Beatrice, a 56-year-old widow, proudly spoke of her sons and how they helped her build a house for herself. She felt she was empowered to do this after attending the EVE sessions in 2018. We heard the word empowered a lot in the feedback we were given today, and it was reflected eloquently in one of our team members. Debbie Verbeek opened our day with a verse from Bregdan Chronicles that spoke to the group how every action we take is reflected on someone’s life. She reminded the room that when we do some thing for someone else, it has a ripple effect. She shared a Mother Theresa quote, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”Our powerful Ugandan teams showed us today that they had cast a large rock and created many waves in the communities. We look forward to building on todays work in the next two days.~Debbie V and Barb M
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We were overwhelmed and humbled by the stories we heard.Let us tell you about Mary. She came to our presentation in 2018. She told us she felt very alone. Her husband died a few months after the 2018 EVE visit, and she was left a widow with three children. She shared how she held on to the two words she had learned, “self-esteem”. So, a widow, she found her voice. She joined the Uganda EVE groups and became one of the group leaders. She said, “today I am no longer alone, and I am among friends“. We have survived together and continue to do so. We received a loan to raise pigs and plant seeds.Josephine and her husband said, “I and my husband were fighting all the time when we came to your sessions in 2018. Now we don’t fight at all. We grow green and hot jalapeño peppers for export. We would love to improve the quality of our soil as now many are rejected and people here do not eat hot peppers, so they get spoiled”.