Home for the Holidays

So we slipped this little tidbit into the August Zamlife post, but in case you didn’t catch this one little/major announcement, here goes…

With a best friend getting married, multiple family/friend birthdays and 3 major holidays all falling within 6 weeks during this winter, we’ve decided to make the trek back “home” for the holidays!!

It seemed like the perfect opportunity to spend time with all of y’all- friends and family- that support us from so far away financially, emotionally, prayerfully. It’s our turn to say Zikomo (thank you!) with some fun hangouts and chats. Plus, you don’t exactly have to twist our arms to enjoy some Bardi & Woodell family Christmas traditions ;)

We are grateful that we have been able to save over this past year to make this trip work financially with that pricey airfare around the world.  Finances are still tight but we praise God for food, for a house, for the means to keep in touch with folks, and now the ability to spend the holidays back in the States with all of you fun people. Now that our roots are planted here, we don’t know how many more opportunities we’ll have to come back, so we will soak up every minute of this next trip!

During our time back, of course we’ll be enjoying some good coffee, Target, Chickfila, Christmas cookies, Milly in her Christmas PJs and sweater weather, but we’ll also be enjoying getting together with people to share more about our life here, inviting them to be a part of the incredible life-change happening through Clothed in Hope. We would love to meet with anyone who is interested in hearing some pretty incredible stories, and we would be beyond blessed if any of our friends and supporters would be interested in hosting a fundraising event for CiH for us to attend and share more. Clothed in Hope (aka our lives) runs solely on the involvement of our community, all of us joining together to stand for HOPE, for education, for empowerment, for restored dignity and value in the lives of women and their families in Zambia. Y’all are a crucial part of this whole adventure. And we are so grateful for you.

So check out our Bardi Tour Dates below (actually, we’re not that cool, just more like our travel schedule) and please email us - wyatt@clothedinhope.org - if you would like to meet up one-on-one, have us speak (fo’ free!) at your club, church, university, etc., or host a fundraising event for some much-needed operating expenses to enable us to continue our programs in 2015. We are prayerfully hopeful that our schedule will be jam packed, getting to tell people of the incredible opportunity to be part of something greater together. So let’s do this thing! (We may even come bearing some new CiH Holiday Collection goodies and maybe even a Spring ’15 sneak peek, so get ready!)

If you are within a 2-hour drive from any of these cities, we can make it work. Just email us and we’d love to chat deets with you!

November 18-28 Wedding festivities for some dear friends, family b-days and overcoming that monster that is Jet Lag

November 29-30 Cary, NC

December 1-6 CELEBRATING OUR FIRST ANNIVERSARY WOOHOO! (one month late, but surely still just as wonderful)

December 6-9 Cary, NC

December 9-11 Florence, SC

December 11-19 Columbia, SC (or Charleston, Greenville, Aiken, ATL, etc.)

December 19-21 Cary, NC

December 21-25 Florence, SC

December 25-30 Cary, NC

(Somewhere in the Carolinas for New Years)

Then flying back to Zamland on January 3!

We know it’ll be a whirlwind of a trip, but we can’t wait to see all of y’all and hug your necks!!

Love,

A&W

P.S. In case you were wondering just what the gloriousness of "Milly in her Christmas PJs" looks like, here you go. You're welcome:

CiH Graduation Day

On Saturday, we had the joy of graduating 4 women from our skills training program.

These four women have been through a lot. One is a woman who didn’t get to go past grade 4 in school because she had to care for her siblings. One woman has been abandoned by 3 husbands over the course of 18 years. One woman has suffered abuse from her husband. And one woman has lived life hearing that she’s unworthy and useless.

But these identities aren’t the ones they now carry.

Jesus has used Clothed in Hope to proclaim liberty to the captives, to bind up the brokenhearted, to comfort all who mourn. To give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, a garment of praise instead of a faint spirit. It’s more than sewing and empowerment. It’s soul restoration, redemption, and an invitation to be called His daughter- worthy, valued, beautiful, special- all by His grace.

I (Amy) founded CiH back in 2010/2011 with a vision of Isaiah 61. I never thought that it would be seen so vividly, so tangibly, so boldly. And I never imagined I’d ever get to see how real, how beautiful, how powerful it is in the lives of women in the Ng’ombe compound. Do yourselves a favor and google/look up Isaiah 61:1-4, 10-11 and praise God with us that Jesus came to bring this victory and Truth to us all, and is proclaiming this so boldly over the lives of the women in our program.

And it is the MOST beautiful thing to witness and be a part of. We don’t deserve an ounce of this, but our hearts are bursting with praise that the Lord has invited us to be a part of His work here in Zambia in the lives of these women. Only grace. Grace upon grace.

Rejoice with us today. God is doing GREAT things here in Zambia (and in the US and around the world). He is inviting all to His redemption and love.

Enjoy a little photo/video diary of the day’s celebrations- celebrating the incredible accomplishments of these brave and intelligent mamas, and celebrating the grace and love of Jesus that is truly changing a community…

The graduates made a special request for a "snap" with Wyatt :)

First graduates along with the current 2 training classes, supporting their friends and celebrating the HOPE they all experience. Incredible to see how God continues growing this program!

Each lady (like Yvonne, pictured), had to complete practical exams, sewing a baby dress, button-up shirt, trousers, 7 panel skirt and custom dress design. The ladies also made their own designs for their grad dresses which they sewed in only 2 days!

Congrats, Maureen!

Congrats, Yvonne!

Congrats, Patriciar!

Congrats, Anastasia!

Thank YOU to ALL who support us prayerfully & financially who help make this possible. We couldn't do it without you! I hope you can see by the smile on each face (ours included) the joy that you bring through partnering with us in this. Your impact is in the here and now, as evidenced by this graduation, but it is also so very far-reaching. 

And if you're interested in partnering with us but haven't yet, now is the perfect time! Join our team to continue spreading hope through Zambia: http://www.clothedinhope.org/our-team/ We are currently at 66% of our support goal (as our salaries/livelihoods are completely donor-funded) and would be so grateful if y'all would prayerfully consider joining us.

With Love,

A&W & the ladies at the Chikondi Community Center

In Sickness and in Health

A little over 10 months ago, Wyatt and I publicly made these vows to each other in the presence of our friends and family in Asheville, NC. Young, unsuspecting, googly-eyed kids. Yes, I did only say 10 months ago but there are days where it feels like 10 years. Little did we know that we would get to test almost each and every one of our vows to each other in a very real, very intense way as we chose to begin our marriage as Southeastern US gypsies and then as missionaries and development workers in a third world country.

I ______ take you ______ to be my ________ (aka boothang)
To have and to hold from this day forward (into the mysterious abyss)
For better or for worse (check and check)
For richer, for poorer (mostly the latter, but we ain’t complainin’ anymore. Simple life is good life and God provides our every need)
In sickness and in health (and in African intestinal issues, yep)
To love and to cherish (easier said than done, but grateful to learn this together)
From this day forward, until death do us part (aka AIN’T NO STOPPIN’ US NOW)

While we’ve gotten to exercise all of these right off the bat as being each other’s only friends for the very beginning of our marriage and living in the strange place called Zambia, there’s one of these vows in particular that has stretched us to the max.

In sickness and in health. Now I think we’ve had it pretty good with the days of health, but when we’ve got the sickness, we crash hard. Jesus has been so merciful and gracious in sparing one of us in these bouts of sickness so that we can care for each other, but it isn’t an easy task.

I can’t speak for Wyatt when I say this (mostly because I can’t ask him right now when he’s fighting off a Zambug), but it’s probably one of the hardest things of living here.

Within an hour, our bodies can turn all Jekyll and Hyde on us and transform us without our even knowing. Sweats. Body aches where we didn’t know we had body. Stomach flips. Unmentionable body actions and reactions. More sweats. Migraines. Not enough immodium for more issues. Down for the count.

These suckers come on so quickly, but don’t leave in the same manner. It could be from a dirty fork we ate off of at a restaurant, a virus/bacteria thing exchanged with a handshake greeting, bad chicken/pork, bad yogurt, bad anything (since there don’t seem to be too many food regulations), a sneeze, a cough, a parasite, a mosquito, or my usual (rational) thought process… CANCER OR EBOLA OR SOMETHING ELSE THAT ISN’T EASY TO CONTRACT HERE.

My mind gets wandering the worse symptoms get. Symptoms that would just mean rest and an excuse to watch 90s movies in the States, but symptoms that can mean really scary things as easily as they can mean 24-hour virus bugs.

I walk into the pharmacy where you can get anything you want without a prescription and I ask for anti-nausea meds or antibiotics for nasty bugs or whatever else I’ve been told to get by Zambug veterans. But when I speak the words “anti-nausea please” what I’m really saying is, “PLEASE SAVE MY HUSBAND. I’M STILL A NEW WIFE.”

When death is an all-too-real occurrence here, I guess I get scared. I am indeed a self-diagnosed hypochondriac who reads too much WebMD and Mayo Clinic, but all irrational diagnosis aside, sickness is scary here. Especially when it’s your spouse. Especially when it’s my boothang, my main man, my Wy (insert gushy emoji here).

I never knew I would get so many chances to trust God so fiercely this year as Wyatt has had some bad run-ins with these mystery bugs. Thankfully neither of us have had anything serious, but the mind wanders. The mind also can be silenced with Truth, and that’s the way I wanna go about it. I don’t want to keep worrying that I’ll become a widow at 24 years old when Wyatt has the runs (pardon my language). I want to love and serve him with some Zambian-made Gatorade knock-off that must be watered down to even be consumed. To make a Zam heating pad by microwaving a wet towel as long as I can before I think it’ll blow up. To offer him our priceless American imported Snyders pretzels to calm that stomach. To try to make him laugh only to find out that his back is killing him, therefore I am killing him. To make many, many mistakes in caring for this man I am still getting to know, but to do it with all the love I’ve got, knowing and trusting that it is Jesus who strengthens him, who comforts him, who heals him, who sustains him.

And another tidbit of new wife freedom that I can keep preaching to myself: I don’t have to know the answer. I can ask my family, I can ask our friends here who have had every Zambug known to this nation. I can take Wyatt to a clinic that is safe with clean needles and good doctors. I can lean on others as we’re meant to do. I may feel like I’ve gotta be Wonder Woman most days (and secretly pray for that sometimes, shh), but praise God that that’s not the truth, and that’s not the standard God set out for me when He made me Wyatt’s wife on that day just 10 months ago.

So to all you new brides, Africa-is-my-new-home ladies, mamas of little ones, and any other female who finds herself in strange circumstances of needing to care for herself or others like her life (or theirs) depends on it, let it go. Take off those flashy wristbands and that stellar leotard. We don’t gotta be Super Woman. We can just be us, and Jesus is here to help. Holler at that goodness.

Love,
Amy

Adventuring

After we saw all of our summer visitors off, we hibernated for a solid 3 weekends straight. We’re talking hours of watching seasons of 24 (yes, seasons), sleeping in shamefully late, and doing tons of nothing. We don’t feel bad about it since we needed a recharge, but we did want to nip some habits in the bud. Most namely, being anti-social people who shut Zambia out of their weekends.

We chose to live here. So why not see it for the gorgeous and adventurous country that it is?! (…And eating at the same 2 American-filled cafes doesn’t count.)

Enter: the Bardi Bucket List

Walking by faith, (like woah) unsure of our financial future and trusting God with that and our timeline, we can’t tell you that we KNOW that we’ll be here 20 years from now. For now that is our desire and perceived calling, but we’re holding that open-handedly for whatever God wants for us- not just what we want for ourselves. So if/when that day comes that we leave Zambia, we’d hate to look back and not have seen the white lions that live at someone’s house, or a huge collection of venomous snakes (kinda), or safari in some of the best parks in the world, and the list goes on. Zambia is our home and we’re ready to see all she’s got to offer and venture outside of our (pathetic) comfort bubble of TV re-runs.

So this past weekend we adventured!

Since I’m typing all of this one-handed because of a weird injury (another post in itself), let’s switch to a photo diary to explain the rest… 

Paray's Game Farm outside Lusaka with lions

Yellow lions

Proof for our bucket list

White lions that literally live outside someone's bedroom window!

Braai Master Wyatt (South African BBQ)

Gorgeous picnic in the only park we've found

Wild pigs wanted to join us

Kalimba Reptile Park

Juvenile crocs

More proof

Venomous snake exhibit in a tree outside, sounds like a bad idea

Surprise Putt-Putt course, Zam Style

Before: Wyatt sets down his ball next to a staff member holding a python

After:  Wyatt survived being struck at by a python, and I survived watching

Zambia obstacles on the putt-putt course:  chicken bones and Coke bottles

Americans could learn a thing or two from this hole

Looking forward to sharing more adventures with y'all!  And if you want to experience them, come on over! ;)

Love,
A&W

August Zamlife Update

Hello everyone, something pretty incredible is happening with the young men and women around the Chikondi Community Center.  Sons of program ladies and their friends are coming together to form their own youth ministry program.  Elina’s oldest son Frank has asked me (Wyatt) to help them to lead this small group but to be honest, these guys have more to teach me than I could ever hope to teach.  These men are insatiably thirsty for the Word of God in their lives and they want to share this gift with other young people, boys and girls.  The passage of scripture they’ve chosen as their foundation is the very same one that Clothed in Hope was inspired by, Isaiah 61.  They want to be a light to their own communities, leading others by example.   I cannot express enough just how HUGE this is for the nation of Zambia.  It’s a huge step taking place in a small context.  They want to influence the young men and women of Zambia, starting with a small group in their own communities.  

When I asked Frank what his motivation was in starting up this youth program, he expressed his convictions saying, “I can’t avoid it.  It’s my responsibility to help other men (and women) to study the Word of God and to help them to make wise decisions.  At the end of the day, it’s about discipleship and to introduce young people to Christ.”  

Clothed in Hope has always been about empowering, educating, and loving the women of Zambia, and many of them are mothers of these young men.  Though this youth group is not officially a Clothed in Hope program, it’s such an encouragement to see their desire to empower and disciple other youth. Teenagers in Zambia (and around the world) are at such a crucial age as they begin taking the steps into adulthood. Many teens here give up on education and choose a life of gang-involvement, addiction, prostitution, and other destructive activities. The lessons they learn now shape how they treat (or mistreat) their spouses, as domestic violence is unfortunately a reality in many marriages. By influencing teens in a positive way to recognize their worth and others’ worth in Christ, our hope is that they will choose a life of dignity and respect, one that adds value to the world around them. 

One can’t help but wonder if Frank was inspired because he saw the lives of his mother (Elina) and sister (Tresa) transformed through CiH.  It might not be through life-skills training, but spending time building relationships with these guys and girls centered around the Word of God is HUGE- an eternal investment.  

Would you please join with us in praying for this youth group?  Not everyday is a group of young people so passionate to disciple their friends.  I, for one, cannot wait to see how God uses this program to transform the lives of teenagers in Ng’ombe.  We’ll be keeping everyone updated with how this progresses.

What’s new with Clothed in Hope?

    -    The short-term missions team from Midtown Fellowship from Columbia, SC purchased 2 new machines for the women! The ladies rejoiced, danced, and cheered as they passed around the machines in celebration.

    -    The micro-loan program has just begun. The approved recipients received an intensive training in small business management and are ready to launch new businesses and take others to the next level.

    -    The chicken-raising project (still a secret to the CiH supporters), designed to generate income for the skills-training program by selling eggs, begins this coming month.

    -    Our Holiday product line is being finalized and will be hitting the market very soon. Everyone has been working hard on some beautiful new designs.

What’s new with the Bardi Party?

     -   We're meeting new friends in and around Lusaka, which is a massive answer to prayer for them for community, fellowship, and some great memories.

     -   We’ve been working hard on paperwork for important documents to ensure that Zambia is our home for the long-run. This process has been pretty crazy, but it’ll make for some fun stories some day.

     -   The biggest news: We’re coming home for the holidays! Well, our second home, but we are really excited to reunite with our friends and family who support us so lovingly and faithfully from thousands of miles away. We’ll also be continuing to support raise as we’re currently at 65% of our goal. If you want to grab coffee or lunch to catch up or hear more about our ministry here, just email us and we’d love to put you on the calendar before it gets too busy. Email me at wyatt.bardi@gmail.com and we look forward to it.

We have a wall in our home office dedicated to people like YOU, featuring prayer requests from friends and family around the world. We’d love to add your requests and be praying for you, too.

That’s all for now, folks.  Until next time, muyende bwino (go well).

W & A