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Record Live is a conversation about life, spirituality and following Jesus in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The Little Blue Shed: an update from Africa
[00:00:00]
Jarrod Stackelroth: Hi there, everyone.
I'm Jared.
And I'm Zanita.
We are your hosts of Record Live, a podcast where we talk about church, faith, and living well. We believe as followers of Jesus, faith is more than just a set of beliefs. It's a way of life, something we put into practice. Let's go live.
Zanita Fletcher: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Record Live. Hello, Jared, my co host. Welcome.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Thank you, Zenita. It's great to be
Zanita Fletcher: here. Awesome. And we have a guest back for the second time. Tanya Kersick is back with us. We spoke to you probably about two years ago, Tanya. Where are you now? Are you in AUstralia?
Are you in
Tanja Circic: Africa? Yeah, I'm doing, a three month trip in Australia. So yesterday was my two months up and I have one more month to go [00:01:00] and then I return back to Uganda. So it's always good to catch up with the churches and then anyone who's helped me just to say thank you and let them know what's being done just to keep them updated.
Yeah. Yeah, awesome. For anyone who doesn't know, you can go back to the archives of 2022. Tanya's story in a nutshell, she was working the classic 9 5 job in Sydney. She packed up, took a holiday to Africa, and then is still there today. We'd love to hear, what you've been doing in the last few years since we last spoke to you,
Zanita Fletcher: just tell us a little bit about what the last couple of years have been.
Tanja Circic: Yeah, so the last time I spoke to you, I was starting from ground zero. And that was the eight months of being in Australia. I had this vision in my head about getting a property and then doing training centres and the recovery centre and, teaching the Bible and getting a lot of community.
But it was just a vision in my head. And, yeah. [00:02:00] I don't know if you realize or not, but the, the record in, June the 4th of that year, you published on the record was a photo of me and the African children. It actually came out on my birthday. I don't know if you realize or not, but it was my birthday and it was the Sabbath.
And then I got my most faithful donor that bought the land from me from the record. Wow. Yeah. So I just wanted to give you a praise report because I don't know if you ever know what happens on the back end of your work that you do, but it was a huge blessing to me. And that's why I wanted to come and update you on.
what happened because I had, a faithful church member, help me in supporting to buy the property. And then I had probably four or five other church members reach out and helped in different ways. So it was a major breakthrough and I just love the way God did it because it was on Sabbath. It was on my birthday and all [00:03:00] up until that June, I think it was January, February, March, April, May, June.
I was going to churches and talking and there was a bit of progress, but I thought, how is this going to happen in a month? Like I need money for land and buildings and all the rest of it. And it happened as usual on the 12th hour. And that was through the record, front cover that that happened. So, yeah, thank you very much for publishing that.
Oh, it sounds
Jarrod Stackelroth: like it was definitely a God thing, Tanya.
Tanja Circic: Yeah, totally., it was just mind blowing to me because we just don't know how God is going to do things. We kind of have this small box of I'll go and work and I'll save because in the end I was thinking, how can I raise the money?
And when we lean on God, it's about him raising the money. And him saying, , relax, I've got it and I'll surprise you. And it certainly, certainly was a surprise. , so since then, since that miraculous funding that came through, we have bought property [00:04:00] now and we have built two training centres on that land.
So we are using one at the moment. for a church and the other building we're using for tailoring. So we're engaging young single mothers and school dropouts and teaching them how to tailor and to be sustainable at the same time we're teaching them the Bible. We had 110 baptisms from the time I returned to in a year. . It's just been incredible. It's been a really busy period with lots going on. And so now I'm back on the same property. I'm trying to raise money to, build the recovery center, the wellness center, which will be,, the drug and alcohol recovery, as well as, teaching on how to eat. stress free lifestyle, and then also giving the men an income generating activity as well.
So that's the second phase. And yeah, so all of those activities are continuing. So there's been quite a lot done in the past year and a [00:05:00] half. It's All happened at once and the ministry grew overnight. Yeah, that's what's happened since the last time I spoke to you. So now we have a place to call our head office in our home and also a place to minister to and bring in the lost and broken into that space.
So they can also feel the love of Christ and also get their physical needs met because you can't really study the Bible when you're hungry or you need medicine. So we're doing medical missions as well and helping people get their physical needs met. Take
Jarrod Stackelroth: us back a little bit and remind us what the region is that you're working in, in terms of,, the demographics, what kind of other challenges that the people are facing.
You've mentioned this. Challenges and broken people. And I remember, I think last time we spoke, it was focusing more on the women, but it's interesting to hear that you're doing, you're looking at integrating some programs for men as well. So I'd be interested to hear how that has come about and yeah, what the needs are , in [00:06:00] the area.
Tanja Circic: Yeah, so the area is called Siroti. It's, if anyone knows Uganda from Kampala where the major city is and where you land at the airport. If you take a bus up about nine hours, you get to Siroti. It's kind of the place where not many people want to go. , it was affected greatly by the Kony War. It was the Lord's Resistance Army and they used to take all the young boys and turn them into boy soldiers and things like that.
So, that area is still trying to recover and there's a lot of alcoholism, hence , the recovery centre. So, what I realised, and I've always realised it, it's just that I'm a female and I guess You know, I look more, I can relate more to a woman that's suffering than a man, but as the Bible tells us, the man is the spiritual leader and the one that's supposed to be leading his family, the protector and the provider.
And, , if we pay attention to the men, how will they, how are they going to be able to do [00:07:00] that? They're, the challenges are that poverty, there's no opportunities for men, so they sit around drinking all day out of frustration, and so what ends up happening is they leave everything for the women to do, and they then go and drink all day, and then they expect to come home and have food ready, and that's not the case.
, Addressing the alcoholism problem and then give them something to do. Addressing more of a family unit rather than just women. Because family is really important to God. So you can't just deal with one and not the other. And so having half of the property for men and half of the property for women we thought would work the best.
Tanja Circic: And since the men are the drinkers, it's not the women. It's the majority of men that are drinking. So if we put the 12 step Adventist recovery program into place. In my region, there's no recovery program. So even if someone wanted to give up drinking, there's nowhere to go.
Zanita Fletcher: I'd love to know Are you equipping the locals there to be able to run these things, or are you bringing in counsellors [00:08:00] to help people run those things, or what is that process going to look like?
Yeah
Tanja Circic: so now we have a team of five who are our evangelist team. That also started when I got back. It wasn't my plan. Never had that in mind, but it's very necessary and So the little blue shed has been funding through the help of Australia all of our support comes from the Adventist Church in Australia So we're very grateful.
These guys used to walk around with no food and no water and just door to door doing Bible studies and door knocking. So now we've been able to facilitate their lunch, their water, pushbikes. We've got a motorbike and all of that has come from Australia. We've got a PA system, we've got a tent, chairs.
So we're able to run public meetings and radio preaching. So that's all blown up as well. And they're really called field officers because then we address things like medicine. food. Like as I said before, how are you going to conduct a Bible study when someone's hungry? So [00:09:00] we try and address the physical needs.
So those guys, , they work at the center as well. And the idea is now we have a missions manager. So the idea is to, Look for locals that have got the calling on their life, and the gifting to be able to come in as an operations manager, a programs manager, and then I step out of the picture and the local people will run everything and then I'll be from a distance overseeing.
So I think God is using me to set it up. And to put all the programs in place. And then to keep the relationship between Australia and Uganda going. So then, those that are interested in donating or being a part. We had a couple come from SDA Taree Church for four weeks and teach the girls how to tailor men's shirts, which we're selling now in Australia.
So there's definitely this crossover and I think that might be my role as I also leave people on the ground because we're very grassroots orientated like I'm on the ground 24 7 [00:10:00] and it gets tiring because you're doing the programming, you're doing the mission team and then you're doing the building and so I'm crying out to God for help to bring me people that will be qualified to be able to run the different departments and then yeah, I'll move away.
So I'm hoping by the end of this year. When I go back, we'll continue building. And by the end of this year, the whole team should be on board.
Jarrod Stackelroth: So 110 baptisms. That's, that's a whole church. That's like, I guess a lot of our churches in Australia would love. experience. But what's the spiritual sort of hunger or what, , what's really attracting these people?
Obviously you're feeding them, you're giving them training for jobs, but, and what does the church, what does the church look like? As it's on this property with this ministry for the community, like, is it bigger than those 110? Has it attracted other Adventists from around? Or are you planting or planning to plant other groups or [00:11:00] in other communities?
Like, what's the plan with the church side of things?
Tanja Circic: Yeah, so, the 110 came from public meetings. I don't know if you have those here. That you go out for 30 days and you set up chairs and a tent. Do you have those in Australia or that's an African thing?
Jarrod Stackelroth: It's changed a little bit from maybe 30 days, but sometimes churches will run that kind of thing.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah,
Tanja Circic: so after we do the 30 days, then that's when the people that have been sitting through that teaching decide about the baptism. Then they also come from the radio preaching. So we do 30 days of radio preaching as well. In my region, we have five branches, SDA churches. So, , say we did the effort for an area called Camp Swahili, then what we do as Little Blue Shed is we get those people there to then go to Camp Swahili and we do the follow up care.
So the 110 isn't just in one church, it can be [00:12:00] branched out to other churches. Now having said that though, because we're having a lot of the income generating, we're going to attract a lot of people because Other churches don't offer that. So, , what's currently happening is I'm using one of the training centers as a church and then I'm making a wellness restaurant which will be open to the public.
It's kind of a soft, a way of soft evangelizing to the local community. On Sabbath that restaurant will also be open for people until we get land and build another. building that might be able to house two or three hundred or up to five hundred people. , that's the next step is actually getting, , there's the block of land that's I think going to be selling soon next to us and that would be good to be able to buy that and put a community and youth centre and then maybe do, yeah, a church on that side.
And then this other, the building that we're currently using will go back to being another training center. Africa is different to Australia, I mean, [00:13:00] we are so desperate for God to show up on so many, in so many ways, because we don't have the social care, , the welfare system that you do.
, people go through many hardships over there, more so than Australia. We are blessed in that way that you're constantly is in your control really. So that leaves you vulnerable and God can then step into your life. So you see a lot of that happening and people coming to Christ that way.
The biggest thing that I care about is the aftercare because the baptisms can be high in number, but I worry about, okay, how are they going to get transformed and how are they going to get into a deeper relationship with Jesus? And so our five. We're pretty dynamite actually. But like I said, like Jesus only had 12 disciples and he turned the whole world upside down.
Right. So I hope we can get another five, which will be females. And, , then , we work full time on the field. So then we branch out and do follow up care [00:14:00] and midweek Bible studies to make sure that they're getting the spiritual food and that we're tracking on them, especially in the first three to six months of.
their salvation. So if they need our assistance, that we can be there for them. So I really care, not so much about the numbers, but more about the transformation and the relationship. So a lot of our effort and a lot of our budget is going into aftercare, like the follow up care. Yeah.
Zanita Fletcher: Yeah. It's an ongoing journey.
Hey.
Tanja Circic: Yes, it is. And for us as well. It's an ongoing journey. Yeah. For everyone it's an ongoing journey. I think my patience and everything God has just really worked that into me through Africa. I think missions is 80 percent about you anyway. There's so much that goes on there and yeah, we all just
yeah.
Zanita Fletcher: They often say the people running the mission trip are the ones who are changed the most.
Tanja Circic: Yeah. I believe so. Yep. Yeah. And it's great to be able [00:15:00] to do it for God, like, be his hands and feet and have him use you as a vessel to reach, these very dark parts of the world. And where I live, there is a lot of witchcraft and, , right where the property is, there's a lot of it.
When you walk out, there's, you can smell, marijuana in the air and people are drinking. And so, it's not an easy area, but I think it can be quite, I think we're placed, strategically placed, yeah. And when I went to buy the property after I got back the last time, there were three buyers who wanted it and they all fell through, including the local MP.
And so when I came, the sale went through. So I just really believe that God purposed that, that land for, the little blue shed. Yeah,
Zanita Fletcher: I guess, , speaking of the Little Blue Shed, something we haven't rehashed on this episode, is the name of your ministry, which is the Little Blue Shed. You mentioned you're doing like addiction programs, wellness programs, you're doing sewing projects, church [00:16:00] programs.
Are you doing all of this in a Little Blue Shed,
Tanja Circic: or? Well, the Little Blue Shed is going to be on site, and that will be a shop front where the ladies will sell their things to the local community, as well as, I think it's just, it's the icon of the project because it did start in a little blue shed, so it's kind of a story but we're also going to utilise that for counselling and prayer, because that's what it originally was when I first started it. And then also a safe place for girls to come and get,, Menstrual pads and like hygiene items, so they don't have to go on the street and sell their body. So they'll come to the shed and be able to get those things and that hopefully will help with teenage pregnancies and HIV and things like that.
But no, so the little blue shed is just iconic of how it started and I quite like it as a fashion brand name. Like I think it's suitable for that. But someone told me you should change it to the big blue shed. But it doesn't have, it doesn't have the [00:17:00] same ring as the little blue shed.
I think for a lot of us, it's hard to sometimes imagine what you do.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Like, what does a day, and there probably aren't. There probably aren't many typical days I imagine in this sort of environment, but what does a sort of typical day look like for you? What does it look like being on the ground?
Tanja Circic: Yeah, so my typical day is getting up and praying to God for grace about whatever comes about.
Because, So many things go wrong there on a daily basis and are done without any planning. So, babies fall sick, got to run them off to the hospital. The hospital's full, , need money. So you're constantly juggling money to do X, Y, Z. The roads are terrible. So nine times out of 10, you'll get a puncture or, you'll get a flat tire.
And then. Being a female also is a little bit hard, especially being a white female, because a lot of people will come [00:18:00] to your age to help you, but it's because they want money, so there's all sorts of challenges, there are just, yeah, very different to here, when I come here I have a break in my mind from all the stress, there's constant need, whether it be food or medicine or, somebody's been thrown out of home or,, this person is having a mental breakdown or there's just so many things to address.
So you just have to be ready for whatever takes place. And after years of being there, you actually start to cope that way. Like you just respond to emergencies, either you, you've got it or you don't, if you like so much routine or whatever, it might be a little bit hard. But I think now I've been conditioned into just deal with emergency situations as they come up when you have some days can be.
Smooth sailing, but nine times out of ten, the power is off, the water is off, people have got malaria, there's been a burial, like every day there's someone dying and there's a burial, so there's, , shops closed down [00:19:00] because of that, or, traffic jam. So just the systems aren't put in place properly, which make everything so much harder.
Then you try and do a transaction and the network goes down because there's no power. So there's a lot of, chasing your tail.. Then the power can be out for two or three days. So then you've got to take that into consideration.
So many things can get thrown at you from different angles and you've just got to be able to manage them the best way that you can, yeah, and then find a longer term solution while you're managing the emergencies, try and find a better way. In the future, how to handle that, get a solar panel set up a medical centre so it will be easier, or, , just different ways that you can start to manage so you're not so stressed, because it's not good to be stressed either, on a daily basis.
Zanita Fletcher: Yes, this is how God's teaching you patience, eh?
Tanja Circic: Yeah, yep, a lot of patience there, yeah, like you can be in a very long line for the bank, and You [00:20:00] come back to Australia and you're in nice air conditioning and people are complaining because there's two people in front of them. So it's a real mind shift when I come back.
It's like, okay, just It's a just a real different shift that you yeah go into from that world to this world. Yeah,
Zanita Fletcher: Tanya This is obviously a project that you've poured your heart into over the last few years And you've told us a little bit about what's happened in the last couple years. , What's next for the Little Blue Shed?
Like, what are you, in two years time, what are your dreams or
Tanja Circic: goals? Yeah. , okay. So I'd like to finish this property, which will, , and be the space and then maybe get the property next door to build the church because we need a bigger church. And then I'm looking at, , like a distant rehabilitation center.
So if you come and you do this 12 step program that you need to go for a three month residential program, you need somewhere to go to. So there's an area that I've been looking at to potentially build in the future. [00:21:00] So whoever wants long term treatment can go and work on the land and get recovery in those three months.
So that's the vision for maybe the next couple of years. And beyond that, I really don't know. But that's what I'd really love to do because a lot of people when they come in recovery They have to be removed from their local town because there's too many influences even me God removed me and took me to Uganda to get clean.
So I understand that process and That'll mean that yeah, they need somewhere to go But we can also do activities on that farmland to be able to help people So that's where I'm looking at for the next couple of years and after that. I'm not sure However, God leads, yeah,
Jarrod Stackelroth: relying so much on God in not only in the situation, but , to serve other people in such a way.
What's your favorite characteristic of his that's really become prominent or [00:22:00] obvious to you as you get to know God on this journey and as you, , pour yourself out for other people, you're relying on him, you're praying for grace every morning to get through the day. Bye. What's really become obvious to you about God that you think perhaps, other people might be missing if they're not in that sort of environment , that you
Tanja Circic: are?
Yeah I think it's his unconditional love. Just His relentless pursuit, and his unconditional love, like there's nothing that we can do that will stop God from loving us. And he gives me glimpses of that when I'm doing my work, even though someone might steal from me or do wrong by me, or, , there's so many things that happen over there.
He keeps showing me that, , forgiveness and grace is the most important thing. It's a process for everyone. So when someone does something wrong, you don't just cut them off, but you extend love and grace and patience and kindness and [00:23:00] that wins them back. So, , because you're dealing with it every day, you just notice his spirit comes out in more.
more interactions and more situations than maybe two or three years ago. And that's how he's kind of trained me. But I think his characteristics of that he's, he never gives up, you know, he never gives up on us, even though we might think he does, he doesn't. And we don't give up on the people that come into the program or the project.
And that's really his heart for those people. So, yeah, just his unconditional love. Most people think he's a bad god sitting up in the sky that's ready to cane us at any moment but that's so far from the truth. He's so patient and so kind and with so long suffering, that many times, I've had to ask for forgiveness so many times and, , he's been so patient with me, and yeah, it's just incredible that he is just ready to listen to us [00:24:00] and forgive us and show us the right way again.
And I find that amazing, as long as we're enough to repent and honest enough to confess what we've done, there's always room for transformation and moving past,, sins,,, I just feel that he's loving presence is always there regardless.
Zanita Fletcher: Love that. You mentioned that at the beginning that you received some help from getting publicity through the record , and we're stoked to hear that. That's awesome. But also we like to end things on record live on a practical note. And so practically for those people listening or watching today, How can we support your ministry? , is it through prayer? Is it through finances? Is it through coming and volunteering? What is it that you're, looking for and praying for?
Tanja Circic: Yeah, okay, so prayer is always necessary. But yeah, the financial part of it is to go back and build that wellness. Center and the restaurant. So if anybody wanted [00:25:00] to get involved, yes, you can go to www.
littleblueshadowedinfo. There's a donate button on the homepage and that takes you straight to the building site. And then you can donate through that link. You can go through and get a tax deductible donation, like the receipt. Or if you don't need that, there's also bank account details. So, yeah, if you feel touched about the work that we're doing, , yeah, please go ahead, support us however you can.
And also, yeah, prayer is great. Yeah. But I just wanted to say thank you to Australia because all of our support has come from Australia, which is amazing. I'm the only Australian missionary in that part of the world. All the rest are from the US. So, it feels nice to have Australians come over and visit and then also support financially to keep the mission up and going.
And, , God will never leave me alone. He's always providing for what we need. And I believe even when I go back now, there'll be more provision to put on more [00:26:00] Field officers and, those extra staff members that can come on and help us and things like that. So I'm looking forward to what's going to be happening in the rest of 2024 for the Little Blue Shed.
And hopefully by the end of the year, we'll be quite established. And, then, anyone who wants to come over for a mission trip,, they're more than welcome to come and see what we do. I'd like to run some youth mission trips so they can really come and see, , what youth go through in Uganda and how blessed they are to live in a country like Australia.
I think it would be a really good interaction between the two youth groups. So, yeah, hoping to do some trips once, the building is over and done with.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Look, , Tanya, I really appreciate you coming on today. You've given us an update on the situation. I think you're right. Sometimes we read a story or we even report on a story and we don't always know what's happened after that. So it's really nice to hear from you. From you and some of the progress that's [00:27:00] being made.
And yeah, we just pray as well that God continues to support you. I know, , he will and your ministry there. , and I just want to thank you for coming and joining us today and just sharing some of those updates. It's flown by this half hour. We've run out of time, but it's great. It's great to hear about what you're doing.
What God is doing and the amazing work that he's doing through you and through your ministry there in Uganda. Yeah.
Tanja Circic: Just one other thing too. , I'm also doing some work with WCTU, Women's Christian Temperance Union. I don't know if you've heard of that organization, but that was another door that the Lord opened to be able to work with them from abroad and then coming.
And that's also got to do with youth and,, addiction and drugs and whatever. So I just. I just feel blessed that I can work in two countries and make an impact in the alcohol and drug world because I think it's so prevalent in all countries and how it's affecting our families through substance abuse.[00:28:00]
Yeah, I'm just really blessed to also have input on the Australian side as well as the Ugandan side. So that's another thing that also happened, which I'm really happy about.
Zanita Fletcher: Very cool. Well, thank you again Tanya, for joining us again. You're welcome. Hopefully we'll have you back to hear what's going on,
Tanja Circic: Yeah, and you, you two are all always welcome to come over.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I'm sure it'll be amazing.
Tanja Circic: Come and see, the real thing. Yeah,
Zanita Fletcher: for sure. Live
Tanja Circic: reporting. Yeah. Yeah, live reporting. You're always welcome.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Oh, thank you so much. Thank you everybody for watching, for joining us today, and we'll see you again on record Live next week.