Beza Threads began after several InterVarsity students from Drake University in Iowa lived one summer in Ethiopia, working with an Ethiopian ministry. I had the privilege of joining the IV students on the project. The idea for Beza Threads arose after we walked through a prostitution district. Seeing the social injustice and abuse of young girls, our students’ hearts grieved for children living in sex slavery. The students devised a plan to help the children… The following school year, they purchased handmade scarves from girls rescued by the Ethiopian ministry and sold the colorful scarves on campus. All the profits they sent back to Ethiopia. Led by our IV alumni, today Beza Threads continues as a successful ministry to vulnerable African children. This is exactly what we yearn to see in our IV ministry — American students whose lives are transformed on campus, who graduate and become world-changers!
(Below: My visit to Addis Ababa in July 2009)
