Weaving Lives Together

These Semendo women are weaving bags by hand. They said it normally takes about two to three hours to complete one bag. These bags normally sell for 3 to 4 dollars each, which means that these ladies will likely make a little less than a dollar an hour, as there is often a middle man who sells the bag to the end user. These sellers will take at least half the profit.

The process of making the bag is very social and fun. The women sit and joke and talk as they work on the bags. This is a side source of income. These women also spend time every day out in the fields preparing for and tending the coming harvest. One of the main values people from an agrarian culture have is a sense of community and doing things together. Half the fun of life is the togetherness of everything.

As the women weave bags, they are also weaving their lives together. Because of this interconnected life, these women cannot imagine leaving the religious norms of their community. To them, that would be the same as ripping apart the fabric and identity of their entire lives.

Pray for workers as they seek to weave the Gospel into conversations with the Semendo and other people groups like them on Sumatra.

Pray for groups of people (family and friends) to come to faith at the same time in unreached areas in Sumatra.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to give courage for Semendo to risk rejection by family and community in order to find acceptance from God through the Gospel.