December 11th from under the net . . .

December 11^th from Mama under the net . . .

Lying here at 10:00 p.m. with Harriri asleep beside me. It reminds me of our shared time together in the hospital! We will celebrate his sixth birthday tomorrow and he has chosen to come to town with us to provision to Tumaini House . . . I've been wanting to catch you up a bit but the internet has been terrible. Burger night was an absolute blast and we threw in ice cream! It is unusually HOT, the hottest I have ever experienced and with limited refrigeration, to say the least, very little of our food is ever COLD! It was a nice treat . . .

I am enclosing Mary, Neema’s and Glory’s clinic cards with their CD4 counts . . . Mary was in failure when we met her an a VERY sick little girl, her CD4 at just 21 . . . amazing what a little TLC and proper adherence to one’s ARV’s can do!

We’ve been busy! Christmas preps are on the go and I continue to enjoy Xmas carols from the children. I think we may be having a pagent or something, but I’m not supposed to know anything . . . something is in the works!

Our most amazing volunteers Rebecca, Michael and Rachel from Australia, along with Erica and Robin who has just arrived . . . Mathilde, Katy of course, and Alison has come “home”to her Tanzanian digs for the holidays! They and the children have been BUSY with crafts of all kinds! The house is being decorated, tshirts are being painted, I heard a threat of a gingerbread bakeoff upcoming and we still read and practice our “maths”. The children are spectacular . . . I’m washing heads morning and night with antifungal shampoo and Rebecca laughed because every time a new child with ringworm enters my site line, a tube of antifungal cream instantly appears! Thank you again, Dr. Rob and Dell Pharmacies in Burlington, Ontario!

I am hoping there is not too much chaos at home with respect to the container shipping and truly wish I could be there to help, BUT! Honestly! I’d so much rather be here! Please, all of you doing all of this work to help us help these little ones, thank you so much!

You will remember Reward, our university student who fell and hit his head when a munitions depot began exploding and has experienced continued blackouts, pain and dizziness? Well, we'll have the results this week!

Sending so much thanks home to everyone who embraces us here at Tumaini House and especially our hardworking bunch trying to get the container shipped . . . although I must confess I'd rather be here with the children, I am so incredibly grateful for your love and incredible generosity . . . Asante. Our children are thriving because of your love and I am ruefully aware of how very different their little lives would be without your continued support . . . Asante kwa watoto Tumaini! Thank you from the Tumaini children!

I’m enclosing a few more fun shots for you to enjoy . . . be safe and happy with your holiday preparations! Badaye! Later!