{"id":8333,"date":"2018-12-05T08:33:51","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T14:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/?p=8333"},"modified":"2018-12-05T08:45:53","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T14:45:53","slug":"passed-through-her-hands-a-sacred-exchange-with-a-recycler-of-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/2018\/12\/05\/passed-through-her-hands-a-sacred-exchange-with-a-recycler-of-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Passed Through Her Hands: A Sacred Exchange with a Recycler of Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" Within minutes of my feet touching African soil, I met Alice. She was in the welcome party of Changemakers waiting at the Kigali airport to greet the African Road Learning Team<\/a>. Before she embraced me, Alice looked warmly into my eyes, as if greeting a familiar friend. Alice\u2019s eyes seemed to say: I offer true, genuine connection.<\/em><\/p>\n

My heart eagerly accepted that rare and precious gift.<\/p>\n

Each day during the learning trip, I found myself drawn to this woman who radiated the most warmth, acceptance, and strength I\u2019d ever felt from another human being. Whenever there was an open seat next to Alice, I asked if I could sit beside her. Although she was soft-spoken, Alice was generous with details of her life. At times, I found myself holding my breath as Alice spoke. Where she allowed me to go felt like sacred, holy territory.<\/p>\n

One afternoon, at the cultural center where our team was housed, three long tables were covered in beaded necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Each remarkable treasure was made with recycled paper passed through Alice\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

The beauty of what was spread out before me was nearly overpowering.<\/h3>\n

As I looked carefully at each lovingly strung masterpiece, I noticed no two beads were alike. Each bead told a piece of the remarkable life story of a woman with an all-encompassing heart, an unwavering faith, and a resilient spirit.<\/p>\n

At the time, I did not know it took Alice a whole day to make each necklace and that she sings and prays as she creates. I only knew that she uses the jewelry money to fund the education of many children entrusted to her care.<\/p>\n

That day, I bought seven necklaces, including one for myself\u2014a tangible piece of this remarkable woman hugged my neck for the remainder of the trip.<\/p>\n

When it was time for my daughter Natalie and I to fly home, Alice accompanied us to the airport. She did not have to do that. But just as I felt a special connection to her, I believe she felt a special connection to me.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When I got home, I missed my talks with Alice in a way that is impossible to describe. Thankfully, Alice reached out to me via a messaging service which began our daily conversations and special friendship.<\/p>\n

There are just certain people we meet along our life\u2019s path that we want others to know too. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Alice is one of those people.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Knowing there\u2019s a slim chance my friends, family, and blog readers will ever go to Africa to meet Alice, I asked her if she would be willing to come to you.<\/p>\n

She said yes. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Alice is a recycler of hope, and she has been working to fill the largest order she\u2019s ever received. Today she sets her masterpieces on the table in front of us.<\/p>\n

Come sit with us.<\/p>\n

Come breathe with us.<\/p>\n

If you are weighed down by hard stuff you ache to discard, please listen. As you open yourself up to this sacred conversation, may you see a way to convert all that is unwanted into something quite remarkable.<\/p>\n

My friends, meet Alice\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Q: Tell me a little about your childhood\/early years (where did you grow up?)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alice<\/strong>: Thank you. I was born in a village in a very humble family. My father had three wives. My mother was the second one. He was a plumber for tea plantations. I grew up in a family with many children because of the three wives. My father only came on weekends and then stopped coming to my mother much at all which left her to provide for the five of us. Our mother worked hard to raise us. When education time came, we didn\u2019t get very far because school fees were too difficult for her to manage alone. At Senior 3 (about age 14), I had to drop out. When I was 16 my mother and grandmother worked hard to pay for me to go to secretary college. I completed at age 17. I finally got a job and learned much. I then got another job at secondary school as a school secretary.<\/p>\n

In the process, I had a husband who was not good to me, and I had two children. We had problems, and I had to try to solve them. I was also helping many others. My sister was ill and her son came to be with me. I had to fight hard to keep my children in school. I thank God I was brave enough to fight on. I was crying in the night because I needed to have my children complete school.<\/p>\n

While I was working as a young woman, I paid for my own school and resumed at Senior 4 even though I was grown. I managed to complete secondary when I was in my twenties and kept on working. In order to get good school and care for my family and to get away from my bad husband, I moved my family to Kampala. City life was hard for me, however I was then able to get a good job for some years at a government office NSF.<\/p>\n

I eventually had a second husband with whom I had a baby, Jane Kelly. At that time, I was also caring for a young girl and helping her with her school fees. My husband ran off with the girls and left me with the baby. Jane Kelly then had a terrible illness (something like a kind of epilepsy) and there were many trips to the doctor. We had little hope in her survival until a treatment was found, and my heart was grieved.<\/p>\n

My mother was sick too, and I was in the hospital with both of them so much and worked to pay their bills. My boss helped me with transport. However NSF restructured in 1997 and I was laid off. Since that time it has been very difficult to find a regular job. I do everything I can. I buy things when I have a little capital and then sell them for more. I make handcrafts and hope for a market. To get my daughter to school a friend helped me think about finance. She wrote me a check for $200. Then I slowly repaid her.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Q: Tell me about your family. Who lives with you?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alice:\u00a0<\/strong>In my two-room home in Uganda, these are the children and young people who live with me and I am helping:<\/p>\n