“If I stop selling myself…who will feed my children?”

Hope of the Nations Training Center provides much more than vocational training. It is a place where women discover who they are in Christ while learning skills to help provide for their families.

This is Nancy’s story. (Not her real name, but a very real story.)

One of my greatest passions is helping women discover who they are in Christ and giving them the opportunity to support their families with dignity.

Each week, it is common to find a group of women sitting beneath a mango tree outside the Hope of the Nations Training Center, listening intently to God’s Word. But before they ever sat under that tree, I first met many of them in a very different place.

The smell of homemade brew filled the air as I watched two young boys push a wooden plow connected to barrels used for making alcohol. The boys took the place of oxen. Nearby, women stood over waist-high barrels, stirring a thick, dark mixture beneath the hot African sun. Every few minutes they wiped the sweat from their faces with the bright kangas wrapped around their waists. Each woman carried the enormous responsibility of feeding six or more children with the little money this dangerous work provided.

After watching for a while, I decided to jump in and “help.”

Let’s just say my efforts ended with laughter, splashing, and two young “mule boys” running circles around the barrels. We all laughed together.

But behind the laughter, I wanted to know their stories.

How had they ended up here?

Several visits later, I invited the women to join me beneath a mango tree outside our training center. The ground was hard, but trust had begun to grow. One woman even offered to braid my hair while we talked.

Week after week we shared our stories.

As friendships deepened, I shared my own testimony and what Jesus Christ had done in my life. Their responses reflected many different backgrounds—Islam, Catholicism, traditional beliefs, and witchcraft.

One day, after reading together from the first chapter of John, I asked if anyone wanted to surrender their life to Jesus Christ—not simply embrace another religion, but receive Him as Lord.

Several women quietly said yes.

I never told them they first had to clean up their lives or stop making illegal brew.

Then Nancy asked the question I’ll never forget.

“If I stop selling myself…who will feed my children?”

Missionary training never prepares you for a question like that.

I silently prayed.

“Father, please give me wisdom.”

Every eye was on me.

Finally I said,

“I don’t know…but I do know God loves you.”

It didn’t sound like much of an answer.

The women looked at one another as if to say, “Maybe Jesus can’t help after all.”

I wasn’t willing to leave the question there.

Instead, I invited everyone to pray.

As we waited before the Lord, something beautiful happened.

The Holy Spirit began filling our hearts with hope, encouragement, and practical ideas. Before long, these brand-new believers were praying over Nancy as she surrendered her life to Christ.

Other women began confessing their own sins. Some believed God was asking them to stop making brew altogether.

It became a holy moment beneath that mango tree.

Soon afterward, Hope of the Nations opened a sewing school for women, young girls, and even a few men. Every student arrives carrying a different story. Every day they learn practical skills while hearing God’s Word. Women from every background are welcome to learn sewing, soap making, small business skills, and, most importantly, discover the hope found in Jesus Christ.

Nancy’s story didn’t unfold the way any of us expected.

Just one week after giving her life to Christ, she was involved in a terrible accident that left her unable to walk.

But she could still sing.

All day long, Nancy and her youngest daughter sang songs of praise to Jesus.

God used her joy to draw people to Himself.

Hope of the Nations helped provide food for her family. Her children attended our primary school, and other women from the community lovingly cared for her daily needs.

When Nancy went home to be with the Lord, hundreds of people came to celebrate her life.

No one remembered her as the village prostitute with six children by different men.

They remembered her as the woman with the beautiful smile…

…who loved Jesus…

…and loved to sing.

Today, more than 300 women have been trained through the Hope of the Nations Training Center. The ladies who left making brew are now owners of a catering business that is doing quite well. 

Each woman arrives with her own story.

Some come to learn a trade and how to start a business.

Some come searching for hope.

Many find both.

Would you help us write the next story?