Jewelry-making a step up for African woman via Flower Mound church
Dallas Morning News, TX
Local Methodist church helps Mozambique families toward self-sufficiency
08:37 PM CDT on Saturday, March 22, 2008
By SHAWN FLOYD / The Dallas Morning News
sfloyd@dallasnews.com
Barb Williams has been traveling to Mozambique for 10 years to help the people there learn English and improve their way of life.
As much as she put into it, there was still something missing.
“We needed someone who could set up some sort of business,” said Ms. Williams, a member of Trietsch Memorial United Methodist Church in Flower Mound. “Diane Bishop did that with the jewelry business.”
Jewelry-making skills in hand, Ms. Bishop traveled to Chicuque in Africa for the first time in 2006 to teach the women in that country what she knows. She has been back twice more.
What she finds each time she returns is a group of 75 women who want the best for their families.
“They’re struggling to feed their families,” Ms. Bishop said. “They value education.”
In order for their children to get an education, they make the jewelry in Mozambique. The jewelry is sold in the U.S.
The program is called Seeds of Hope. It is called that because at first the women had only seeds with which to make the jewelry. Now, Ms. Bishop has seen to it that they also have beads and pearls.
Making the jewelry is just one part of the program to help the Mozambique women and their families become self-sufficient.
“Our goal is to give them some skills so they can stand up on their own,” Ms. Williams said. “They don’t want to be dependent on us. So our whole goal is to work ourselves out of a job,”
There is a lot of give and take before the goal of self-sufficiency is reached.
“We try not to impose too many American ways on them,” Ms. Williams said. “They teach us some wonderful spiritual values. They teach that it’s not all work, work, work and getting the project done on time.”
But because their children’s futures are at stake, there is still much to be done in Mozambique, a country that has seen more than its share of wars and other strife.
Anne Hyde has accompanied Ms. Bishop to Mozambique. She believes that people such as Ms. Bishop will make all the difference in that country.
“Diane is a true servant that is committed to make life better for many women in the country of Mozambique,” Ms. Hyde said.
For Ms. Williams, having Ms. Bishop there is a dream come true.
“She’s helping a whole lot of women who are helping a whole lot of children,” she said. “She is really working hard to keep it going. She’s a tremendous organizer and good at following through.”
For Ms. Bishop, Seeds of Hope represents something else.
“It’s a very awakening and humble experience to see what little they have and yet how happily they approach life,” she said. “They really do live their faith day in and day out.”
