Amani Children's Foundation and my Mom

Where to start in this story? The story starts many years ago with a dear friend named Jane. She and her husband were in Kenya working and learned of the plight of abandoned babies in Kenya. Working at a mission hospital they saw or routinely heard of children who were simply abandoned after birth, left in trashcans, latrines, on someone's doorstep. The reasons for why they are left are varied: mother dies in childbirth, HIV + parents... Then they heard of a place called New Life Home, a house who takes these babies, nurses them back to health, takes care of them, and most importantly showers them with love.
The story expanded to small Winston-Salem, NC where others learned of the story through Jane and Chad. And eventually they started a non profit called Amani Children's Foundation. This non profit raises money so those babies can live and have a home and be loved and known and hopefully adopted.
My mom has been good friends with Jane, so knew about New Life Home. Then she traveled to Kenya 5 years ago and saw the love of New Life Home and started constantly thinking of how she could give more or do more to help save those babies lives. Her generous heart has since been working overtime thinking of these babies. She now works for the non profit and spends hours of time making bead necklaces.
Let me take a step back...one of the ways Amani raises money for the babies is by using Kenyan beads to make necklaces, which they sell along with other products. This project of necklace making started small: people would host bead parties in their homes. Last year they opened their office during the holidays to sell the necklaces and some other merchandise and were surprised by the response. So this year they have stepped out in faith and rented some retail space and opened a store. Here is the finished product.

While home at Thanksgiving I got to see what my mom has created in this store and was amazed.

All the necklaces and earrings you see hanging are mainly created by mom...yep, lots of hours of beading. When I am home I always put a few together, but nothing like she does. Here are Mom and John.

Our house is filled with beads...here is our dining room table

Aren't the colors so amazing? Anyway, I am so proud of my mom. I love watching the generosity and love she has for the babies and children and those who are there loving them and praying for them to find homes. Here is one of those cuties: That's it, just wanted to share about my mom!