new enterprise

On my last night in the US, while having a slumber party with my youngest sister Emma, we were talking about stuff and something occured to me.

I could help my friends in jail by selling stuff they make, particularly the creative, skilled girls.

They make something, are more productive with their days, and if I do it right, I can make something back for what I spend in street/jail ministry.

Simple, but it took me 10 months of visiting (street) friends "inside" before this dawned on me!

Within a couple weeks of getting back and catching up with everything and everybody, I was already taking yarns in to the girls. At first I just asked them to make in bulk some of the things they'd already given me, like this little monogrammed change purse...

This would be my name spelled Bolivian-style :)

And a beautiful scarf that they declared matches my eyes...

So far, things are going wonderfully!! I just need to start focusing more on selling than constantly taking in materials and picking up the products, which is always a fun surprise, and they do such quick, high quality work. I've had multiple other women come up to me in the jail and hug me or shake my hand, thanking me profusely for helping these girls who "have no one" by giving them legitimate work.

More stories and pictures in an upcoming post!