An Artisan’s Hope

Proverbs tells us that hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12).  Most of us can remember a time in our lives when hope was deferred, or delayed, or even destroyed.  What does it do to a person’s heart when this happens year after year after year?  Can that person ever recover?

One of our Sojourn artisans had long-held hopes and dreams for her family.  While she didn’t have fond memories of her own childhood, she had deep dreams of being an amazing wife and mom herself.  Having lost her own mom at a young age, she was eager to provide a meaningful and joyful upbringing for her kids.  A few years after losing her mom, she lost her grandmother as well.  Her death represented both the loss of support and the loss of hope for education.  She had dreams for her future, but the fight to have hope had just begun. 

She began living with different relatives in Myanmar, often having to work for her family members.  Eventually, she was adopted by a friend’s mother, which provided stability in her housing, but she still dreamed of going to school.  She and her adoptive mother sold sugar cane at the local train station, where day after day she would watch school children line up in their uniforms to go to school. 

She promised herself that if she ever had children, she’d make sure they got to go to school.  She was determined to give her future children a better future than what she had been given.

Years later, she found herself married with two children now living as a Burmese migrant family in Mae Sot, Thailand.   She fulfilled one dream by enrolling her son in school, but as she struggled to help him with his reading and writing, she became discouraged once again at her own lack of education. 

That’s when she met our Sojourn Studio team.  And we are watching this proverb right before our eyes. 

This amazing mom came to us heartsick.  Time after time, her hopes had been deferred, shattered and even destroyed.  But through working with Sojourn, we are seeing her longings fulfilled.  Not only has she become one of our most talented and trusted artisans, she is now taking Burmese lessons with our team.  She’s now able to read some Burmese and even write her name…in Burmese and in English! 

And as longings are fulfilled, we are watching them give birth to new hope.  Before, she had to rely only upon her husband’s income, we now see her providing for her family as well!  She comes to work with joy, eager to help new artisans learn Sojourn’s skills and practices.  She’s even taking sewing classes to further broaden her horizons.

We’re watching it happen.  She has hope again.  Hope for her children, hope for herself, hope for her future.

This doesn’t mean her difficulties are over.  That’s where your partnership and work with Sojourn Studio is so significant.  The stability of work and income has made a world of difference for our friend and many others like her.  It becomes a platform, a steady place from which to learn to dream again. 

And this young woman is blossoming right before our eyes. We’re seeing as her longings fulfilled fuel her for future hopes.  It is giving her courage to hope and dream again.  

We can’t wait to see what she does next. 

Thank you for standing with us as we stand with her.