10:45 Connections ~ a time for personal sharing joys & concerns
10:55 Gathering ~ music
11:00 Service ~ Local author Nancy Henderson will talk about her new book Sewing Hope, a biography of Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe, director of the Saint Monica Girls’ Tailoring Centre in Gulu, northern Uganda, who gives hope to more than 2,000 young women formerly abducted by warlord Joseph Kony and The Lord’s Resistance Army in east Africa, by teaching them how to sustain themselves and their children through tailoring, catering and crafting aluminum pop tabs into designer purses.
The brutal 20-year genocide in northern Uganda has ended, but the emotional pain of the young women who were abducted, raped, tortured and, in some cases, forced to murder their own family members, is far from over. Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe has spoken about the Nigerian kidnappings in numerous international media outlets, and was recently named one of Time magazine’s 2014 “Most Influential People in the World.”
Henderson writes about people who make a difference through their work. Her first book, Able!, chronicles the story of Habitat International, a global rug manufacturer that has served as a corporate role model for hiring people with disabilities. She has written for Parade, Smithsonian and many other publications.
Copies of Nyirumbe’s biography Sewing Hope will be for sale after the service for $20 (cash or check only), with all proceeds going to help the young women at St Monica’s Girls Tailoring Center in Gulu, Uganda.