March 12-16th from Mama!

March 12 from Tumaini House!

Ayako, our volunteer from Japan was shaken yesterday when we told her about the Tsunami that hit home.  She was able to contact her family and no one was injured but her father was stranded, in his office, without a train home.  She left with some other volunteers this a.m. on safari and it is our hope that she is able to relax a little and enjoy her experience.  If it is anything like my safari was she will be duly impressed. 

Welcome to Candice, our newest volunteer from Toronto, ON. Canada!  Candice arrived yesterday with pencils, and toys and Frisbees and SHEET PROTECTORS (the plastic ones that cover pages, not mattresses), spices AND an oven thermometer . . . Enormous thanks go out to Christina, Domi and families from Germany for reaching out so lovingly to help our university attendees, Mary and Reward Minja.  Their and brothers Nelson and Kelvin’s bios are on our site at www.tuchifo.com “Minja Family”. 

And a mother’s worst fear . . . last night Grace came into my room to inform me that Raymond had been in an accident on a pikipiki (motorcycle).  Oddo’s brother inlaw Deo had been driving him back to school and they were struck by an oncoming vehicle.  It looks as if Deo’s ankle is broken and Raymond busted up his knee but there was no medical treatment for them immediately.  It won’t be nice if they have to re break his ankle to set it but “procedure” here seems to be to wait to set a broken bone, why I don’t know . . .

Happy birthday Zawadi!!!

March 16^th!

Happy Birthday to Zawadi (who got his stitch out yesterday, thank you Ayako) and to our volunteer Candice!  There will be cake tonight, although Harriri and I will miss it because we are headed to the hospital for his umbilical hernia surgery.  And speaking of surgery, none was necessary for Deo as his ankle turned out NOT to be broken . . . perhaps that’s why they wait, I don’t know, but we’re oh so very happy to hear that both he and Raymond are on the mend!

Our hearts go out to the people of Japan struggling with this disaster.  I am receiving news here and there and all of us here at Tumaini send our prayers to family and friends . . .

Thank you to Michael for helping Oddo.  We have received your kind gift and I will pass it along to him.

A hesitant Liadi began school today!

Things are good here, quiet and peaceful after some turbulent times last month.  The children are oh, so very happy, healthy for the most part (except for Mwajuma who is home to go to the hospital to check out her appendix as she experiences persistent pain on her right side) and advancing academically at astounding rates!  Our youngest, Liadi hesitantly joined the other youngest members of Tumaini in class today.   He had stalled, claiming he would cry, then he announced he needed his uniform, once delivered there were no more excuses and he headed up.  He tried to tell me he needed a backpack to go to school but he's only going upstairs, with Latifa and Pendo and the other youngsters, and Teacher Winner!  There were two trips down to see me with emergency "dirty knees" which only I could clean for him but he returned to class and completed the day.  We are terribly proud of him and all of our Tumaini children each of whom is now receiving a quality, English Medium education which will give them a real chance!  

The children of Haradali, Mwajuma, Evalin, Margaret, Angela, Eliza, Emma, Lazaro and little Daniel are hopefully coming home for the weekend, our Young Roses students begin their monthly testing on Monday (did I tell you Francis got 100% on his last math test and is #1 in his class?) and Mary Minja (our university student) is home!  Reward will be home on Saturday and then we can thank Christina, Domi and families (from Germany) on “Skype”, hopefully, for their kind support of these very determined students, and perhaps even a call to Bibi Oma who has also helped them!  It would be nice to set it up.  Mary brought some of her school work home to show me and was disappointed that she earned only a “B” on two papers.  She is dedicated and disciplined and will study her heart out to be the best she can.  I’ll let you know about Reward's grades once he returns home . . .

And our wonderful Mary is home for a break from university in Dar!

Thank you to my sister Pam for our Skype chat . . . I’ve been missing home of late and it was nice to see and talk to you!  It’s now 4:54 a.m. and the roosters are just beginning to crow.  We still have had no rain . . . the locals will start to worry now because the long rains should have begun.

I will send photos of our special project, helping Upendo’s family with their home repair (new concrete floor, drainage ditch dug, new supports and siding, window and wall repair, and new beds, mattresses and nets for Bibi and children, oh and uniforms for Pendo and big sister Zawadi (Zawadi has hers and Pendo’s is coming!) . . . thank you to Pat’s brother Dan for your kind donation and thank you volunteers Tumaini for pitching in!  Another family made safer and given a better chance because of your kindness! 

And, do you remember the Chikira family of four siblings (Glory, Ayubu, Wema and Carol) orphaned and struggling to get by alone?  Well, their new toilet was completed today and we will plant as soon as the rains begin.  The house is repaired, the children equipped for school and soon a successful harvest will allow them, as a family, a good chance at building their lives . . .

We send hugs and well wishes home.  I hear you are getting our rain.  Be well and thank you, so very much for your continued, loving support of these wonderful children!

Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater Safari . . .

Could it be God's way of thanking us for the work we do here?  I think so.  This was absolutely, without a doubt, THE VERY BEST SAFARI I COULD HOPE TO WITNESS . . . BREATHTAKING, again, and again, and again . . .

For me it is the giraffe which represent true, wild Africa . . . That, and of course the twelve elephants we saw out our backdoor at camp . . . not in a preserve, not a park, but in the wild, in our backyard . . . spectacular!

A pride of what grew before our very eyes to be ten lions captivated us for almost two hours . . . and rested less than sixty feet from our car . . . Did you know that the stripes of a baby zebra are brown and that a herd can take over an hour to cross in front of your gari (car)?  And gazing down into the crater itself?  BREATHTAKING!!!!!!!!

Twelve elephants grazing in our backyard . . . WOW!

This close!!

Katy spotted the only elephant we saw in the crater . . . the rest were waiting for us at home!

TWO ANGRY HIPPOS . . .

Katy, Bibi Pat, myself and Mathilde - a safari we will never forget!

The pride is startled by a roar from Baba Kubwa Hasira . . . Angry Big Daddy!

And the cubs distance themselves from an angry patriarch . . .

An interloper is frightened away and things settle again . . . final count TEN lions!

And those?  Ostrich butts . . . yup, ostrich!!

And nature's circle closes with the remains of an elephant . . .

March 9th from Mama . . .

First of all, Thank you’s go out to new supporters Donna H. who is helping with care for Stephano and Karen M. for providing sponsorship for Daniel.  Asante to Noah Defreyne for donating his birthday gift to Tumaini and Aunt Jennifer for making it happen.  Thank you also to Joanna W and especially to our ongoing sponsors without whose loving support Tumaini could not sustain itself. . . Asante sana and, happy birthday to our returning volunteer Alison! 

Daniel has an ugly viral rash and I’m dousing him regularly with calamine lotion to help keep the itch contained.  Several of us are still struggling with a nasty cough, Harriri’s lingers along with Gerehad, Stephano and myself but Christina and Liadi are well on the mend and thank you to Ann and Dr. Pat for your loving assistance here.

Thank you to Joelle and friends for bringing the skipping ropes . . . virtually all of our children are skipping now . . . Athuman just skipped by . . . and speaking of Athuman, we’ve had a breakthrough with him after his Bibi shared his history with us. (You may remember a meeting we conducted with Athuman and family due to his anger.) A couple of days ago, Athuman was riding a bicycle while Harriri, Katy and I were chatting . . . out of nowhere, Athuman began sharing with us about his father’s second wife hurting him.  Harriri, who obviously had knowledge of Athuman’s abuse, joined us in the conversation.  It was terribly sad to hear the story again, but his/their candidness about what had occurred was cathartic for him I think.  We all discussed how, what his stepmother had done was wrong, but that it was behind him and he could now proceed forward with a sense of security.  He ended the conversation without sadness . . . more a frankness about what had happened to him.  He has been happy, and peaceful, completing MOST homework and we’ve not had a complaint from school recently.  All in all it is good news for Athuman.  Please include him in your prayers.

Yesterday we enjoyed a wonderful surprise . . . Krista (a young Tanzanian woman celebrating her twenty first birthday) and her boyfriend paid us a visit.  The two of them wanted to give thanks for their blessings and so Krista asked to share her birthday with some orphans and vulnerable children in need and, through an affiliation with Oddo, chose Tumaini.  They brought juice and cakes and popcorn for watoto (children) of Tumaini, gave thanks and we all celebrated her birthday together.  The children even sang for her.  We were very moved (particularly Mathilde) to be remembered in her celebration and the children were ecstatic to have a visitor bearing such delicious treats!

There is a village the near the Serengeti, I will get the spelling, where a former pastor is “curing” people of everything from high blood pressure to “HIV/AIDS”.  It is a frightening time here.  The rumors began with a person here or there leaving on buses, etc. and within just a couple of days millions have found their way.  There are no services in this village and so people are suffering while they wait, lacking food, sanitation, etc.  The military has become involved.  Several people, even within my own circle have gone for “treatment” and what is so terribly frightening is that, after being treated with a leaf from, I believe, a tree in the acacia family, (a favorite food of giraffe) dipped in water, the “patients” are then told they no longer require their dawa (medicine) and so stop taking ARV’s (which will introduce resistance), blood pressure, diabetic and other, life sustaining medications.  The gossip is rampant and people here, so desperate, are clamoring for any chance at a cure.  Oddo and I even contributed to one person’s travel costs (before it rose to 200,000 from 65,000 Tsh.) in order to have him return promptly, attend Dream (the HIV clinic here in Usa River) and have his HIV status confirmed so that we could dispel the rumors.  It didn’t work.  No one is waiting for confirmation, confident and blindly hopeful that they will no longer be sick.  If ever there was a place for a miracle, this is it, and how cynical of me to cast doubt, but, well, what is the old saying, “if it looks like a rat, walks like a rat, smells like a rat?”  We have two members of Langa ya Iruva waiting for their CD4 confirmation, plus probably eight others, either waiting in the village for treatment or enroute.  Please pray for them.

Coming home to this welcome outside my door . . . does it get any better?

A very tall Mama Dee!

Katy (and friends) short and tall . . .

Katy and I went to town the other day for provisions for Tumaini House and returned to some loving (if not rather “extended” caricatures (see photos) and terms of endearment drawn with sidewalk chalk, on the walkways leading around the house!  Katy is no taller than I am (5’2) and yet the children, led by Francis and Athuman drew each of us well over eight feet tall!  My eye was larger than my “real” foot!  What a wonderful welcome home!

Homework proceeds!  Our children are, for the most part, bringing home some very impressive test results (English is such an important component and our newer students still struggle but continue to improve).  A big thank you again to our sponsors who make attendance at a quality English medium school possible for Tumaini’s children.  Many past visitors will attest to the progression of English within our Tumaini family.  Not only, but especially for our young children, English is advancing in everyday use.  Just tonight, when we took Baba Steve to the airport, Jenny, who accompanied him, (we try to include two children each trip so all will have an opportunity to see an ndege [airplane]), she fell asleep on the way home with an air pump in her hand.  Waking suddenly and still grasping the pump, she asked, in English, with a Swahili accent, “What is this?”  Harriri, today, wanting to accompany Baba, announced that he too was going in the gari (truck).  “I am going Mama,” he explained, pointing at me with finger wagging, “don’t forget!”  It was hysterical!

And finally, today was Baba Steve’s last day.  He is enroute “without Liadi in his suitcase as was promised”.  Liadi, Stephano, and one other child whom I cannot remember right now, announced that they were going home with Baba to Canada.  Liadi went so far as to sit in his bag, prior to packing!

And the Mother of all Fires . . . a final cure for our new oven!

Before Baba’s departure we had the “Mother of all Fires”, (see the photo) curing the new oven before we roasted chicken for supper.  Ala roasted dinners at home, and without the greasiness of deep frying, (which is how it is usually prepared) we enjoyed roasted carrots, onions, and kuku (chicken) with mashed potatoes and gravy (you are welcome Katy).  Wednesdays are the day our volunteers cook and for lunch, Lucy and Mathilde (with a lot of help from Margy) made pancakes for Shrove “Wednesday”.  (I know, I know, but it was still Tuesday in some parts of the world!).  For our volunteers who have not savored the tastes of home in awhile, and for most of our Tumaini family (for some the pancakes were too sweet), today was an epicurean delight!  We tease Oddo, who loves the mashed potatoes, calling them “ugali viazi”.  Viazi means potatoes in Kiswahili.

I will close.  It is hot, and there has been no rain.  We pray that the skies are storing their H20 for the oncoming and desperately needed “long rains”.  There is much conversation that they are not coming.  We do have water again (for now) but are cautious and keep a supply on hand “just in case”.  (Imagine giant garbage cans in the kitchen and 5 gallon buckets in each bathroom).  It is not pleasant trying to run a house with 24 children, (those who are home right now), eight staff and four volunteers without maji (water) . . . bucket “showers”, toilet flushing, etc. but we all come together and do what we can to help. With the exception of Daniel’s rash and our coughs we are well and happy!  Harriri will go next Wednesday night to the hospital in Tengeru for his umbilical hernia surgery.  I will accompany him and we will stay over.  Our volunteer Ayako is an R.N. in Japan and so will be invaluable in dressing changes, etc.  Dr. Lyimo will perform the surgery.  Harriri's distended belly button is beginning to bother him, particularly now that he attends school where other children can be, well, children!  Pray for us please as we do you!  Zawadi fell, riding the bicycle, and received two stitches below his lip (only one remains . . .the second fell out!)  Ayako tends to that also. 
The children send hugs to special friends (you know who you are) and count days until you return . . . please plan to!  Send me an email if you are contemplating a visit this summer, if you haven’t already and please, please, know how very grateful we are for your loving support . . . Asante!

February 23 - Wednesday morning from Tumaini . . .

It is 11:50 a.m. It’s warm, hot, actually (sorry to those of you in the barridi “cold”), and the sun is shining.  All of our older students are at school and as I write this I can hear the children repeating their vocabulary words for Teacher Winner.  The rote system of learning is not perhaps the best but it is the system used here and we must implement our changes pole, pole (slowly, slowly).  Steve is working on his oven, Dr. Pat is next door auditing books with Grace and I can smell rice boiling.

Let me start with a thank you to Karen M. from Calgary AB for embracing Daniel with her loving offer of sponsorship and to new friends Emily and Bret Okeefe who not only have reached out to us with sponsorship support, but are taking steps to help us acquire charitable status in Australia, AND, thank you Christina who has recently asked if she can help us obtain the same in Germany!  Our gratitude goes out to Dan C. for your generous donation to Tumaini as well Jennifer D., John M. and past Tumaini volunteer Rachel T and of course I cannot forget our ongoing supporters!  Thank you all, so very much!  Without support from all of you we will not be sustainable and I thank you SO very much for caring for THESE children.  There are so many other places you could put your money so Asante Sana for choosing to help us!

Young Mary returned to school on Monday after visiting the Dream clinic to have her liver checked.  She cried, thinking she wouldn’t see her new friend Dr. Pat again, but we’re bringing her home Friday afternoon for the weekend to monitor her and so she will say goodbye to her (and Cindy and Kal and Baba Steve) then.  She is still struggling with a dangerously low CD4 and a viral load which is much too high, but she has no pain from her new dawa (medicine) and a visiting doctor from the clinic told me yesterday that the second line ARV’s should benefit her in a stronger fashion and so we wait and we pray.

We met with Athuman and his bibi (grandmother) yesterday. (I sent him home to think about his future for awhile after he refused to even attempt his monthly examinations at school and after striking the teacher.)  We needed some time to figure out how we can best help him.  Athuman is a “dark” child.  He can be very sweet and funny at times and is incredibly bright and his English is quite good, but, Athuman rages.  If something doesn’t go his way, if he doesn’t get something he wants, OR, if he is asked to do something he doesn’t want to do, he begins to cry, wail actually, positioning himself strategically in an attempt to draw the most attention.  He will drop to the floor, shrieking, writhing about, and when I remove him from the other children, usually carrying him to his bed, he leaps up, opens his door and cries louder to ensure that we know he is angry/frustrated/hurt.  Unfortunately the frequency of his outbursts, here, at school, on outings, and their violence, will not allow him to remain at Tumaini and influence the other children in such a dangerous fashion, but, sending him home, to a Bibi who is out until dark is not much of an alternative and we do love him very much.

Bibi shared with us that, at some point before his father’s death from AIDS (and his mother’s murder last year), Athuman was taken to live with his father and new stepmother.  As is painfully customary in this and many other parts of the world, step parents are not often welcoming of a child not their own.  I see it all the time here, even with some of our staff, and marvel, repeatedly (as a stepmother yes, but more as a human being) at how an adult can be so incredibly cruel to a child in need, especially in light of that child having lost his/her mother or father. 

Athuman’s step mother took boiling chai (tea) and poured it on his forearms as a form of torture.  He still has the scars.  She then hurt him in a fashion that now causes him to soil himself without his knowledge.  He simply cannot feel what is going on “down there” sometimes.  He was brought home to his mother and then, as most of you know, she was murdered last year.  I had befriended Mama Athuman and had already brought him and brother Harriri to Tumaini House to help ease the pressures on her as a desperately poor mother, struggling to feed the six children which remained at home.  As a result of her death, Tumaini now supports six of her children, Deo, Anna, Gaspar, Athuman, Harriri and Liadi, our youngest.  There simply was no one else.   

In any event, Bibi explained that it was after Athuman returned home to his mother that his rages began.  I feel terrible for him, and it is terribly difficult for me to do sometimes, but I must ALWAYS put what is best for the family, as a whole, first, and his outbursts and uncontrollability simply cannot become a benchmark for the behavior of our children. 

In discussion with Dr. Pat, myself, Bibi, and Grace as translator, and with Athuman desiring to return to Tumaini House and to Young Roses School, we had to extract a promise that he will try his very best to control his raging and that, when he feels his temper rising, to come for assistance in processing it.  Dr. Pat suggested a screaming pillow.  She also advised us that unless Athuman helps us help him, we simply will not be able to cope and agrees that we MUST put the family unit first.  We then headed to school to apologize and to ask that he be readmitted.  Please pray for us.

Dr. Pat, Jenna, Emily and other Latifittes beware!!!  You would not believe how rapidly our little Latifa is building her English vocabulary!!!  Virtually every day there is a slew of new words spilling from her almost four year old mouth, AND, we have TWO birthdays coming up soon!!!  Latifa will turn four on March 6^th, following Liadi who turns three on the 1^st!  Other March birthdays include Zawadi (Joseph) who turns seven on the 16^th and Gerehad will be six on the 25^th AND I am delinquent in wishing fellow Tumaini Director Lisa Engelhardt-Robinson a very happy 50^th birthday this past week . . . I’m hoping it was wonderful!!

Homework is always a highlight of the day when we get a chance to monitor progress, assess struggles or catch and correct bad attitudes and I’d like to share a breakthrough with Christina which brought all of us joy.  Katy and Cindy had been working to help Christina understand the number before, “kabla”, another number.  Ie. 4 is kabla or before, 5.  Our children are counting but some, only forward, and so struggle with number position which they will need in order to do subtraction.  Christina simply could not process which number goes in front of or before another.  Well, we got it!!!  We chose a number, then added to it placing the appropriate number(s) baada, or after the subject number.  Then we began counting backward, pausing while Christina processed changing direction and counting backward instead of forward and Eureka!!  She got it!!  I have taken to raising my arms in the air while singing out, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” (think “Hallelujah”) followed by an, “Asante Mungu”!  Thank you Lord!!  It makes the children laugh, shares the celebration of a success with everyone else (because I don’t do it quietly) and encourages more effort from others!!  We’ve even begun sending the school bus off in the morning while the driver pulls away shaking his head and the Tumaini children join me in, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!, Asante Mungu”!!

To our past volunteers thank you for all of the love and encouragement and support (financial and otherwise, you give Tumaini) and please do send me your favorite Tumaini photo (including you!) so that we can construct our volunteer page AND our board in the dining room!

Things are good at Tumaini House.  Most shidas (problems) are under control and we work at resolving the rest.  The children, for the most part, are healthy.  Baba Steve’s super, long heating, fuel efficient oven is nearing completion.  We begin our second year here and welcome incoming volunteers and future visitors.  I will return mid April, and truly couldn’t imagine being anywhere else, doing any other work.  To friends and family, I miss and love you very much and look forward to catching up in person once I’m home.  I thank you all, so very much for your continued encouragement, love and support and especially, for believing in these very special little people whose lives we are changing in so many, many, beautiful ways . . . Asante!!!

Sunday morning/Afternoon/Evening at Tumaini

6:50 a.m. and the children are parading in to my room for morning kisses and cuddles.  We will have breakfast (mandaze [a doughnut], and chai).  I asked them if they preferred to have mya (eggs) now or badaye (later) with their picnic and they prefer badaye!

Our home is a gracious two story stone structure which was built as an investment by a tour guide operator.  The real estate market here went flat and the house had sat empty, unfinished for a number of years, until I found it and offered what I could afford to pay for the rent.  I chose this place, not because of its’ grandeur but because it is a two story, which has the smallest footprint and therefore, the most outdoor space, allowing our children a place to play.

One of the first things we needed to complete was the perimeter wall surrounding the house, which is needed for security.  Unfortunately the seven foot wall creates a barrier, literally, and reminds us daily of a sense of being contained.  I am not complaining because we are extremely fortunate to have what we do, rather, I would like you to understand my vision for starting Tumaini . . .

We have changed the lives of our Tumaini children in so many wonderful ways. . . oh so lucky are they to receive nutritious meals daily and quality education and love and I send my heartfelt thanks for your support . . . BUT!  Nutrition and medical attention and security gives a child energy, and ours abound in it now . . . pole (sorry), I had to stop for a moment!  The children were shouting for me to look at Liadi . . . who, this morning, and with Kelvin’s assistance, has learned to ride a bike!   

We jumped up and down in celebration and Kelvin is still helping him bank and turn but our youngest is riding and he’s not yet three!

Which, brings us back to nutrition and medical care and energy!!!  By the grace of God our children’s lives have changed dramatically.  They are now strong, for the most part healthy, and have energy to burn!  Our youngest live every day behind these walls and our older children do the same upon returning from school.  They, and by extension, we, sometimes experience a form of “cabin fever” and today I am treating them, and the children of Mana OVC to go swimming at the pool of a closed resort here in Usa, and yet, I have doubts, for the first time, about sharing this with you.  We have been criticized recently for creating too much of a “coddled” lifestyle here at Tumaini yet I will ask that you remember an enormous disparity exists here between the “haves” and the “have nots”.  There is opportunity for people fortunate enough to access education, medicine, and the comforts of a stable home . . . food, shelter and clothing, and I ask you to remember that our children were living in terribly desperate situations when I met and began helping them.  Some, I truly believe, would not be alive today had we not interceded.  Having said that, I did intervene, I chose children whose situations were desperate, dangerous even, and I started caring for them and I went home and asked you to help me help them . . . and you have, in such beautiful, loving, generous ways, and for that I can only say thank you.  It has been my vision since conception, to build a home full of love and all forms of support (educational, medical, nutritional) where our children will thrive . . . where they will feel the security of a safe place to sleep and constant and nutritious food, and discipline, and play!  They will stop being afraid that today’s meal is their last, that sickness (HIV or something else) will kill them before they have a chance to dream of a life.  They will learn responsibility and accountability and kindness, because our children didn’t begin their lives in a kind world.  They had lived in fear and hunger and sickness until we met and I began helping them with food and medical care . . . and then, with your help, they came here to our pretty, stone, Tumaini House and we gave them nice clothes donated by you, and they began to learn that they will eat every day and that if they get sick, we will take them to the doctor and that they have a responsibility to put their toys away, because they now HAVE toys, and that they must SHARE because there are things TO share, and that they must respect themselves and each other and help and protect those more vulnerable than themselves because each of us has worth.  (We had quite a discussion with Priska and all of the children about being gentle and loving and caring to those smaller, or weaker or less fortunate than ourselves, after she discovered a baby bird, fallen out of a tree and thought it “fun” to try to pull off it’s wings.   The discussion backfired on me, for, after explaining to the children that we must be ungwana (gentle) Jenny picked up a butterfly and ever so carefully brought it to me to “save”. . .)

With all of these changes it is only logical that the child too will change.  How he or she thinks, perceives the world, looks down the road at opportunity.  We do try to protect our children and we do try to remove the obstacles which prevent our children from reaching for a dream, to become a doctor or a teacher, or a mother or father who is equipped to better raise a family with a sense of responsibility for the life of a child.  It is in that vein that we expect our children to not only survive their lives but to LIVE them, fully, and by extension, to contribute to the futures of other children, of this country.  It is with that vision that I encourage you to understand that we have become a family and not just an orphanage.  We are building a home (yes, we currently rent but hope to one day build our own permanent home and school, with a field where the children can play futbol and burn off some of that energy!!  It is with that vision, that we hope to provide our children (who DID begin their little lives oh so desperately) with a real opportunity at a future.  Many of you have volunteered here already.  Many of you have met our children and can appreciate the changes in them and have witnessed their development.  You recognize that WE recognize we cannot change Africa, but perhaps only the lives of our Tumaini children and some sixty odd orphaned children struggling to get by in the village (Mana OVC) and that “only doing that” is just fine.  For those of you not fortunate enough to visit us here I first welcome you, with the caveat that this is not the place for everyone.  There ARE bugs.  Dust and pollution abound.  The food is hearty and nutritious if not a bit repetitive, but you fussy eaters can find what you need in town and bring it home should you wish and Neema is happy to make you whatever you ask her to prepare if you cannot eat the same food as we do.  Accommodations are basic and the house is chaotic at times, and for some volunteers, the combination simply doesn’t work and so local hotels are happy to put you up.  For the rest of us, we live here and we love it!  I couldn’t miss my six a.m. mornings with the kids or tucking them in at night.  I love to eat with them (yes the same food) and I love to take them on adventures!!  Like any loving mother, I find joy in their happiness and for the most part, our children are VERY happy and once again, I thank YOU for playing a very large part in that.  Your gifts at Christmas gave the children a sense of family, of self worth, of identity.  Our celebrations and travels took us (all of us, as a family) to a village where there were other children with less and we gave to them . . . I thought it was beautiful!  The children are beginning to learn that they are fortunate and with that good fortune comes a responsibility to help the next person in line and so on, and so I ask that your confidence in me and my initial vision for Tumaini continue and as you witness the children’s development, their growth you feel the same sense of accomplishment as I do when I witness one child reaching out to another. 

Life here at Tumaini House is no longer typical of an orphanage.  We HAVE become a family, living in our home, with good food, and stability and responsibilities and dreams.  We are not a perfect family and never will be . . . but we do our best, with your help and with your money (and we will need your assistance for awhile yet) and please, do know, that I so very much respect how difficult it can sometimes be to send that money every month and how very grateful I am for your loving generosity and I give each of you my word, because, in the end, that is all I can give, that I use your dollars respectfully, appreciatively and effectively to advance the opportunities for our children as you wish.  The “extras”, the confirmation dress, the burgers, the swimming and picnic we so enjoyed today (it is now 8:12 p.m. and I’ve just finished tucking the children in) are gifts from Mama and Baba and paid for by us, or, in some cases, donated with specific instructions to be used for the children “for something fun”.

Many people have asked how I found the courage to fly, alone, around the world to begin helping just a very few, desperately needy children in a small village in Tanzania.  I cannot answer the question except to say that, at the time, it was simply what needed to be done.   It is approaching two years later, and the answer is the same.  It is still, simply, what needs to be done.  The needs are different.  The quality of the lives of the children here at Tumaini has dramatically changed as you can imagine, as I had envisioned and as past volunteers can attest to, and for that we should be happy.  My friend, and fellow Tumaini supporter Dr. Pat is here visiting and I asked her what she expects to see here in the long run. Her answer is growth.  Intellectual, spiritual, natural, physical growth. I couldn’t agree more and I hope that you do pia, (also).  Lala Salama! (Goodnight!)