a pretty weighty goal, but we are so expectant. Just like last year, we are asking that y'all would partner with us on that day, or that week even, to fast, pray, and donate the cost of your lunch in honor of the millions of children around the world who go without food, every single day. It's a tangible chance to let our "little" have a massive Kingdom impact with His blessing.

Over the coming weeks I'll be talking about the different ways to get involved. Would you pray about how you can help? Do you have a blog that you would be willing to donate a post (or a couple of posts) to 41? Could you get your small group involved? Are you a teacher and think this could be a great awareness project for your students to get involved in? Can we take over your instagram? Be your cover photo on Facebook? Do you have a tshirt or a bag yet?

Y'all, our goal is to feed 41,000 meals this year on April 1st. That's $10,250. That's 1,000 people giving up a $10 lunch, for one day, to feed 41,000 meals. We've got this! HE'S got this.

Update: AND get all 1,200 students sponsored for $60 a year over the month of April!

And can I tell y'all one last thing? It's certainly not about this, but don't miss it: after everyone had eaten that day, there were 12 baskets of food left over. One for each of the disciples. God does want to use us to bless others but, I would be willing to bet that you will be equally blessed, if not more, in the process.

To make a donation click here. If you would like to set up a recurring donation (FYI just $5 a month takes care of one child) click here. If you would like to make a $60, one-time donation, to sponsor a student for the entire year click here.

If you would like to get involved, shoot me an email, tara@no41.org, and I would love to talk it through with you.

Holiday Trunk Show

Hey ladies (& gents, if you're out there!). It's me, Rylie Craft.

Once upon a time, like last week, I had my first-ever trunk show for No.41... & it was pretty much the best thing ever. We partnered with a few other, likeminded, fair-trade organizations & had ourselves a big ole' party. Now, by no means am I claiming to be a professional. Because, HELLO, I'm not. However, this past Saturday there were a few things that went really well & I wanted to share them with y'all!

Creative helps:
-- Emphasize the personal factor. The lady on the tag is not a picture of a model posing for a stock photo... "That lady" has a name & a story... & actually, it's written on the back of the tag!
-- Stress the missional aspect of the bag. It says so itself: for one child, for one meal, for one year. When you purchase a signature bag, you get WAY more than a bag... You become a small part of a bigger story.
-- Have a computer handy. Mine was set up next to the bags the entire time, playing on loop the No.41 video (Preview). This ties back into the personal factor, as the shoppers were listening & seeing the real life stories of the women behind the bags! Everyone said how much they loved & appreciated seeing & connecting with the ladies in that way.
-- Globes. I'm all about the globes. We had many -- & I mean many -- of them scattered around the "party area" & most of them had a heart over Rwanda. A sweet touch that keeps in mind a global perspective.
-- Pretend it's a quaint boutique. Because believe it or not, the atmosphere plays into the overall shopping experience, BIG TIME. Please please please don't throw the bags on a table & call it a day. Make it cute & inviting... & photo-worthy. ;)
-- Think outside the box. Whether it be how you display the bags, when you host the party, or who (if any) you might want to incorperate if you want to do a collaboration (however, try to avoid similar merchandise from different vendors... you don't want anything to compete with another).

If you would like to have a trunk for your family and friends, please email tara@no41.org for more information.