Elinaja’s life was changed forever when his motorbike was hit by a bus one day, causing him to lose his right leg. He couldn’t walk and he couldn’t work to support his wife and children. But now, he is working to support his family once again as part of a purposeful, friendly community.

Elinaja was an able-bodied man in his early 30s with a job, a wife and four children. One day as he was returning from work, his motorbike was hit by a bus as it veered off the road. His right leg was severely injured. After six painful weeks without improvement, the doctors advised amputation.

The months that followed were some of the hardest of Elinaja’s life. Unable to work, he stayed at home, struggling to move and to support his family. He helped care for their youngest daughter, but as time passed, his hope faded. With no income and no way to afford the £900 needed for a prosthetic leg, despair crept in.

Three years passed before Elinaja found a sponsor who helped him get a prosthesis fitted at the Usa River Rehabilitation Centre. He had already been in contact with SAFI (See Ability First International) Tanzania in search of training opportunities. SAFI, led by mission partners Ben and Katy Ray, offers people with disabilities from across East Africa the opportunity to gain new skills to earn a living.

On the day Elinaja received his new leg, he visited the SAFI office to show how he could now stand and walk with a single stick instead of heavy crutches. At the time, SAFI was looking for a new trainee to join the Sawawa group (one of 12 micro-enterprises that SAFI is setting up over the coming 18 months). Sawawa produces handcrafted wooden homewares.

A week later, Elinaja returned to begin his training with Doris, a skilled deaf carpenter, who had trained with SAFI just six months previously. He initially trained on the large standing lathe and seemed to have a natural talent for woodturning. Unfortunately, standing all day on his prosthetic leg was painful for Elinaja, and so he waited at home until a suitable solution could be found.

SAFI reached out to Tools For Solidarity, an organisation that supplies refurbished tools. By chance, they had just received a compact table-top lathe – ideal for Elinaja. He was soon called in and measured up for the new lathe so it could be set to the perfect height. Two months into his training, Elinaja is now producing his own range of wooden items – bowls, pots, honey dippers and light fittings.

Elinaja is so pleased to be part of a purposeful, friendly community at the centre and to have found work that not only supports him and his family, but also gives him a great deal of satisfaction as he uses a newly discovered talent. Please pray for Elinaja and the carpentry team as we look to raise funds to build a more spacious workshop further from the cafe.

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The post Tools for transformation in Tanzania appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

Over the next two years, more than 80 deaf and physically disabled people will be gaining skills to earn a living, thanks to SAFI, led by mission partners Ben and Katy Ray.

The team at SAFI’s centre near Arusha, Tanzania, is training people with disabilities and helping them to start micro-enterprises.

The first 14 trainees have already begun learning woodworking, jewellery-making, tailoring and more, and three young deaf women have established the first enterprise: Zawadi Toys. The women behind this first venture, Victoria, Safiness and Zubeda, are making the dolls, dolls’ accessories and other toys for sale.

Their unique selling point is that the dolls can be accessorised with clothing made with “mitumba” (recycled clothing).

“It has been such a joy having these beautiful artisans working with us and very fulfilling to see them grow in confidence as they learn new skills,” say the Rays.

“The toys are already a popular item at our Dar es Salaam shop and we ask you to pray with us that these women would grow in business acumen and the knowledge of God’s love for them as their enterprise grows.”

The next three micro-enterprises off the blocks will see SAFI trainees printing t-shirts and selling ceramic jewellery and wooden accessories, with many more businesses to follow over the next two years.

Ben and Katy started the charity SAFI to create livelihoods, enterprises and opportunities for people with disabilities, who are often stigmatised and marginalised.

People from Tanzania and East Africa come to SAFI’s training and innovations hub, deaf-run cafe and crafts shop in Usa River. Ben and Katy have also started a Christian fellowship that meets at the centre every Sunday, and they are planning to run an Alpha course soon.

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The post New toy business takes off in Tanzania appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

Until now, Doris has struggled to earn enough to support herself and her children – she was born deaf and was unable to learn much at school.

She has now become the first female carpentry trainee that mission partners Ben and Katy Ray have known – in 13 years of working with people with disabilities in Tanzania.

As an adult, she worked at a market selling vegetables and braiding hair, but still couldn’t earn enough to live on.

A few months ago she met Ben and Katy Ray, CMS mission partners who provide training through a charity, SAFI, to help people with disabilities to earn a living.

Now, Doris is learning how to make lots of different things with Alan, the SAFI carpentry teacher.

She is excited to be discovering her true value in Jesus and to be on her way to being able to support herself and her family.

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The post Life change through carpentry appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

In 2023, thanks to faithful, generous supporters, two beloved CMS-started projects in Africa and Asia are celebrating two decades of mission among people at the edges.

Neema Crafts in Iringa, Tanzania, began in 2003 with three deaf men making stationery from elephant dung – they were taught this craft by mission partner Susie Hart.

Susie and her husband Andy had been in Tanzania a short time when Susie noticed how disabled people were stigmatised and ostracised.

Working with the Diocese of Ruaha, she helped show the local community that people with disabilities matter to God.

Today, Neema has trained and employed more than 100 disabled people in craftmaking, hospitality and other industries and their products are treasured around the world.

Neema is increasingly locally led, as CMS mission partners Ben and Katy Ray, who succeeded the Harts, have relocated and placed Neema in the capable hands of Diana Nzagi, Erick Moshi and mission associates Hannah and Joseph Adams.

Jigsaw Kids Ministries in Manila, the Philippines, also started small, with mission partners Kate and Tim Lee spreading out some toys on their living room floor for local children to play with.

It has grown to multiple centres providing education, Bible clubs and fun activities for hundreds of children living in poverty.

Having handed over Jigsaw leadership to CMS local partners a few years ago, Tim Lee continues to support and advise the ministry from Cumbria.

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The post Neema and Jigsaw: 20 years at the edges appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).