From the very beginning, Loom’s goal was to equip CCW Alumni to creatively contextualize what they learned within their own unique cultural and professional situation. As leaders recognized the need to break the 4-week CCW into shorter, more regular trainings to fit the needs of busy pastors, teachers, and community leaders, the Celebrating Children Seminar…
Lotet Julius is a Social Innovator working in Northern Uganda among refugees fleeing South Sudan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they saw greatly increased incidents of violence erupt among the camps. This caused them to create the Reconciliation Gate Foundation, which promotes grassroots reconciliation, peace and development. Here is Lotet’s story, in his own words: Among…
Last month we shared the exciting news with you that the Next Steps curriculum has been translated into Swahili! This month we have more exciting news for you: Next Steps is also now available in Kirundi – the official language of Burundi. But even more exciting is the impact this curriculum is already having for…
This month we received an enormous gift – a visit from John and Jacinta in Portland! While in town to celebrate a wedding, we had the opportunity to meet with them and hear stories first-hand about what this year has been like for them in Tanzania. At the end of our time, John told a…
“This teaching has changed me.” Over and over again, this is the feedback that Celebrating Children Workshop (CCW) Alumni are hearing as they run their own seminars across East Africa. Since October 2020, 16 facilitators have successfully launched 28 seminars in various locations in East Africa. These 16 facilitators have trained 1311 beneficiaries – pastors,…
In each community Loom engages, we discover extraordinary people. The struggle of their lives has created in them a rare power and hope. They are willing to face head on “how things have always been done” and to disrupt fatalistic value systems and thinking to make authentic impact. Yet the reality of their vision is…
When looking back over this past winter, it’s not hard to see how the math adds up. In 2019, Loom had begun conversations with leaders in Uganda who wanted to co-host a Celebrating Children Workshop (CCW) in 2020. As we talked further about a CCW Uganda, everyone agreed that 70 participants was the maximum number…
It started on a whim. While planning the first few Celebrating Children Workshops, Loom staff Janna Moats and Heather Wood were discussing their desire to have children in the classroom. Wouldn’t it be great, they thought, if we could keep visually reminding people to acknowledge and celebrate children throughout the week? If we could model…
“It’s not a training, it’s a transformation.” Mary, one of our partners, spoke these words when we asked her how the Celebrating Children Workshop (CCW) has changed her work with vulnerable children. In the past four years since she first took the CCW, Mary has not only continued her work with 85 children at risk,…
For generations, their families have never gone to school. Now, these two grandmothers won’t stop until their community has the chance they never did. Several weeks ago, we had the privilege of sitting down with two extraordinary leaders who are tenaciously changing the future of their communities. These leaders are visionaries: they have the gift…
