A message from Mama . . .

I have just returned to Canada after 3 ½ weeks with our watoto (children) in Tanzania and whew were we busy.

The lineup to visit was endless not to mention the sleepovers (sorry Steve I was sleeping with other men!!!) where four or five of us got together for a lala because all of our youngsters needed to lala with mama (on my last night we had a seven man and one mama “camp over” in my room)! . . . I think it's the "crips" (potato chips) we share, I won't kid myself!!!

Alexi, Liadi, Daniel and Stephano

Our little ones, for the most part are wonderful!  They work together, help each other and except for the odd blow up are doing their best to make good choices. This is FOR THE MOST PART, but we are experiencing some serious challenges from five of our little ones (Latifa, Connie, Pendo, Neema and Karol) after they were “guided” to disrespect our mamas, teachers and a few select children by dada Wema.  Thought corrected, it has been going on since mid-May and although Wema has since departed Tumaini (she will go to boarding school in September but will spend the August holiday break at her home) quite a bit of damage was done.  The little ones were convinced they need only care about Wema and not pay proper respect to others, including their caregivers and teachers which, for a child in this culture, could be fatal.  Literally, as it would not take much in the form of insult to prompt even a stranger on the street to beat a child severely.

Junior, Alexi, Anna, Liadi and Elisha

We have struggled since Day I way back in 2009 with corporal punishment which is vehemently denied in most schools but widely practiced everywhere . . . in the school, the home, at work.  (Mary just intercepted a tiny child on the street with an enormous welt on the side of her head being chased by her mother, who, when reprimanded exclaimed, “bring her here!  I am going to chop her into little pieces”!  Why?  Because she had wet the bed in the night.  An underling is an underling and therefore open to any sort of abuse a “superior” deems warranted.  Corporal punishment is used even as a “motivator” in schools if you can imagine.

Nasma, Junior and Priska

In any event, Oddo and I have waffled back and forth about the best way to discipline our children without the use of this form of punishment.  Neither of us advocate it but in some, rare circumstances, even I pause to wonder for an alternative.  You see, for some, and only SOME of our children, once the “threat” of corporal punishment is removed, the child “challenges” authority figures and refuses to do what is requested.  Even our little Nasma not only refused to do her classwork, she threw her exercise book (and her sweater) at her teacher!  In any other African environment such behavior would never occur and for Oddo and I, our alternative to a persistent refusal to respect our few rules must result, eventually, in expulsion, which, in some cases is a much worse consequence than even a beating.  I invite comments and suggestions for we simply cannot permit corporal punishment to be an option here at Tumaini.  There IS another way.

Thank you Baba Bruce for the sweater!

Oddo went to Nairobi to pick up Lohai's visa to return to Canada and he is here now.  Raymond is home waiting for news of HIS visa to go to Australia.  

Nelson and I spent several days researching and then applying for university as he received his results from secondary school . . . he is very happy with his performance in a difficult combination (physics, geography and advanced math).  We had hoped for a scholarship to a school outside of Tanzania but it didn’t come together and so now we pray for the University of Dar Es Salaam for his undergraduate degree in Engineering, and then, IF GOD WISHES, a post graduate degree from afar.  Mary Minja traveled to Dar to bring her Babu (grandfather) back to Moshi to visit family and then she is off to spend time with her beau!  (Please do ask her about him!!!)  Reward is working (and struggling) in sales, which is difficult anywhere and nonetheless so here.  “Mama” Mary H. is caring for not only baby Junior but now little Elisha (read on)! 
Anna has finished her studies and practical experience in hairdressing and is home waiting for dada Tine to arrive in two weeks and then she and another Mama are going to set up a salon (saloon in Tanzania!!) and will be open for business!  Karibu!

Performances at school are exceptional for most.  I had dinner with all the children of

Haradali last week (Lazaro, Angela, Athuman, Paskali, Vitalis and Emmanuel) and they shared that Angela is either 4th or 5th of 108 children, Lazaro is #12, Ema is #15 and Vitalis expects to graduate from primary school in top position.  Oddo is working to get him into Tengeru Boys Secondary School here in Arusha which is one of the top five secondary schools in the country.  


Kelvin will miss his graduation here but is not worried because, in case you haven’t heard, he is coming to Canada for secondary school.  He is so excited that he had packed two weeks before we left and he tells me his face hurts from smiling!  I must admit that I am more than a little happy and we thank everyone who has helped facilitate this enormous dream of his.

We have some TERRIBLE shillingi (ringworm) and two of our volunteers were plastered with the round, elevated rashes that identify it.  We are working to bring it, once again, under control.

IT IS COLD!  Really cold here and Oddo tells me THIS is the historical Arusha, not the balmy August weather I am used to.  Brrrr!

Latifa, Elisha, Mama and Rashid

Angela and Glory’s mother has lost her battle with AIDS and on Saturday morning, we went to visit her grave and lay flowers.  We had a sleepover, just us three, on Saturday night and we talked about their loss.  Glory, having lived here most of her young life seems less affected by her mother’s death than Angela who remembers their father's death also.  Angela is serious and acknowledges that now she must study harder than ever as she has no parents . . . we remind her that she has all of us here at Tumaini and that comforts her BUT . . . 

Glory and Angela have a little brother, 3 year old Elisha who lived in a terrible state with a very old father.  After a meeting with our staff and children, we have decided that it would be safer and better that he (and Mama Korosho you will be SO happy to hear this) Junior, will stay with us here at Tumaini.

Junior, you may remember, came to us critically ill, and unable to walk despite his almost two years of age, because of an acute protein deficiency.  Junior walks now and has begun to talk and the children are SO incredibly loving towards him, and will be of Elisha, and we simply cannot let Junior return to, nor Elisha to remain in dangerous environments.

When he initially came to us Junior's hair was red and he had the distinct hard belly distension we so often see on television, side effects of serious malnutrition.  His hair has darkened and is soft, like Liadi's, and so is his belly, and last week Junior "went to school" which translates into him walking around with a tiny backpack on his shoulder.  The children "give him homework" and all of us love him terribly, soooooooooooooooooo, that is going to mean that we need two more sponsors.  Please consider helping us!

Oddo and I will meet with the village chairs, but I fear we are back at the beginning.  The new District Executive Officer is going to reinvolve the third village who absented itself from negotiations in protest and which was accepted by the district office initially, but the two supportive village chairmen work hard to continue our negotiations.  Agggggghhh.  Karibu Tanzania . . . 

Jumping rope

Bad news.  Most of you who have spent time at Tumaini recognize the recurrence of sickness(es) with Mwanahamisi.  She was home in April with an ugly growth under her tongue which eventually passed and we brought her home again sick, three weeks ago.  Mwanahamisi has tested positive for HIV (she is just 13). Her mother is positive and may have passed the virus to her daughter but  Mwanahamisi left home often and lived on the street before joining us here at Tumaini two years ago and she has run away from her school a couple of times (she is a bit sneaky and often dishonest) so nothing is certain.  Oddo and I met with our local DREAM (HIV) clinic in order to arrange for counseling and to start her on ARVS.  This is a heartbreaking reality and I am really worried for her as she is not a personality who will manage her HIV status very well.

I am playing “catch up” with my blogs and will be posting regularly this week so stay tuned!

There are many thank yous to pass along!

First of all to all of you who continue to love and support us at Tumaini, thank you!  We cannot continue without you and are VERY grateful!

To the Sunday school class of children at Waterford United Church here in Canada thank you for embracing our children at Tumaini with your prayers, pennies (nickels) and future endeavors to help find us support!

To new sponsors Brea and Chase for embracing the needs of Harriri, thank you SO much!  Your photos and letters were very much appreciated and we have a letter coming back to you!

To Ella and Maya and Baba and Mama for your (much delayed in arrival) Christmas letters and gifts to Anna and Martha, thank you!  Unfortunately your gift arrived just after I left last November but they received it and you too can expect a letter shortly with their thanks!

AND MARK THE DATE!  Sunday September 14^th is the date for our 3^rd annual Scotiabank Tournament of Hope and WE hope you will join us!  Please contact Bonnie Wardell, Lisa Engelhardt-Robinson, Charlene Cleland or myself to register but hurry!  Registrations are filling!!

Christina says hi!

And more good news!  After two patient years of work and waiting I am so very pleased to announce that we have just received our American charity status!  I will introduce you to our Board of Directors but you know some of them already!!!  We are so very grateful!

And Gerehad waits for sponsors Michael and Mama Michael to visit soon!

I will be in touch but please know from Mama, and Teacher Oddo in Tanzania, that we are so incredibly grateful for your love and continued!  Talk soon!

UPS and Downs from Mama . . .

Hello from Christina

Kathy Hoey and her Tumaini Class

Our deepest sympathies go out to families and friends of former volunteers, Canadian Kathy Hoey who was with us last year for two months and taught in our first grade class and her travel companion Jean Luc from France who were just killed in an auto accident while travelling in Bolivia; to Betty Crooks who just succumbed to a massive stroke and to Mary and Reward and Nelson and Kelvin’s aunt who just passed as a result of breast cancer.

We are doing very well for the most part if we don’t count Angela and Priska and Pendo and Mary and Anna having chicken pox and then with the rains, which have come, several of us coming down with a nasty chest virus causing seriously high fevers in the children. . . nasty coughs and very tough chests, oh, and some strep throat, but other than that . . .

Nasma, Mama Korosho and Eva

Almost everyone is studying with dedication; completing homework promptly upon return from school (it is so cute because we have given even those children who attend our Tumaini school here and walk only 10 -25 meters from school to home, new backpacks which seem to help with organization and retention of their supplies.  They take “possession” of their properties very seriously).  We begin to prepare for our month end exams and have curtailed “playing” as much as we had previously enjoyed, in an effort to reconfirm our priorities.  Studying comes first!

Amani Primary School continues to perform, positioned #3 in our district.  Haradali Primary School, where our boarding students attend, performed #7 in the district and Tengeru was #1 so our Tumaini children are attending very strong schools.  The reality is that corporal punishment continues everywhere as a “deterrent” to unacceptable behavior whether we like it or not and our Tumaini children suffer also.  I was recently forced to “visit” one of our schools and “stir the pot” after a teacher beat Christina . . .

A funny story.  Recently, while I was out, one of our volunteers came to Steve (my husband was visiting Tumaini) and told him he needed money for radishes or something like that.  Steve didn’t understand, because he has never seen a radish here and he knows we shop weekly for our supplies and so shouldn’t need anything. 

He asked again to clarify and the volunteer said “radish”.  He had looked it up.  Steve went to Margie to ask her to clarify and, perplexed, she asked what he meant.  He asked her to show him a radish (clarification) . . . she asked, “cabbage?” and went to fetch a cabbage, not understanding why.  Steve said, “no, not a cabbage, a radish”, at which time Margie went to point out the RUBBISH.  We needed to pay for our garbage pick up . . .

We "caught" Pendo and Connie cleaning the shoe rack.

Thank yous go out for helping us with a CT scan for Mama Angela who is displaying behaviors we have seen before indicative of a tumor.  It turns out her immune system has been depleted to a point where a virus has begun attacking her brain.  The local AIDS support facility here in our village, “DREAM” has sent the scan to Italy for analysis and further prognosis but things do not
look good for her.  She is no longer able to walk, is often confused, and has recently fallen and hurt her face, all a result of a decision she made to stop taking her ARVS.  (Medication she needs to suppress her HIV).  We do not know what the next steps are but will let you know. 

And a further big thank you to Tumaini Australia and Tumaini Belgium for funding the improvements made to the Kikwe family house.  A widow with four children remaining at home and struggling in a falling down mud shack, Mama shrewdly sold off a parcel of her land in order to facilitate the construction of a block home but the builder absented himself before finishing and left her with a poorly built shell, unfinished and unsafe for she and her little ones.  We have installed grills on the windows and door, glass in windows AND the door, replaced infested lumber, leveled the floors and parged the outside of the house in order to

Lohai holding things up

make it weatherproof.  All that remains is the completion of a choo (toilet) and her pastor’s blessing and they move in!  Another happy family.

Lohai is always hard at work

Straining sand for cement

Enormous thanks to Rita and Will Stratford and family for visiting us at Tumaini while on safari, not once, but twice!  To Kate and the brood (congratulations Tyler and Lauren!) we thank you and to Will and Rita’s company, thank you so much for your kind donation in support of our children!  Asante!

Thieves cut down three electrical poles here in Usa and left us for several days “powerless”.   Now that usually is not a problem for us here at Tumaini thanks to H.E.S. Solar (Dave Egles and friends) because we are often the only house living illuminated but with the rainy season just commencing and dark and glooming clouds hanging over us, even our solar pooped out and we were left, literally, in the dark for several days, as to when power would be returned.  One of our volunteers Shivaun asked me if we had any ice as her perishables were, well, perishing . . . I advised her to start eating . . .

Happy to report that we are back in the bright again, although the weather has turned very cold and damp and oh, yes, WET!

I am often reminded of why we do what we do here at Tumaini and the other night Wema, Neema and Kelvin were chatting with Mama Korosho and I after bible study.  I was slapped in the face with the reality that not one of them has a parent . . . six parents lost . . . how blessed I am to be Mama . . .

Tumaini Class II

Tumaini Class III

Thank you is never enough but it must suffice as we carry on towards Valentine’s Day.  Yes it is celebrated here and yes Valentine’s cards are distributed, and we will celebrate Angela’s birthday this Sunday, our only February girl.

Latifa analala

Our prayers go out to you that you are safe and healthy.  We are, for the most part.  Be well and as always, Asante kwa upendo yako.  Thank you for your love . . . 

Back to School - 2014!

Back to School – 2014!

 

Francis is missing from our Amani back to school photo but the rest of the gang is here!!!

Class II with newest day student addition, little sister Eva (in red).

Class III Tumaini (look closely . . . Teacher is expecting!!!)

Haradali preparing to return to school (Ema and Athuman are in the back!!)

Our first week back at school is complete and some of us are overwhelmed (Kelvin with the inundation of homework for 7^th grade . . . he attends classes from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 8:00 until 1:00 p.m and has TONS of homework . . . his school prepares Class VII for their national exam . . . Neema “Big” has joined Amani and is transitioning from Kiswahili school to English Medium and she is ecstatic.  We had her tested and because of her lack of English will be placed back two grades but the quality of the education she will receive now is light years ahead of what she was getting previously.  It was questionable if she would be able to pass her national exam next year.

Just some of gang . . . 

Mama Angela and Glory  is very sick.  She has been hospitalized twice in the last month and is incapable of walking.  You may remember that, having decided she no longer had HIV, she stopped taking her dawa (medicine) and attempted to stop Glory from taking hers.  Both went into failure and Mama has stopped yet again.  She had developed a tumor in her brain the last time she had these symptoms and we suspect the same but we must find SH. 295,000 (about $195.00) for a CT scan in order to confirm if anything further might be done. 

For those of you who have been to Tumaini and met Glory, you will remember that she possesses the most beautiful dimple on her cheek . . . I got to kiss that dimple today . . .

Rashid says thank you for our goodies from Ali and family

Marko is home but preparing for his return to Form II.  We hope that Raymond will “rest” for a day (Michael you are in so much trouble) from school and come to visit again as my husband Steve is coming for a visit next week and he and Raymond have not had a chance to visit for more than two years.  Jeremiah is home from his great adventure to the U.S. of A. and we must thank Alison and family for the many and much needed gifts they sent with him.  Car parts for servicing our lone vehicle, a new DVD player for Friday/Saturday night movies, school supplies, etc.  Thank you!

Harriri and his new "hair".

And enormous thanks to Helen Jones and her team for hosting a New Year’s Eve gala with us as the beneficiaries . . . thank you to Tumaini friends who attended and pole sana (very sorry) for the weather you are experiencing in Canada . . . I will not tell you that the sun has shone for more than two weeks and it has not been below 35 degrees in many weeks . . . no seriously, I will not tell you that the weather here is gorgeous . . . AND, I enjoyed my third standing shower (from the pipe and not a bucket) since my arrival in November, nor the fact that we have had NO water problems since just after Christmas . . . it just wouldn’t be kind to gloat about our blessings when you have been suffering through a record breaking deep freeze . . .

Thank you also, to our many Tumaini friends in and around Simcoe who staffed our Panorama booth and helped us raise much needed funds for school fees here at Tumaini.  It was cold and blustery and we are sorry you struggled but you’ll be meeting some of the children those dollars are going to help in the weeks to come so, thank you, thank you!

Love from all of us . . . 

We are well . . . some flu, some rashes, but absolutely nothing serious . . . our children are settling back into their routines at school . . . enormous thanks to my dada Rebecca, new kaka Michael, Rachel and Eliza from Australia for embracing the Kikwe family with aid, love and care.  This mother was widowed two years ago and has struggled since to keep her children fed and in school.  They live in a mud hut, but own the neighbouring land and she decided late last year to sell a parcel of that land so that she might build a solid house for herself and the four children who remain at home.  The fundi (tradesman), as is so often the case in these parts, was quick to take her money but also took advantage of her ignorance . . . he installed termite infested wood for doorframes and the blocks from which he built the house crumble because he did not use enough cement in his mix . . . shortcuts we see regularly if a fundi is left unmonitored but now the money is gone, her house stands unfinished and the long rains come.  Our friends have put a fund together to cover the exterior of the house with a solid layer of cement to prevent erosion once the rains start, replacement of the bad wood, installation of a front door, solid lock and grill to detract theft, the construction of two sets of bunk beds to allow the children and their mother to get off of the floor when they sleep and we are bringing the family to Tumaini weekly to monitor the health of the children, especially the baby, who, either from malnutrition or neglect sits lethargically and without enquiry into his surroundings.  We have started a milk program for the children and will begin her into a new business selling mboga (vegetables) which will allow her to be away from the house only two days per week instead of daily, as she has been in the past.  The children visited us at Tumaini last week for the first time and were ecstatic when volunteers Shivaun, Nina, and Eliza, bathed and reclothed them, fed them and after new haircuts, sent them home with some new toys . . . happy, and hopefully soon to be healthy children . . .  

Thank you for our new PJ's!!!

Nelson returns to Dar tomorrow to prepare for his final examination of secondary school.  We have applied for a scholarship to the University of Toronto in Canada so please, keep him and his dreams in your prayers if you would . . . there is a very good chance that our wonderful Raymond may intern for a few months in Australia later this year with repeat volunteer Isabel and her father.  He works in public administration in education so the fit would be absolutely ideal for Raymond and his plans to return to Tumaini one day and oust me from my position . . . I couldn’t think of a finer person to relinquish my job to . . .

A special prayer to B.C. who is struggling right now and whom we may lose . . . you are in our prayers.  Happy birthdays to Vitalis and Paskali this month (Lohai’s brothers) . . . and thank you, thank you to all of you . . . we are and will forever be, so very grateful for your continued love and support . . . be well.

BYE!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

My Partner Oddo, his youngest son Reuben and myself donning my Christmas gift!

It is New Year’s Eve and I am here with most of our Tumaini family.  Some of our older Lutherans have gone to church to celebrate and Lohai drove.  The service is in Swahili and much too fast for my slow Swahili ears to follow and so I have remained back.

The children had a choice tonight to begin their new year’s celebration with a movie (Merlin) or dancing and they have chosen the movie.  They are enjoying peanut butter “scones” and apples with popcorn on the side and we will wait for the Lutherans to return before we light our fireworks.  I was fortunate to find sparklers at my spice and cashew store (Korosho you remember)?  Our big celebration will be tomorrow.

Our volunteers are across the street “lubricating” but in a much milder fashion than the norm and they will, I am certain, join us for our dancing festivities.  We have already lost Nasma to lala (sleep) and four of our children will miss our celebration for bad choices they have made but the rest of the gang are terribly excited to bring in the new year!

It has been a busy year.  We have struggled with AIDS for Mama Angela and Glory and she is terribly sick again.  She will attend the Dream Clinic in two days to be assessed and to see if there is anything we can do.  Glory’s CD4 dropped precariously and without explanation and both Mary and Neema decided at one time this year that they needn’t take their dawa (medications) and we had to take a “strong” stand in “correcting” their attitudes.  It is pretty simple.  Without proper adherence to their meds they will die . . . and we have told them as much.

We have our enemies and they attempt to hurt us but we have been fortunate enough to discover their intentions and thwart them enroute.  We work to stay together as a family.

Our children grow and change and for the most in good directions.  We continue to struggle with rage and grief and tabia (attitude) with some but there have been some beautiful developments in this past year.  I always worry about "spoiling" our children.  They had nothing when we met them and now have so very much and sometimes struggle with their need for gratitude.  Our volunteers and some of our children went down into the village and handed out dollys to children who have nothing and we will visit another orphanage to remind our children just how much they have.

Our volunteers . . . wow.  Loving, giving, sharing, caring, and yet they must work hard to remember that we are the guests in this country.  It is so very easy to impose ourselves upon the people of Tanzania, child or adult . . . our judgements and prejudices . . . our lack of faith, and these impositions are incredibly dangerous in a country where so many have nothing BUT faith to hold onto.  Each volunteer is a teacher and each child a vacuum . . . seeing and hearing EVERYTHING and this country, this culture hits most first time visitors right in the face. The need, the differences elevate our own emotional issues and force us to look hard inside and assess.  Coming to Tumaini is ALWAYS an emotional journey.

One of our friends was murdered and has left two children without care or support..  We lost a bibi we loved and cared for.

We acquired a new teacher and she is capable and promising, although we must work to iron out some philosophical issues that contradict our policies at Tumaini.

Oddo, my partner is well and happy and working hard to facilitate the many things we count on him for.  His newest son Reuben grows and is walking and just beginning to say a few words.

Our dream of acquiring our own land is just days from reality and that opportunity will open new doors for us, our children, our future.

And finally, to all of you . . . I struggle to find words (I always do) to express our gratitude for the continued love and support we enjoy from each of you.  We are just a tiny, shoestring charity, living from month to month on your contributions and a faith that they will continue.  We struggle every day to care for our family here and to ensure that your dollars are spent wisely and we are grateful.

Until you join us here, until you see firsthand the blatant need, the absolute destitution and squalor so many poor Tanzanian orphans struggle with daily, it is difficult to realize just how important your support is, but please trust me.  Without you, without your heart and your dollars we just couldn’t continue.

I began four years ago on a wing and a prayer and my partner Oddo brought his skills and his heart.  We began caring for 24 children and have grown to more than fifty.  Good food, a safe and healthy environment, quality education and medical care . . . EVERY DAY.  Love, lessons, kindness and empathy.  A fair but firm hand in the lessons of life.  We work hard, very hard, every day, and we do it because there is simply no one else to care for these children who need us so desperately.  We have saved lives and changed lives and we build lives, opportunities where none previously existed and we CAN do that because people like you help us.  We are grateful . . . very, and we ask that you take a moment tonight, on New Year’s Eve, as we welcome 2014, to applaud yourselves for your commitment to us . . . for your hearts and your love.

We cannot continue without you . . . we cannot grow and so we take this moment to send our thanks to each of you.  Asante sana . . . thank you very much and Mwaka Mpya, Happy New Year, from more than fifty children in Africa, and their Mama . . . thank you.

Another Tumaini Christmas . . .

Decorating our Christmas tree at Tumaini

 Each of us enjoyed another beautiful Christmas at Tumaini.  Santa and his helper Rudolph came in the afternoon after a wonderful service at Gloryland International Church.

There were stockings full of goodies and a gift for everyone.

A hug for Santa before Anna got her gift

Mama reindeers Becca and Dee

An early Christmas gift for Mama from Teacher Oddo, Isabel and watoto!

My favorite Christmas surprise this year!

Kaka Oddo wanted to try my new shades!

Rudolph the red nosed Rachel

Our beautiful Tine (heading up Tumaini Belgium) with Harriri and Ema.

Shopping for school shoes . . . 

Rashid has got a heavy load!

Thank you to Huber (Germany) friends for donating our wonderful washing machine!!!

Please keep us and this land in your prayers . . . we should know soon!

Singing Kumbaya for Avondale United Church in Tillsonburg, Canada

And the rain came in (our front door)!

Tumaini children's hands are growing!

Looking for help to assist this family of six children!

Happy Birthday Lohai!!

Jenny and Connie playing "stones".

And a big fat busu (kiss) from Kaka Lohai!!