Leaves and dirt seem ordinary, but Lucy showed me how to take the ordinary and transform it into something beautiful.
Once a week, Lucy comes back from the next town with her arms wrapped around a heavy bag of wholesale Kenyan tea. Her arms ache from the load, but she smiles because her kids are at school and her business is growing. When she gets home, she stoops over her workspace and the huge bag of tea, and separates the leaves into custom bags. Then she delivers tea to her loyal customers and sells it in the markets.
Watch this video to see Lucy at work:
Before TOLI, Lucy sold tea, but as a single mom, she couldn’t provide for her two kids and save for their future. Her income was unstable, and she lacked loyal customers to buy from her each week.
When Lucy joined TOLI, completed her business training, and took a microloan worth $200, she felt determined to transform her business. But what she didn’t know was that so many other aspects of her life would change as well.
In fact, the TOLI Microloan Program is designed to affect four main areas of change. As a result, clients experience holistic transformation, increasing their ability to:
> Grow their business
> Support their family
> Increase Financial Stability
> Grow Spiritually
GROWING HER BUSINESS
For Lucy, she learned how to grow her business and her brand. With increased access to capital, Lucy increased her buying power. That means she more than doubled her income, upgraded the quality of her tea leaves, and built a loyal customer base who drink Lucy’s tea every day.
SUPPORTING HER FAMILY
Lucy now supports her two children in elementary school. She’s saving for their future and wants them to flourish.
“My dream is to see my children complete their school, get employed and purchase their own cars,” she said. “I would be very happy to be cared for by my children.”
“My dream is to see my children complete their school, get employed and purchase their own cars. I would be very happy to be cared for by my children.”
INCREASING HER FINANCIAL STABILITY
Lucy now has enough money to support her family, to save for the future, and to pay back her loan installments.
But what’s even more amazing is that she has money to invest in other projects. She expanded her small farm, where she grows beans, maize, and bananas. And she even expanded her home for her sons with thousands of bricks she made with her own two hands, using dirt and water and the heat of the sun. (Check out the end of the video to see how many bricks she made).
GROWING SPIRITUALLY
Lucy is a tea dealer, farmer, and brick maker. But, most importantly, she’s a child of God.
Lucy knows God took her human brokenness and ordinariness, called her His own, and redeemed her to live in relationship with Him. God made Lucy’s brokenness beautiful. And because of this, Lucy can turn ordinary things into beautiful things, too. She creates in the shadow of her creator.
Through Lucy, I learned that leaves can make a warm drink and a beautiful business. Dirt can make a home. A microloan can lead to long-lasting transformation. I learned there’s beauty and change in the ordinary – in the smell of tea, in yellow bags, and in Lucy’s strong arms as she scoops leaves, turns dirt into bricks, and hugs her kids. There’s beauty in the growth of Lucy's business and in her dreams for the future.
And that beauty is far from ordinary.
In Christ
Audrey Putney
Communications Fellow
— Come pray with us —
TOLI TUESDAY PRAYER GATHERING
Tuesday March 8 at 12pm MT
Join us via Zoom: Email Audrey for your link OR
Come to the TOLI office: 5785 N. Union, Colorado Springs, CO 80918