Mama Kits and Trainings

Recently I was asked in an email about two very important and highly successful ministries of the IMFC.  Below is the entire email, and my answers are in italicized bold.  

First of all thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I appreciate this opportunity. As I said earlier, I have been asked to talk to the ladies at our church about the mama kits and the reusable sanitary pads.  

Mama Kit Questions:

1.)  How much do the kits cost (U.S. and Shillings)?

$7 US or currently 26,152 Ugandan shillings per kit.

2.)  What do the kits contain?

Each mama kit contains plastic sheeting, razor blades, cotton wool, gauze pad, soap, surgical gloves, exam gloves, cord ties, and a child health card.  Each kit also includes an instruction sheet in both English and Luganda.  All of the supplies are sealed so that they remain sterile until needed. Birthing a baby is way beyond my limited abilities to understand, but I have been assured by those I trust that seem to know what they are doing that everything one needs for a healthy normal birth is included in the kit. 

3.)  If possible, where could I order one to show the ladies?

I’m not sure if you can get one in the US, Jimmy may have one - I don’t, but here is an email address you might use to find one info@mercyformamas.com. 

4.)  How is it determined who will receive the kits?

Our guys who are working in the slums see a pregnant lady as they walk and share and inquires if she needs one.  All of the ladies need them - very few of them are prepared to give birth.  

5.)  When will the women receive the kits?

The sterile packages do have an expiration date, I don’t know why.  And we have learned from experience that providing them too early is not really a good idea, so we aim at giving them to the ladies beginning in the later part of month 7.  As you can imagine when we are distributing them 9 month ladies receive their’s first, then 8, finally we end with month 7.   Earlier months are given our phone number in order to call when they are ready.  No lady is turned down for one though.  That would be morally reprehensible.  Quite often the guys will have to take down names and return with one or two later, because always more ladies show up to the distribution point than they counted when they were doing their preparation and planning.

6.)  How much is the boda [motorcycle taxi] ride to the hospital (U.S. and Shillings)?

This is not standard at all.  It all depends upon where they are in relation to the clinic, doctor’s office or hospital.  I’ve heard it ranges from 3,000 to 10,000 shillings and occasionally even more.  ($1 - $5US). We do not provide hospital boda-ride fares, because rarely would the money be used for hospital boda-rides, but we do teach them how to save for the inevitable when we distribute the kits and encourage them strongly to do so.

7.)  Approximately, how many women will use the kits at the hospital, and how many will use the kit at home in the slums?

Wow, this is something we have never even considered tracking.  It would be interesting to know though.  

8.)  How many kits are given out in a month, and what are the costs involved with that? 

We budget for 100, but often the demand exceeds that to around 150.  The last few months we’ve seen the need jump to 200, and God has continued to provide over and above the budgeted amount. Our desire is to always do more, and now we see the need to introduce them to Kenya, because poor displaced pregnant women are not limited to just the Ugandan slums.   The need is there as well.  So to answer the cost part of the question, we currently budget $700 monthly for the kits.  In actuality the kits often cost the IMFC around $1,050, and for the last few months it has cost about $1400 US.  

9.)  Approximately, how many lives are saved because of these kits (mothers and infants)?

This is something else that we have never even considered tracking, and I’m not sure we could do it with any accuracy at all. Though we do hear almost daily how much this $7 investment means to someone.  We are always being introduced to “our” babies as we walk the streets. This mama kit program is one of the first tactics we use when entering an area for the first time. This is a simple ministry that paves the way for the Gospel to be shared openly and easily. It ‘softens’ up the targeted area. It is also going to be our third ministry introduced into Kenya as the resources become available. The first is discipleship of course, and it is going strong.  The second ministry to be introduced is all about your next set of questions. Kenya is learning right now how to do the following training and making plans to incorporate it into what we already do in the slums in Nairobi.

Reusable Sanitary Pad Questions:

1.)  How much does it cost to do a workshop?

I love this ministry because it is the cheapest thing we do with the greatest physical impact.  The potential here is for making life better for 1/2 the total population.  Yes, I know that you now think I’m a heartless, shallow and callous man, but it is part of my job to consider these sorts of things.  Each workshop - we call them ‘trainings’ - cost approximately $33 US or 120,000 Ugandan shillings.  

2.)  How often are the workshops done?

Currently we do 2 - 3 per month, as the guys on the ground request them. Very soon we hope to be doing the “trainings” in Kenya as resources come available. The Kenyan team is learning this as this email is being answered. We have begun limiting the size of our trainings to 20 attenders, and requesting and encouraging those that attend to train five more. This limit is much easier for us to be prepared and to handle the trainings effectively.  

3.)  What materials are used to make the pads?

The materials can all be found locally and are very affordable and include absorbent fabric, comfortable fabric, buttons, and string. The tools used are: paper patterns, scissors, and needles.  Easy peasy and very effective!

4.) Approximately, what percentage of girls will quit school for lack of sanitary pads?

I am not sure we would know how to track this statistic, but there are many, many. 

5.)  What items will women use if they don't have access to the reusable pads?

Rags, tee-shirts, nothing - many will simply hide behind closed doors.  

6.)  After the workshop, what supplies do the women get to keep?

They get to keep their craft of course; they go home with a pattern and the needles. We collect the scissors, but each time 3- 5 disappear.  Children generally use the leftover fabric scraps for toys, headbands, etc.  

7.) How accessible/affordable are the materials that are used to make the pads?

Very! This is why we teach how to make them instead of relying upon mission teams, individuals, or churches to provide them.  Though, we are considering collecting them from groups for women who are in prisons and do not have access to materials or tools in order to make them. We are only considering this at this time because before distribution can begin there are challenges to overcome, such as: collection, storage and distribution. Every solution always comes at a greater cost and has to be carefully considered or it may affect negatively other ministries.  An unintended blessing from this ministry that was never considered before it began is that often women who have participated begin making them and selling them as a steady source of personal income. It’s a win-win.

8.)  Approximately, how much does it take each month to put on workshops?

Currently in Uganda we have budgeted $75 monthly, and as of today there is no funding available in Kenya. (We are looking forward to making this huge impact for little cost!) 

I think that covers all the questions I had.  I hope I haven't asked too many questions.  I'm just super excited that God has given me the privilege to do something like this with our ladies.  On a personal note, I have another question.  

How did you know God was calling you to some kind of service to Him?  

I love this question! I get asked this frequently - actually almost every time I stand and speak in a crowd someone gets me to the side out of earshot of everyone in order to ask it.  I completely understand their need for secrecy, because until you announce your call there is no one holding you accountable and it might be easier to let the call slide, and you will have not lost “face.”  You see, I went through this very thing myself.  My answer to your question is always the same, and it is a question itself: I ask, “How can someone who reads their Bible, listens to Christian music, attends Sunday School, listens to sermons, and prays regularly NOT KNOW THEY ARE CALLED TO SERVE?” You see sometimes God shouts to get our attention but not very often.  Usually it is a still small voice that stirs deep inside our souls calling us to go, give and serve more.  We as humans are pretty good at ignoring His voice, or even thinking it’s something else entirely.  Often we are glued to inaction because we are uncertain or unsure of His “call”.  I think most often it’s not necessarily a disobedient kind of thing that causes inaction, but rather a complete misunderstanding of the definition of the word - “called”.  I think people have thought a call is a scary, mystical kind of something that is accompanied by a choir of angels or maybe Gabriel blowing his trumpet.  A call though is really nothing more than a incessant tug upon your heart and soul guiding you somewhere to do something.  This I can assure you, if you have a sense of a call inside you it is most definitely not of of the evil one.  Satan would prefer you to sit quietly and diligently in your pew doing nothing or at least a very minimum to impact the world for Christ and for the good of others just like so many others who have ignored that still small voice.  I have met you, and we have walked together, and I know this for a fact - you will never feel complete sitting on the sidelines.  You were meant to be in the game.  You my dear friend are a soldier.   People often believe they have to see, hear and participate in signs and wonders to know exactly if beginning this mission or serving in that place or church is the will of God. In my experience the will of God is whatever door is open at that time. Just walk through it with boldness.  Go where He leads. 

I can't explain it, but ever since I have gotten back from Africa I have had this restless feeling.  I would love to be able to explain it, but I can't.  You just did!  Hopefully, you understand, and yes I most certainly do.  I'm not sure what God might be calling me to do, but I really believe after months of prayer and searching that He is calling.  Africa will forever be in my heart, and I am looking forward to returning with Mt. Zion in January 2019.  

Very soon, in fact this week I’m rolling out a new partnership plan for the vision of the IMFC.  I believe it’s time that individuals, groups and churches become full partners in the Acts 11 vision of making disciples who produce disciples - worldwide.   

Thank you SO much for your time!  It means a lot to me.  I look forward to hearing from you. No, thank you! I look forward to seeing, hearing and reading what God does through you.

Thanks, 

LeAnne Jenkins  

Coastal Report

Sharing God's word continues in Mombasa as well. Thanks Brother Samson Manoah for being an example of Jesus Christ's disciple who is touching the poor and displaced people of Africa for Jesus Christ. 

Indeed, we are very proud of you and your teams involved in this noble cause of extending salvation to thousands of people at the Coastal region of Kenya and hundreds of House Churches planted there as a place of learning, sharing and worship God. 

May the Lord continue using and bless you more abundantly for his glory. We believe that through this mission our poor and displaced people of Kenya and other parts of the world will be saved both spiritually and physically for Jesus Christ through International Missionaries For Christ.

Geofrey Masika 

Isaac Will Answer

His name was Peter, or at least he didn’t object when I called him that.  He came up to me while I was standing watch in the street the other day.  He had a BibleWay book in his hand.  He was carrying the one entitled Who Is Jesus, which is what we give out to each new believer. He asked me if he could tell me his story, since he had just listened to one of ours.  I said, “I would love to hear it.”  

He began by telling me that he had not lived a good life nor had it been an easy one.  He had lived rough, but his mother who had passed years ago would pray for him daily while she still breathed.  He told me how his wife had died three years ago, and how his daughter has a serious handicap.  He told me how he so needed a job to care for her. I smiled when he told me that he had decided earlier this year that this would be the year he would give his life to Christ.  He then told me that just that morning he had found a job, and next week he begins this new life as security at a place I did not recognize. 

It was at this point that I thought he was going to ask me for a loan just to get by, but I was wrong.  You see he continued his story by telling me that as he was walking home he saw one of our team with that little book with the word Jesus on it, and he just knew that today was the day he needed to become a believer, so he stopped to hear one of them share. He prayed to believe, and he received that same little book. He then saw me, and wanted to tell me his story, so I listened. At the end of this story, he did ask me one thing. He turned to the page with Isaac’s name and cell phone number written on it.  Then he pointed to that name and asked, “If I call this number will Isaac answer?” I said, “Yes, Isaac will answer.”

It Ain’t True

He didn’t believe me. I mean he didn’t think I was lying, but rather he thought, “Steve must be mistaken.” You see what I had described to him was a movement of God - of Biblical proportions. “Yes,’ he thought, ‘Steve sees something, but it can’t be what he’s talking about.” Today, Chris Meaders, the mission’s pastor of Mt. Airy Baptist Church now believes, because he and his team from Mt. Airy participated in this movement. They saw it, they felt it, (honestly, no one quite understands it, but that’s ok), and now people will not believe them either when they try to articulate it. So don’t believe us, just come and see it. Come feel it and participate in this movement of God before it passes you by. Contact me or Jimmy for more information. Our 2019 schedule is already filling up with people who return year after year after year.  You see they believe it also, because they have participated in it as well.  

Steve DuVall
IMFC
www.visitimfc.com

Back In Kampala

18 March, 2018

Good morning from Uganda.  Yes, we're back at what feels like home here in Kampala.  Both Jimmy Barry and I are getting ready to see our families.  It's been a long time.  Jimmy has been here for three months; I have been here two and 1/2.  We have traveled with two amazing men of God from Uganda, Kasimbura Benon and Kintu Deo.  Along the way we met and journeyed with other giants for Jesus - Masika Geofrey Bisagati, Xavier Mpanga and Sam Owino.  We met and think some sort of partnership might be in the future with Doug and Jennifer Lawson, who live and serve in Kitale, but they work throughout Central Africa.  We saw many others who have been so influential, and I cannot mention them all here, but I will continue sharing many of their stories.  

We have traveled throughout much of Kenya. We have sweated in Mombasa, closed our eyes in fear of the traffic in Nairobi, froze nearly completely in Eldoret, left a jacket in Kisumu - which was sadly really needed in Eldoret, but everywhere we have traveled we have met a lot of passionate people whose lives were changed by the Gospel. We met drunks, thieves, murderers, taxi drivers, school teachers, mothers, people dying of AIDS, shop keepers, and many more who Jesus found and offered a gift which they accepted, and it changed their lives. Then they ran with this message to others also, so they too can share in His blessings. In Uganda we call these people serious. They are serious men and women who heard a serious message and now they treat their lives as a serious example of what Jesus does when He changes everything. They seriously run fast with the Gospel.

We finally have our NGO status, so we can legally move with the word and baptize. Now Timothy in Kakemega won’t have to spend time in prison for doing what Jesus commanded him to do. As we traveled and observed the work we saw areas that needed a little tweeking. We made a few changes here and there. We opened an office in Mombasa. We bought a computer, priced motorcycles, and prayed a lot. We did some things to hopefully to help the message move even faster. We were very pleased at what we saw.

We were also surprised. In fact, Kenya showed us that the organization needs to make some deep changes. You see, a movement of Jesus in Uganda, jumped a border into Kenya, and in less than 18 months the Jesus influence that traveled through the guys and gals of the IMFC has doubled the entire ministry. In Kenya, it stands now at the border in Mombasa almost ready to cross the Indian Ocean, and its down toward Tanzania, it’s perched on the edge looking longingly into Ethiopia, and it’s moving into Somalia. I met the man running with the Gospel there, and he begins his marathon next week. You see we entered Kenya thinking we were building an organizational plan and structure for Kenya. We already knew the IMFC influence was in the Congo, South Sudan and Johanesburg, South Africa. Well Kenya showed us that we better make plans for the world. By the way I speak Spanish, I wonder how God might use that?

We need your prayers.

A Club Called Hell

Justus posted this to facebook today and it made me smile. You see, I love to read the stories about people who pray to receive Jesus as their Lord and the result is a changed life that last. Charles is that kind of man. He was a boxer in Uganda. He won over 50 bouts and didn’t lose. All but two fights ended in knockouts. He was the national champion. He was a very tough guy and a bouncer for the club called Hell. I will never forget the day Deo, Robyn, Micheal (Robyn and Michael were two volunteers from Immanuel Baptist crazy enough to enter the bar with me) and I entered the bar and shared the gospel. We didn’t enter because we sought them out or stumbled onto them. No. Their drunken leader, I think his name was Peter, sought us out. Later I ask him why he kept bothering us until we came to speak to them. I will never forget his answer. He told me that he heard a voice in his head telling him to get us to speak to them. That day Peter, Charles and others prayed to receive Christ as their Lord. Over a year after that experience, Charles showed me a small Gideon bible that Micheal gave him. He still had it. I am so grateful that Charles is continuing in the faith. Here is what Justus wrote about Charles today, three years after that experience. This morning as I woke up, God put it on my heart to share this wonderful story. The guy seated on a boda boda besides me is called Charles. If you can still recall the story of HELL that papa Jimmy Barry wrote sometime in 2015, this is the guy who was in charge of security in the HELL and this was the name of their bar. Hell was full of thieves, drug addicts, drunkards and sex workers. This man was so influential in that bar. One day back in early 2015, muzee Jimmy Barry came across him and shared with him the story of Jesus and Nicodemus. This guy is one of the guys who prayed that day. I discipled him. I baptized him. He has led many to Jesus. He has baptized many. I am glad to let the world know that he is now a changed man. Not a thief, not a drunkard, not using drugs anymore like he used to be. On the right is his Dad who welcomed me with a big hug and mentioned one word THANK YOU. I told him not me but Jesus changed your son’s life. Charles is now working, riding his boda that his family bought for him as a gift to earn a living. This encourages me the more to go out even today and share a simple story that changed my life. Thanks for whoever prays for us the IMFC. May the lord fulfill the desires of your hearts. Here is a comment from one of the volunteers, Robyn, who was with us that day. Robyn Wilson Wenani Justus, I was at HELL that day. I will never forget it. The devil and God were both in that room and everyone there could feel and see it that knew God. Oh The Power of Our Lord and Savior reigned! Love your heart! I hope that God will bring me back one day to serve Him in this place once more! Paul wrote that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation, but I think we sometimes forget that or disbelieve it based on what we see around us. Charles’ story renews my faith. If I share the simple message, people will be changed. And that is true here in America as well as Africa. Have a great day. Have a great weekent and don’t be ashamed of the Gospel or Christ. He is Lord. Jimmy www.visitimfc.com jimmy@imfc.us

One Man Can Make a Difference

This is the story of one such man, Valeria.

Valeria is the young man on the left; Justus is on the right. Valeria is 27 years old, not married and living with his father. He lives surrounded by family in the mountains and hills of Ibanda just north of Queen Elizabeth Game Park in the Southwest part of Uganda. They grow matoke, coffee, avocado, sugar cane and other things. His life story today is much different from what it was just a few years back. Why? God's has changed his life. Valeria moved to Kampala a few years back to find a job. He became a security guard and was making little money. He failed to show up for work one night and a car was stolen from the place that he was to be guarding. He was arrested, charged with negligence and sent to Kasangati Prison for three years. He was hopeless. A volunteer team from the US visited the prison with me and the IMFC team to share the gospel while Valeria was there. Valeria heard the Gospel message, prayed to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and God changed him. While in prison he completed the Bible Way books and helped Francis, the IMFC team member that works the prisons around Kampala. After leaving prison, Valeria joined the team in Kampala and learned how to do the work of producing followers of Jesus Christ who know how to produce other followers of Jesus. Valeria returned to his home in Ibanda in September 2017. He has shared the gospel in the villages around his home and in Ibanda town. Over 1,000 books had been distributed to people who have heard the message and prayed to receive Christ. 38 people have been baptised. He travels hours by foot to do the work. 66 people  that he calls his leaders came to meet me in January. Each of these have many people they are meeting with in house churches and doing the Bible Way books. These are people that he has trained to produce followers of Jesus. They came from as for away as 25 kilometers to meet me. I asked Valeria why he did this work. Why would he walk so many hours never receiving anything to do it? He said the message he heard in prison changed his life and he wanted his family and neighbors to hear the same message so it could change their lives. They are hearing it, and they are being changed. Valeria is one of my heroes like those unnamed people of Acts 11:19-24 who fled Jerusalem after the stoning of Stephen. He is the reason I travel. He motivates me. I keep asking myself the question, "How many more people could be like Valeria? People simply needing someone to come share the Gospel with them and train them." So I go. I don't have to meet people like Valeria. I just need to train producers who will meet them. They will do the rest with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ with them. Pray for Valeria and the people he is training. This is the first work we have in Southwest Uganda. From here the message could reach Tanzania, Rwanda, DR Congo and beyond. Thanks. Jimmy IMFC Jimmy@imfc.us