Build - a - Doll Project
Karen, Girls in Action in Hickman, KY, contacted us concerning a project for her group of six GA's. In January 2008 she wrote to say,
“Prompted by an article in the November 2007 Mission Mosaic we decided to do our own Build-A-Doll event. We are promoting this as a mother / daughter event, and our folks are very excited… We will have prayer cards at each of the 'building stations' so that the moms and daughters can be more informed and pray very specifically for the ministries, as well as the individuals, who might be on the receiving end of these dolls…
"I will meet with this group of GA's through May so we can definitely commit to praying for you and for the children at each of our meetings through that time. It's my goal to help develop a habit of prayer in these young girls’ lives. I have read every word on (your Web site), and I'm even more excited that we will be able to partner with you in this way…. We will forward as many dolls as we can as soon as possible…"
Mid-March she wrote to tell us about the day the dolls were created and prayers were lifted for children in several countries,
"… We had such a great response the moms and daughters wanted to do it again!
"... We also issued a challenge to our men to provide money to send with the dolls for the purchase of soccer balls...
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"We invited other girls and moms in our church and community to join us and that resulted in thirteen girls and about eighteen ladies who worked on the first Build-A-Doll Day. Most of these girls and women have little or no involvement in missions’ organizations, so we took time that day to do a little mission’s education, describing where the dolls would be sent and how they would be used. Of course we had prayer at that time and encouraged everyone to continue to pray.
"At each of our Women on Mission meetings and at our GA meetings we have a time of specific prayer for you, for this project and for the children who will receive these dolls.
"My GA’s are six to twelve years old – two of them are completely unchurched – so they are just beginning to grasp the idea and importance of prayer… I am constantly looking for ways to make the connection that missionaries are real people working with real people, so we avoid the 'God bless all the missionaries' kinds of prayers."
In April 72 dolls and 14 soccer balls were shipped to Niger!
"This project ended with 270 dolls total! Sixty are heading to Tijuana, Mexico, 60 are going to Chile, 30 will be in North Africa and 16 will stay right here in Kentucky. Our girls and ladies have had a great time working on these dolls and we are continuing to pray that they will be useful to you and a blessing to the children who will hold them."
This summer these dolls and balls will be distributed in to children in a predominately Songhai village - symbols of prayers by children in Kentucky on behalf of Songhai children in Niger.