One week at ROTOM ministries in Mukono, Uganda and we were all inspired!

Evelyn Franklin, went ahead of our team, consisting of Ellen Krahn, Bonnie Koblun and Margaret Gibb, arriving in Mukono, January 3, 2017. Her assignment was to teach a Home Based Care Course to 11 village girls in the Mukono region where ROTOM works with at-risk grandmothers.

At first the girls were shy and wondered about this fun-loving nurse from Canada. Determined to learn what was for them a tough course, they did well and several excelled.

When our team arrived on March 26, we found a group of happy, excited and empowered young women, thanking us for the privilege of being taught and learning something new to equip their future. Six of the girls are now employed by ROTOM and the others will be helped to secure employment. For them, this entire experience is a miracle.

On March 31 we had a delightful graduation with parents and friends to celebrate 11 village who applied themselves to study and made it!

Ellen Krahn and Margaret Gibb had the joy of teaching ROTOM staff and had prayer for each staff member! We will be back in March 2018!

Check out ROTOM at: www.reachone-touchone.org

Eight days in Nairobi just wasn’t enough for all that we had planned to do! Our team consisted of: Ellen Krahn, Evelyn Franklin, Bonnie Koblun and Margaret Gibb. We had the privilege of speaking at Pastor’s Wives gatherings, hosting a medical clinic at the Overcomers Ministry Centre in the Karen section of Nairobi, as well as a Women’s Conference in Kibera, one of the largest slum areas in Africa, and speaking at the chapel service at the Pan African Christian University in Nairobi.

At all of these gatherings and events, we meet and ministered to incredible women – women with unlimited potential because of God’s power at work in their lives.

One of the highlights was hosting a Peer Care Retreat – an overnight peer mentoring experience – with 8 key leaders who have been called by God to be change makers in their sphere of influence. To work with Eunice Monda, our Women Together Kenya Coordinator, was a pleasure. Women of passion and vision are rising up in Kenya.

Being in Nyang’ori and Kisumu added to our amazing trip. Women Together has been working with The Pentecostal Bible College in Nyang’ori for the past 6 years hosting a growing Medical Clinic on campus, for the community, and providing training for the wives of graduates. These women often only have basic education but no theological or leadership training, yet are embarking on ministry with their husbands.

Our message in Kenya: Awake to Passion. Arise to Purpose. Advance to Calling. That is happening in Kenya!

BY JILLIAN AUSTIN
Article taken from the Brandon Sun News (Manitoba) January 16,2017

In a country where countless parents were killed during the AIDS epidemic, one Brandon nurse is helping young women learn to care for their aging grandparents.

Evelyn Franklin is on a mission in Uganda, where she will teach a 10-week course to 14 girls and women between the ages of 16 to 25.

“These 14 girls are ones that probably lost their parents several years ago when AIDS went through. Grandma looked after them, now they’re looking after Grandma,” Franklin said.

Evelyn Franklin is on her fourth mission/humanitarian effort with Women Together, an international organization based in Ontario.

Evelyn, 69, nursed for many years in Manitoba, with a focus on labour and delivery. She taught for 17 years at the School of Nursing in Brandon before retiring “on paper.” She still works casually, often six or eight shifts a month in neonatal intensive care and postpartum.

Evelyn’s longtime friend, Margaret Gibb, a former Brandonite, founded Women Together in 2011. When she was first asked to join the mission, Franklin declined. But the idea stayed in the back of her mind, and the next time she was asked she was ready to go.

“Something was saying to me in my heart, ‘you’ve been blessed in your career’… go and help some of these other people who haven’t got anything,” Franklin said. “And I just love them.”

Margaret Gibb worked at Brandon’s Senior Facility for nearly 10 years before she took the position as president of a large organization called Women Alive. She led the organization for a decade, which took her to conferences across Canada every year. During that time, Margaret was inspired to start Women Together.

“In all my travels across Canada, nurses, teachers, all kinds of professionals were coming to me … saying ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do when I retire,’” she said. “They kept saying ‘there has to be something more, I just don’t know what it is.’”

Margaret believed that the experience, talent, passion to help and heart to serve should not be put to waste. This was the start of Women Together, which is now in six countries: Ukraine, Uganda, Kenya, Brazil, India and the Philippines.

The goal of the organization is to “equip, encourage and empower women to dream more, learn more, do more and become more.” The group sends teams consisting of nurses and women with expertise in leadership training.

This is the first time the 10-week course on “home-based care” will be taught. Franklin devised the pilot project, which will done in partnership with Reach One Touch One Ministries.

The course will take the students through practical lessons to provide better care for their grandmothers. Franklin said the hope is that it may open up the doors for the women to earn a living by helping others.

“We hope that it catches on, and even maybe one or two of the 14 girls will get hold of it, and go on to do further education,” Evelyn said.

One lesson will be focused on foot care. Many Ugandan people don’t wear shoes, and as a result a multitude of health problems can form.

“Worms and stuff like that go up into the lymphatic system, causing disease,” Franklin said. “It can get so bad that they can’t walk, and they’re ostracized by their own people.”

Evelyn Franklin will teach the young women about soaking feet in potassium permanganate and smoother in vaseline. She will provide flip-flops for each student, and to make it fun, will bring some nail polish for the lesson. She teaches about birth control, as well as postpartum hemorrhage, which sadly kills many mothers in childbirth. Franklin shows women ways to deal with the problem that may help save lives.

Evelyn is solo for the first part of the mission, and will be joined by Margaret Gibb and other Women Together representatives in March. They will be going to Kenya to continue their work.

One thing that stands out for Evelyn is the grateful nature of the people she encounters.

“The one characteristic is that they are incredibly happy. They always meet you with a smile,” she said. “It shows us a lot in the fact that we have everything and we bellyache. They have nothing … but they’re happy.”

Margaret Gibb joined a team to go to Bogota, Colombia for 17 days of teaching on leadership and speaking at Women’s Conferences and Women’s gatherings plus Sunday morning Church services.

This was my first time in the nation of Colombia so I had my own reservations about coming. My reservations turned to excitement when I began meeting key Christian leaders, connecting with women in leadership and attending their scheduled events.” Colombians are warm and welcoming. The speaking schedule was heavy – 22 times in 12 days – yet to see God at work among these people was more than fulfilling.

Everywhere we went, we experienced great worship. These people are alive in their relationship with God. We heard many amazing stories! In Bogota, a city of 11 million people, there are hundreds of church – some as big as 30,000 to many many as 100,000. Their vibrancy is contagious.

It was a 10 hour car ride but worth all the road travel! Ruth Coghill, Canadian Programs Coordinator and Margaret Gibb, Director of Women Together held a Peer Care Retreat for 8 key leaders in this part of Northern Ontario. What a privilege to hear the stories of key leaders, the life-lessons they have learned in their development journey and to see where God has placed them today in leadership positions impacting the North.

A Leadership Training Day, held September 10, was exceptional. Our topics included the call of God, how it comes, what it entails and how we are equipped to fulfill it plus an interactive session on Memorizing Scripture. The women were ready to hear the challenge from God’s Word and are mobilizing themselves to make a difference in the North. It is a privilege to know these leaders who are so effective in their sphere of influence. For them, like all of us….”There is More!”