Woven

When textile is woven, it becomes solid and strong despite its individual and seemingly fragile parts.

In 2012 I had the absolute gift of living in Tanzania and working alongside Faces for Hope, a non-profit with the mission to offer relationship, discipleship, and education to Maasai girls at risk of exploitation as child brides.

My experiences there opened my eyes to the heartbreaking reality of the cultural acceptance toward women and girls being of “low value,” and the desperate need for encouragement and opportunities to go to school. 

Not only were these communities already stricken with drought, starvation, and disease, young girls were being stripped from their opportunity for an education upon being sold, often in exchange for livestock, and to much older men with multiple wives. 

Growing up in middle class America, having had every opportunity for education and advancement, this world was alien to me and very hard to understand. With the help of the amazing Faces for Hope team I was able to build relationships with the women and children and it became unmistakably clear that sponsoring education was the key to lifting the next generation of this community out of poverty and oppression and into stability and empowerment. 

Over the last 12 years I have been able to raise support for Faces for Hope and young girls in need through different projects, but the need persists and grows. As we enter the holiday season and into the coming year I hope to continue raising funds to sponsor new girls and protect them from being sold as child brides. 

Woven is a dream project that is inspired by a hobby I taught myself during the pandemic. I fell in love with making macrame and crochet pieces and this 2024 holiday season I am selling my work to raise funds for the sponsorship of Imani, an incredible Maasai girl who I met in Tanzania when she was just four years old. 

Imani is now in Secondary School, excelling in her studies, and has become a trailblazer in her community as a young, educated woman. Had Imani not been chosen to be sponsored when I met her 12 years ago, her future would have been one of exploitation. 

So many other young girls still remain in the high-risk stage of life that Imani was once in and are in desperate need of sponsorship. My hope is that my Woven pieces will continue to give Imani consistent support as she finishes her education and that, with support and generosity, funds will be able to overflow into new sponsorships and general support for the incredible and life-altering opportunities Faces for Hope is working to provide. 

To see all my Woven pieces please visit my Instagram and message me to make an order. To learn more about Faces for Hope and to consider sponsoring a child yourself, please visit facesforhope.org.