Welcome to Tanzania!

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Wow! Tanzania was an incredible trip. Yet again I was blown away by God’s provision of a Chief. Neema (pictured above) is the epitome of a leader. Despite having very little to her name, she gives everything she has to help others. This is the heart of The Graceful Warrior Project: to equip local women with tools and resources to better help the community that they are serving. On this trip, Neema and I became sisters. We spent almost every day together, training self-defense, meeting her family and going to her various jobs around the little jungle village of Marangu.

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We also started her, her very own pig farm with two pregnant pigs named Thelma and Louise, as well as a younger pig named Toto! We built her a pig pen, and soon we will add a male pig and she will be able to continually breed them, as well as others, to create financial stability for her and her family. When we set up sustainability projects for our Chiefs, we ask that they give a percentage of their choice to their own GWP group so that the group itself is sustainable, and so that they are better able to help their GWP girls become more self-sufficient. When I asked Neema how much she wanted to give, she replied, “25%. I should be the first one to give to my group!” This is the type of attitude that makes Neema an incredible leader!

These amazing girls are teachers AND Neema’s first students for her GWP group! These girls are so much fun, full of light, and already so committed to the GWP. They meet weekly to go over the curriculum, train self-defense, and discuss and do the things in the areas that Neema would like to lead them in. In May, they will graduate and wait for the government to decide where they will be sent to teach. Often times the teachers will be sent to some of the poorest places in the country. Each of these young women proposed that they will each take The Graceful Warrior Project to the villages/cities that they will be sent to, creating their own GWP chapters and staying in contact with Neema. Organic multiplication- this is so exciting!!

Pretty soon, Neema and I were going to schools, churches and gatherings- to share our mission and teach self-defense. On one particular day, after I shared my testimony and we taught self-defense to a group of widows that have banded together in their vulnerable state, I got to assist Neema in attending to their medical needs. We had so much fun serving the people of Tanzania together, and I can’t wait for you all to get to know her and love her as much as I do. She is one of the purest souls I have ever met.

I hope to be returning to Ukraine, Tanzania and Congo during the months of April and May 2019 to check on our leaders and help them to grow their businesses and better equip them to reach their communities and countries. We couldn’t do this without you- so from all of the Graceful Warriors around the world- we say THANK YOU!! Neema will have her very own blog right here the under ‘Tanzania’ tab on www.thegracefulwarriorproject.com – stay tuned to get to know her and follow her as she empowers the people of Tanzania. There is no telling of all of the things that she will do!