Sustainability and long-term change is the heartbeat of why Loom exists. Yet sometimes it is hard to know: how do you measure change? Social Innovator Jane Brenda has been a diligent and faithful facilitator of Celebrating Children Seminars and is fantastic at following-up with those she has taught several weeks, months, or even years…
Dostoyevsky famously said, “Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.” And in a sense, much of my interactions with East African partners feels like a reckoning with this statement. First, because they are living proof that it is true – that loving our community will likely cost us…
April 7th commemorates the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2003. The date marks the beginning of the genocide perpetrated against members of the Tutsi minority by the Hutu extremist-led government. Loom team member Ninziza Kamanzi recently attended…
I want to tell you a story about a memorable journey I set out on about twenty years ago. I traveled west through nine nations from Kenya to Congo, back to Tanzania and south to South Africa to visit people working alone in remote and hard places. My job was to assess projects for an…
One year ago, Loom announced the launch of a new movement called Thrive Africa. This fall, Lead Writer Jenna Funkhouser sat down with Executive Director Colleen Milstein to talk about the journey that led us here, and what lies ahead. Jenna: Colleen, in last year’s annual report Loom announced the launch of a movement…
Over the past ten years, the CCW Dolls have traveled to Bangladesh, Romania, Mexico, South Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, and several locations here in Oregon. They have been beloved by all and remained a memorable part of the teaching. When we decided to equip CCW Multipliers with their own toolkit in March of…
Celebrating Children Workshop Alumni in South Africa recently completed a full 8-week Workshop for those working with children at risk. Read as participants share how they were impacted by this training: My experience with CCW these past 2 months has been an eye-opening, informative period. Every lesson was fun and exciting, and some lessons…
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying…
Social Innovators Jane Brenda, Sypora, and Carolyn all ran Celebrating Children Seminars this past quarter in Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. Hear some of the impact their training made, as participants share what they learned! “I am a mother with grown up children. I have been hating my daughter in law and my grandchildren. But…
Let us walk you through a vision of community thriving springing up across East and Southern Africa. This vision centers around local Family Resource Centers: a place where services, developmental opportunities, and tools for health and wellbeing all converge around the needs of the most vulnerable. Read as Social Innovator Mary Kamanzi envisions what it…
