September Updates

It's always fun to look back on the month and see how much has happened in just a few short weeks! What a blessing it is to share what is happening around MOPS Africa with you all.

We have had big movement in Uganda this month. We are welcoming our newest MOPS coach and first Uganda coach - Penlope Muhindo. We are so grateful for your willingness to serve in this ministry, Penlope! I know God will use your mightily to reach moms all over the Kasese region.

Penlope and her two children

Penlope serves with Pastor Alison, and just this month we have opened up 16 new MOPS groups in their region. That makes 31 MOPS groups in Kasese and a total of 37 groups in Uganda as a whole!

Speaking of new groups, we also just started groups in two new countries since the last post: Malawi and Côte d'Ivoire. We are now in 16 countries in Africa, totaling 105 groups, reaching over 2,000 mothers! The way God is moving throughout this continent is amazing.

Where we are now in MOPS Africa

Coach Sylvia Nyameche of MOPS Kenya traveled this month to see several of her area groups. We are thankful for her commitment to MOPS and for her encouragement to her groups around her region. 

Syliva visiting our Kaijado MOPS group in the Maasai region

One of our Kenyan groups in Kisii is doing amazing things right now regarding table banking. This group has slowly grown over the last four years, and is now reaching 130 mothers! They meet twice a month to study MOPS curriculum, but also every week for what is known as table banking. The mothers bring what they have saved for the week, and this amount is individually recorded in their group ledger. Women are then eligible to take our small loans from the community savings, for small businesses or family needs, which they must return to the group within a set amount of time with 10% interest. This interest is applied directly back to the community savings, and at the end of the year is distributed to the group or pooled for community projects like chicken rearing. The mother's original savings account continues. Groups like this are common in sub-saharan Africa where banks are either too hard to reach or not trusted enough. These table banking groups already naturally form in communities, especially within circles of women who might not have the means of using a bank. And MOPS is a great way to support these mothers who are already coming together in community anyway! We applaud this group's initiative of teaching important financial skills like savings while at the same time teaching the skills that will encourage them to be better mothers for their own children.

Table banking records

This photo also just came through this evening - a brand new group in Kenya just started meeting north of Nairobi- and they sent this cute photo of their first meeting together.

And finally, here is a short summary of MOMcon 2019:

The conference was held this year in Orlando, Florida on September 5-7.We had a close call with a hurricane, and there was some travel disruption for many global and U.S. leaders. But in the end, God was very faithful, and we had a great conference! Favour Mwaba from Zambia joined again this year, and I also got to meet several U.S. partners at the conference who have connected over the past year with some of our African groups. I was given an amazing opportunity to speak at the volunteer training the day before the conference kicked off - and I shared what the global piece of MOPS International is doing around the world! Our Global leaders did some big praying and planning for our upcoming year. We also laughed, shared together, and became a more united team in important ways. I was grateful for the time with each of the leaders.

Favour playing games with other global leaders- from France, Guatamela, Albania, and Austria in the background

Kimberly, Favour, and I. Kimberly just joined MOPS Africa as an Advocate - we welcome her graciously to our team!