First Love’s newest initiative, First Love Market, is run by our team member, Adi. Recently, she was able to visit one of the artisans in Kenya!
She shares about this impactful visit below:
This summer, I had the opportunity to visit First Love Kenya with my family. We were invited to stay at First Love Kenya Children’s Home and spent about 2 weeks getting to know the staff and interacting with the children. (Making new friends and playing with the children was my children’s favorite part of our visit!)
While at the children’s home, we were also able to visit and learn about the Baraka Center as it is located on the same property. (Baraka means “blessing” in Swahili.)
When I first stepped into the Baraka Center, I saw a variety of beautiful bags, stuffed animals, aprons, and quilts hanging on the walls and situated neatly on the shelving.
I also had the honor of meeting *F.
In a room outfitted with a handful of sewing machines, I learned that *F is currently the only women employed at the center.
I learned that more women used to work at the Center, but the Baraka Center, like so many other ministries, was negatively impacted by COVID. A majority of their sales came from teams visiting First Love Kenya Children’s Home. With teams no longer coming as frequently and sales going down, they were not able to sustain the ministry as it was.
However, they aren’t giving up; they are rebuilding the ministry 1 person at a time!
Looking around at all the beautiful items that both *F and the other women had made, I could see why the Lord brought me to the Baraka Center.
As the Director of First Love Market, I have the opportunity to partner with gospel-centered organizations that are working to break the cycles of poverty and provide hope through both ethical work practices and the truth of the gospel. While at the Baraka Center, I talked with *F about all the different items she was working on and was able to place a custom order!
*F shared that she was becoming worried about whether or not she would have a job in the coming months due to the slow movement of products. First Love Market’s order gave her hope, hope that she would continue to be able to provide for her children: feed them, care for them, and keep them in school.
While this was just an initial order, I am prayerful that it is the first of many orders to come and that in working together, we will see the Baraka Center in Kenya flourish!
If you are not yet familiar with the First Love Market, that may be because it is a relatively new initiative within First Love. (We just passed our 1 year anniversary!) Looking back over the past year, I stand in awe of all that the Lord has accomplished through the Market in 12 short months.
Meeting women like F*, that are directly impacted by the Market, is a such a baraka (blessing!).
With each Market, we are spreading the word that we can purchase with a purpose!
I would love to see you at one of our upcoming markets to support the hard work of *F and other women in their handcrafted items.
Together with women like *F, we are breaking the cycle of poverty and providing dignity and income for them to care for their families!
I hope to see you at an upcoming Market!
*Name withheld to protect the most vulnerable.
Visit firstlovemarket.org to check out products and view upcoming fall/winter markets.
