If someone asked you where Angola was, could you find it on a map? Does knowing it is a Lusophone country help? “Luso” is Latin and corresponds to the region of Lusitania or what we know today as Portugal. This Portuguese-speaking country is on the west coast of Africa and is our focus for expansion of the Emerging Leader Program. The need for a women's leadership development program is one we’ve seen for 10 years so we are celebrating these next steps.

A diagnosis left Agnes isolated and lonely. Her own family of six grown children turned their back on her. The stigma of being HIV positive caused her to be rejected by society, filled with fear, and confused. But all of this changed when a friend who was also HIV+ began encouraging Agnes. This sister brought Agnes to Homecare Fellowship and the Fadhili Women’s Program.

When illness exacerbates your ability to take care of yourself and your children, seeking out unconventional interventions becomes an option. What if holy water could heal you? The possibility has drawn women in Ethiopia with HIV/AIDS to the Entoto Maryam Church. What formed is a community of migrants living in poverty on the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

My heart filled with joy getting to see Bharathy again. I was on a Tirzah Trip this past fall where we visited her organization, Kshamata, in Mumbai. The range of emotions from that one day in India did not seem humanly possible. Soon after our reunion, I was totally humbled as “Mahima” shared her story. Bits and pieces came through the translator. Her parents sold her when she was nine. She was still in “the trade.”

Over the past couple of years, we have all become accustomed to pivoting. Thinking we were headed in one direction, plans were disrupted and a new course of action determined. As most of our routines have returned to normal, we want to share a major pivot that two of our Global Leaders in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region have recently walked through this year.