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Creating A Pattern

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 24, 2008

BRANDON - Marianne Phillips never thought of herself as a woman on a mission, much less a missionary.

Wife, mom and volunteer were the roles that made her most comfortable.

That changed three years ago, when Eleanor Saunders, the wife of Phillips' pastor at Bay Life Church in Brandon, the Rev. Mark Saunders, challenged Phillips to step out of her comfort zone and travel to Rwanda.

The country had been devastated by 100 days of genocide in the 1994 civil war between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes. During the conflict, 10 percent of Rwanda's population was slaughtered. In the aftermath, the country's economy was in shambles, children were orphaned and teen girls suddenly became the heads of their households. Many turned to prostitution to earn incomes.

The African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministry and other organizations sent out a cry for help that was heard by religious organizations throughout the United States, including Bay Life, which was founded the same year the genocide began. The church's aim was to offer "a safe, relevant place to experience the love of God in the real world."

Executive pastor Tom Eichem and Saunders brought the Rwandan mission to Bay Life after visiting the country.

"Rev. Celestin Musekura started ALARM to train African pastors so they could go back and help reconcile the tribes in their area," Eichem said. "He has a real passion for this ministry."

Eichem said ALARM works in eight African countries that, like Rwanda, have been torn apart by ethnic fighting.

In addition to organizing conferences for pastors who want to help the ministry, ALARM works with other organizations to establish "micro-enterprises" in African countries struck by poverty, war, famine and disease. There, Africans learn job skills such as welding, carpentry and computer use.

Among those enterprises is a tailoring school in a Rwandan village called Rwamagana that piqued the interest of Phillips and Cindy Perkins, Bay Life's worship arts coordinator.

Tailoring is a skill both women know something about.

"My grandmother was a tailor and taught me how to sew when I was 6 years old," Perkins said. "I would sit with her in her shop and watch her sew all day. Then I worked as a seamstress for 25 years and taught at Jo-Ann fabrics."

Phillips has comparable experience. She learned to sew from her mother when she was 5, and she has been an avid seamstress since.

"What's cool is now God is using that skill to not only help me help others but to change the way I'll forever look at things," Perkins said.

The two will journey back to Africa on Friday and stay until June 12. It will be Phillips' third trip and Perkins' second.

For the first week, they will teach sewing skills to 22 women ages 16 to 18 in Rwamagana, eight of whom are genocide survivors.

"Because of my passion for sewing and for teaching others to sew, God has given me a special compassion for these girls," Phillips said. "Actually, I think about them every day, and those who spend time with me will tell you that nearly every conversation circles back to Rwanda and the tailoring school."

Because the village has no electricity, the women sew on old-fashioned treadle sewing machines powered by foot pedals and press fabrics using coal-heated irons.

"It's so rewarding to watch the girls learn to sew and see them become more confident," Perkins said.

"They can't afford fabric, so they practice on newspaper," Phillips said. "We'll be bringing back some of the paper dresses to display at the church."

Once the students become proficient, they begin sewing fabrics, which they purchase with donated money from Rwandan vendors to help stimulate the economy there.

Phillips and Perkins will bring the girls suitcases filled with sewing patterns.

In addition, the pair will carry news that each woman will get a new sewing machine to keep. Bay Life's sewing team has been recruiting sponsors to purchase sewing machines for all 22 students at a cost of $180 each. So far, the team has sponsors for 20 machines.

Once the students graduate after their yearlong training, they will have the skills to earn a modest living working as tailors.

"We see this as an ongoing mission," Phillips said. "In the future, we'd love to be able to purchase an embroidery machine and two serger sewing machines for the school." Sergers are specialized machines used for sewing trim.

The goal is to give the teenage girls skills and tools they can use to gain long-term economic stability.

"If we can change the life of just one girl, we can change the life of a family for generations to come," Perkins said.

Phillips and Perkins will be part of a team from Bay Life visiting Africa on missions. Included will be a visit to a carpentry and welding workshop in Rwanda, where 42 young men are learning job skills. The team is seeking tax-deductible donations to purchase an $844 welding machine, as well as hand saws, hammers, clamps, electrical toolboxes, drills and other tools for the workshop.

Team members will wind up their trip with a visit to Bay Life's latest investment: a piece of property in Uganda to be developed into a village for children abducted or enslaved during that country's civil unrest.

During a 20-year rebellion in northern Uganda, thousands of children, some as young as 6, were abducted and forced to serve as child soldiers and porters. Now that the war has ended, the children are outcasts. The nonprofit Village of Hope organization works with churches, schools and other groups to set up villages where those children can live in safety. About 300 children live in so-called "Villages of Hope."

"We've bought the property. Now we need to dig a well," Eichem said.

The homes will be built when the well is working. Each costs about $10,000 to construct.

HOW TO HELP

•For details on Village of Hope, go to www.villageofhopeuganda .com.

•To donate to the Bay Life mission project, send a check to Bay Life Church with Rwandan sewing or carpentry project on the memo line to 1017 Kingsway Road, Brandon, FL 33510.

•For information about the church mission, call Cindy Perkins at (813) 661-3696, ext. 246.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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