May Update

Dear friends and family,
            Wow, what another full on month! At the beginning of this month I went on a 5 day research trip to Kolkata, India with two other women who work at BFA. This was my first trip to India and lets just say I’m not exactly hankering to return. Our purpose for going there was to seek advice and knowledge from other Christian businesses who are doing similar work as BFA. BFA is growing quickly and we wanted to get some practical advice from them. Also about 10,000 to 15,000 Nepali women are trafficked into India each year for sexual slavery and Kolkata has many brothels, some that only have Nepali women in them. We visited 3 of these and were able to talk to the women in Nepali for a long time, normally the women are not allowed to talk to outsiders as they are watched over constantly since they fetch a higher price. As you can imagine this was an emotional time for me, but as Christians we need to see and know that this exists in the world, also this is what we are fighting against at BFA.
            This month also saw another earthquake. This one was a 7.4. Less deaths and damaged occurred this time around, but it was scary none the less. Due to this earthquake I was unable to travel to the far West as was planned and mentioned in the last update. We are still experiencing aftershocks but they are less frequent than before. There is still a lot of fear and many people are still without homes so they have been sleeping in tents outside. Monsoon season is upon us and we have been having the craziest thunder and lightning storms I have ever seen. It’s nice to have the rain though because it helps cool off the high temps we have been having, but also it’s not so good for those having to live in tents outside.
            The CEO of BFA went to America for a month of rest, so another lady and I have been holding down the fort. It hasn’t been too bad actually. We hired 21 more women right after the earthquake and things have been going well, considering that we more than doubled our workforce. We heard a story of a women who was living off beaten rice (like dry crunchy rice) until she started work with us, now she can afford to buy well balanced meals and now she is thriving rather than surviving. We are able to keep these women employed through the kindness of others buying our new hope bracelet. You can buy one here: http://www.tradeforfreedom.com/products/hope-bracelet
            Lastly as some have already heard my visa expires the end of June. I have already tried some options and due to the earthquake they have fallen through.  I do have one visa option left and am working on it now. There is a high possibility that if I do not get the visa I will be returning home at the end of June, but if I get it I will carry on my work here. Pray that in whatever circumstance God will grant me peace!

Prayer Requests:
1.      Pray for continued health and safety.
2.      Pray for the women of BFA, some of them have lost their homes and will need to find places very soon to live.
3.      Pray for my visa situation.
4.      Praise! After three weeks our water is finally fixed!
5.      Blessings,
Kylee Nicholas

Checks can be mailed to:   (please do not write my name on the memo line rather write a note stating that the donation is for me).
Beauty for Ashes Intl
 PO Box 468
 Moorpark, CA 93021

*Thank you so much for your continued support. As always you can email me at kyleenicholas@hotmail.com with any questions. 

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