Kwa heri (Goodbye) from Mama . . .

Kwa heri from Mama . . .    

          

I am leaving today for six weeks with our children in Tanzania and am anxious to reunite with our Tumaini family although it is bittersweet when travelling to one part of my family entails me saying goodbye to the other.

All of our primary students will be home for the month of August and I have some special “Christmas projects” lined up while they are home.  Additionally, we will replacing school shoes, book bags, football cleats (soccer), and pyjamas thanks to (in photo -  Emma & Jaslyn Chevers, Ryan & Ben Peever, Lisa Chevers & Joanne Long, Charlene Cleland and myself, missing Debbie Peever) of the Avondale United Church in Tillsonburg, who, after being introduced to Tumaini in May, worked incredibly hard to bring us dozens and dozens of soccer cleats, school shoes, book bags and pjs!  Thank you SO very much for your love!

Additionally, Millie, Karen and Jim Baetz and the Fitzpatrick family oh so generously donated some of those needed watches, pjs and SOAP! for our little ones!  Remember that it is winter in Tanzania right now, being on the other side of the equator, and although we don’t usually conceive of cold in Africa, it actually DOES get quite chilly at night so warm pjs are invaluable to us, not to mention the fact that with all the good food we are providing our family they keep GROWING!!

Further thanks go to Bibi Isabel for HER incredibly kind and generous donation towards watches, as well as Lisa Engelhardt-Robinson of The DolMor Salon.  Asante Sana!  As Mama Diane Goodman asked when I put the request for watches out, “does this mean if they have watches they’ll learn to be on time?” (Tanzanians are notoriously late)  We can only hope they’ll at least learn how LATE they are!!  Thank you so much!!

Lohai is back!  He has returned for his third summer and will spend time here on the farm with “Baba”, improving his farming skills AND his English and then take those skills back to Tumaini to help us there.  Feel free to call the farm to say hi!

August 3 and 4 are rapidly approaching and Tumaini supporters are hard at work getting set up for our fundraising YARD SALE at 857 Norfolk St S. Simcoe, Ontario.  If you have something you’d like to contribute to the sale or would like to come out and support us, please contact Charlene Cleland at char.cleland@yahoo.ca.  to make arrangements and THANK YOU!!

AND!  Our second Charity golf tournament is fast approaching and we’d love for you to join us September 29^th at Springview Farms Golf Club in Waterford, ON.  Please contact BonnieWardell@hotmail.com for registration information and please know that we always need donations for golf prizes if possible!  I know that Bonnie has more special fun planned for us this year (such as a “Pimp Your Ride” contest), AND . . . two of our older Tumaini children will be joining us, in addition to Lohai so you should get a chance to say hello and ask some of your Tumaini questions!

On a truly sad note . . . Bad things do happen to good people and we are not immune to it, even at Tumaini.  Negative politicking exists everywhere and in Tumaini’s almost four years we have been challenged several times by people who come with their own agendas and are, unfortunately, unable to work together harmoniously, even when the beneficiaries are poor, orphaned children.  Recently, this has happened again at Tumaini and our precious Katy, I am so very sad to say, has become a part of the fallout and found the need to leave us . . . Katy has resigned from Tumaini for her own, personal reasons and we wish her all the best and absolutely EVERY happiness in the future.  She has been a Godsend to us at Tumaini, a beloved sister to the children and like a daughter to me.  I am heartbroken, but respect her decisions and let her go with a heavy heart full of love and gratitude and do hope that one day things will be different.  There are many, MANY things we can hold and control in this world, but alas, this is not one of them.  We love and will miss you Katy but know that good and beautiful new adventures await you.  Thank you so very much.

An outstanding and deserving student, Omari.

We are working on our Christmas giving campaign and this year we would like to focus on an educational theme.  We spend millions of shillings every January outfitting and paying school fees for not only our unsponsored children, but many, deserving, yet desperately poor kids who simply do not have a chance at furthering their educations without help.  Often, there is nowhere to turn and at Tumaini we have worked hard to give those chances to dozens and dozens of children, but it costs money . . . meet a boy named Omari who pulled a virtual miracle out of the air by earning all As and Bs from a terrible public school with few teachers and little to no support.  He has no parents and only an older sister to help care for him and a younger brother.  His sister’s baby developed a heart condition and “poof!” any chance of secondary school went out the window with every dollar being spent to save the five month old infant’s life.  We helped save not only the baby but Omari also and he has rewarded us with OUTSTANDING efforts, but . . . it costs money!  And there will be another Omari (or David, or Abdi, or Ayubu) this year!  The campaign will begin in October with gifts ranging from $10.00 (to be applied towards school books), up to $500.00 (school fees for one year) and we will send you a photo of the child you helped along with his or her bio and supply ongoing updates!  Please keep this in mind when thinking about your Christmas giving!

As I said, the children are off for the month of August.  We will be busy with games and activities and I’ll update you with photos and stories!  They are busy this week finishing end of second term examinations (I hope) and will be ready for some fun I expect!  Report cards will be forthcoming.

From each of them (and their Mama) I would like to wish each of you a wonderful August shared with your families and friends and say enormous thank yous for your continued love and support.  I cannot say it enough . . . we need you.  Your heart and your financial contributions, in order to provide our children (who are oh so very deserving by the way), with a healthy and safe life . . . with a quality education . . . with love and with hope for their futures.  We work hard to ensure all of this happens with minimal dollars spent on administration (only 9%), and are very proud of our performance thus far and we intend to continue to use your dollars as efficiently as is humanly possible in order to continue to care for our children. Please be well and thank you!

A Message from Mama . . .

Happy Birthdays to Anna (Big) July 21^st and Rashid (only) July 5^th!  We love you!!   

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA (JULY 21)

HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY RASHID!

Lohai has been ill with typhoid

The children are for the most part, well.  Anna (Liadi’s sister and not little Anna) was fighting malaria AND typhoid but I understand is on the mend. 

Lohai has just had typhoid and Liadi has gone to the hospital with an interesting but unknown rash like “blisters” on his leg.  Please send them your prayers.  The rest of the brood are busy with studies.

Tumaini is struggling with water again . . . as in “none”, or “little” and bucket showers and severe water management is in practice . . . all of our little ones running around dirty . . . ONLY WASHING THE DIRTY BITS . . .

Our precious Mary happily reports that her CD4 count has climbed to 495!  You will remember she was VERY sick when she came to us and that it took two years to get her count over 200 from just 21, full blown AIDS . . . this most recent climb has occurred since I left in April.  Congratulations to our young lady!!

CONGRATULATIONS MARY AND REWARD!

Some Hongeras (Congratulations)! Brother and sister Mery and Reward Minja are our FIRST Tumaini university graduates (Mery is home already and Reward will come home on Friday).  Mery has earned a degree in Archaeology and History and Reward, in Information Technologies.  Just a reminder that less than 4% of children complete even secondary school, so, for these two to have accomplished this milestone is most impressive . . . (I suspect further studies are in the works for them . . . I’ll keep you posted). 

AND WHAT ABOUT RAYMOND???  Weeeelllllll!  You may remember the story of this young man who, in 7^th grade, while being quizzed by his teacher, asked, “Why should I study?  There is no chance for me to go to secondary school?”  Raymond not only discovered hope in a future he could not yet see, but has completed his advanced level secondary education and is today just a “little bit” proud of his successful first year at university!!  I will confirm when I return to Tumaini at the end of this month but I heard hints at one “A” and the rest “Bs”.  Hongera sana motto wangu!!!  Congratulations and by the by Raymond you look more and more like your father!  Such a handsome man!!

And I would be remiss if I didn’t, from the bottom of my heart, thank each of you who have been fundamental in helping these children along the paths of their dreams.  When we look at photos of our Tumaini children today, it is easy to forget their pasts, but each of them came from suffering and I know, because I help do the bookkeeping, how important your continued support of us is.  I processed this month’s paypal contributions and I marvel, (and I am so very grateful to say it) at the longevity, the commitment of your support.  These children, Mary and Reward and Raymond and ALL of our Tumaini children will only continue realizing their dreams with our help so, “AHSANTE SANA”!  “THANK YOU VERY MUCH”!

Our second annual Charity Tournament of Hope is in the works and we look for your support again.  It will be held on September 29^th at Springview Farms Golf Club and we are looking both for golfers (another fun filled day planned with a “pimp your ride” contest and a “Swahili styled swap meet”, not to mention two special guests from Tanzania who will be joining us!  See our flyer and get registered!!

And not that all of our volunteers aren’t special but we have a particularly “special” volunteer joining us this December.  His name is Christian and he will join us from Germany.  Chris (aged 22) lives from a wheelchair and it is one of his wishes to volunteer in Africa and, as the stars would align, he and mum Susan have found us and we couldn’t be happier.  You may remember that most handicapped people are isolated and/or stygmatized in Tanzania and our own Esther came to us both for protection and an opportunity to go to school, something she would not have enjoyed in her very tiny village.

Chris, and his very special wheelchair tires will allow our children, and our entire village, to learn that just because a person is white (caucasian/mzungu) does not mean that everything in their lives is PERFECT.  The perception is for many that non-Africans have no challenges and Chris’ energy and presence will help educate us on the realities of life throughout the world.  His and mum’s energy sound amazing and I am so very excited to welcome him to Tumaini!!

And in closing I have been negligent in my thank you to Clark Robinson and friends Jordan McInally and Eric Grice for a) trekking to Tumaini and b) trekking UP Mount Kilimanjaro in a fundraising effort for our benefit, not to mention bringing your teaching skills to local schools in our village AND being incredibly cool big brothers to the children!  Thank you Clark, Jordan and Eric whose efforts raised almost $3,000.00!

I will return to Tumaini and our children at the end of this month.  This has been a challenging time home for me as, with each trip, the children and I become closer and closer and being apart becomes harder and harder.  Despite this, I couldn’t imagine doing anything more fulfilling with my life and I am incredibly grateful to my friends and and family, especially my husband Steve who celebrate my appearances and withstand my absences with acceptance and understanding and to each of you, from the very bottom of my heart, thank you . . . for continuing to love us . . . 

Hello from Mama in Canada!!

A Message from Mama . . .

I am sitting at my desk (in Ontario, Canada) and a chickadee (a small bird native to our area) has been trying desperately, AND I MEAN DESPERATELY, almost all day to break through the glass of my windows and join me . . . it is FREEZING outside today after some beautifully, warm and sunny weather . . .

Our Tumaini children are well for the most part except that we are now (having just had the mumps), taking our respective turns with chicken pox!  Angela brought it home about a month ago and most recently Liadi, Rashid and Said have had it.  I expect it too will run its course . . . and I had a 1:00 a.m. message to call Tumaini when Liadi split his eyebrow open.  He had been dancing with the children, fell and banged his forehead on the corner of our dining bench . . . butterfly bandage instructions over Skype with doctors Francis and Kelvin performing the procedure.  Poor Liadi . . . just getting over chicken pox on his WOOWOOWOO (bottom) (he even showed me his behind on Skype!) but is going to have a nasty scar to match the one he got under the other brow last year!!  Poor little guy . . . Oddo struggled with a case of malaria but is well now also.

And my absolute heartfelt thanks for your prayers, well wishes and continued to enquiries about my step daughter Amanda.  We almost lost her in February and she was sick for a lonnnng time, only having her pick line for intravenous antibiotics removed this past month.  She is regaining strength and is incredibly grateful, as is her mother, father and myself for your blessed prayers . . . Ahsante!!

My chickadee is going to chip a beak!

Before leaving Tumaini I was lucky enough to spend a weekend in Dar Es Salaam with Mary, Reward, Nelson and Kelvin together as a family and it was incredible.  You may remember that Kelvin’s sponsors brought him to Canada last year and he LEARNED HOW TO SWIM!  He spent the weekend teaching his siblings and now our entire Minja family are swimmers!  We enjoyed some beautiful family togetherness before I returned to Canada and each of us is extremely grateful.  Mary and Reward I hope, will visit us in Canada this fall after they graduate university. They are writing exams now and should return to Tumaini at the end of June.  My hope is to bring them back with me in September (at my family's personal expense) (I return to Tanzania July 29^th with fellow Simconian Tyra Swick-Blake who will be volunteering at Tumaini) for a three month visit where they might meet their sponsors and spend time with so many of our Canadian supporters, however, our own, and VERY dear Bryson applied for a visa and was rejected for reasons we are unclear of so please include us in your prayers.  Nelson, on the other hand is hard at work completing his second last year of advanced level secondary school after which we hope HE will join us in Canada to learn to fly!!  It is awe inspiring  as Mama to witness the thought processes of our Tumaini children change from hopeless existence, full of sickness and struggles - to hope - and then to dreams!!!  This process has taken a long time (we are entering our fourth year now) to develop in a child's psyche which has been, from birth, rife with sufferings of one kind or another.  There is TRULY not a better feeling in this world than to help facilitate the dream of a child, but YOU KNOW THAT!!

Before I left there was a violent robbery in our neighbourhood where thieves beat a security guard quite severely, splitting his head open.  Oddo raced the injured man to the hospital and exclaimed the next morning at work, “I have never seen so much blood”!  A head injury bleeds, doesn’t it . . . and just after I returned to Canada a terrorist threw a Molotov cocktail into a Catholic Church service celebrating the opening of a new parish.  Three people died but the parishioners would not succumb to the violence . . . they insisted on finishing the mass in order to send a message that terrorism will not make them flee.  It is a heartbreaking truth that terrorism exists in every part of the world . . .

As you know our precious Dada Margie recently gave birth to a beautiful little brother to Bryson.  Sadly, their father, we discover, not only abused Margie, but had a girlfriend throughout most of her pregnancy . . . she was heartbroken to learn of it and will need our love, respect and support as her maternity leave finishes and she comes back to work so include her in your prayers if you would and allow us to help her heal . . . she is a beautifully hearted young woman, undeserving of such a swine and will grow and heal and discover someone deserving of her one day . . .

The family out for ice cream and soda!!

While at Tumaini this last trip I often worked with Kelvin on homework (he is one of our kids who struggles with the Swahili/English transition because it happened for him at a later age . . . many of the younger children would often be confused as having English as their first language their vocabularies are SO good!) and one day he came home and asked me about . . . sperm . . .   He had been studying “health” in Science class and although I thought we’d covered those necessary but potentially awkward conversations I found myself sitting him down, face to face and had the “sex talk” again . . . Kelvin listened respectfully and attentively throughout my rather long winded, round about explanation after which he took both of my hands in his, looked me in the eye and said, “Yes Mama, I know all about that . . . but what is SPAM????  Oops . . .

Did you know that some people have remarkable abilities at retaining multitudinous dates in their heads?  Did you know that our very own Christina possesses just such a gift?  Not only does she retain almost all of the birthdates of everyone connected with Tumaini, BUT, she has this amazing ability to remember the DAY of someone’s birthdate!  Katy and Christina, my husband Steve and I and a couple others were in my office quizzing Christina about birthdates and she was able to rhyme off almost every one we asked.  Remember that we have 52 children at Tumaini . . . suddenly, Katy asked her what DAY my birthday had been on last year . . . she told, I checked and she was right!  We did it with Katy, with Baba Steve, with some others and she could remember MANY of the DAYS of a person’s birthday!  We would love to have Christina tested to see just what exactly IS going on in that precious little had of hers . . . let us remember that this is the very same child we thought learning challenged when she first arrived at Tumaini . . .

Enormous Ahsantes to the Kayak Foundation of Calgary, AB, here in Canada for their incredibly generous donation towards the continued support of our wonderful kids . . . your love and kindness is truly appreciated

THANK YOU KAYAK FOUNDATION!!!  

And did you know that a certain group of children went out to collect grasshoppers . . . great big juicy ones, JUST BEFORE I LEFT TUMAINI . . . to EAT???

Finally, we are this far from being granted 14 acres of land for Tumaini . . . for a permanent home, for a secondary school, for a football field!!!  I will keep you informed but please, PLEASE pray that all comes together as it should.  Our family deserves the stability of a permanent residence and the village (very near to Usa River) we are working with desperately needs our assistance . . . it could be a perfect fit!  FUNDRAISERS!!!

And speaking of fundraisers, we will be in touch shortly about our 2^nd Annual Tumaini Tournament of Hope . . . stay tuned!

As always and from the very bottom of a mother’s heart I thank each of you . . . for your continued love and support . . . for caring and for wanting to be a part of this very special if not “unique” family we lovingly refer to as Tumaini . . . be well!!

AND . . . Reports for our Haradali Students, Ema, Lazaro, Eva, Angela, Margaret, Mwanahamisi, Vitalis and Paskali! Hongera sana!

 

Report Cards from our Class II Students here at Tumaini!

Volunteers of Tumaini

May I start by wishing all a very happy and loved filled Easter holiday.  I unfortunately fell ill for Easter (I am fine now), but our Tumaini family enjoyed mass/church/mosque services, celebrated pamoja (together) and enjoyed the blessings and gifts of many of you whom love and support us here.  Ahsante sana for that . . . 

Most of us are healthy.  The rains are intense when they come and they come frequently now (thank God for we have suffered drought in recent years) and the air is left with a cool dampness which breeds that dreaded mafua (flu).  Many of the children struggle with it now, but otherwise we are well and the months of April, August and December are holidays for primary schools and so all of our primary students are home with the exception of Haradali students who will join us this weekend.  Children are attending tuition (extra study) to help us continue to improve academically.  They attend class in the mornings (lunch is at 1:00 p.m.) and after that we PLAY!!  Weather permitting we are out playing football or some other activity and if the rain comes it is CRAFT TIME!!  We may squeeze a movie in also or dancing . . .  

Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t precede this with the disclaimer that I WILL FORGET SOMEONE!  Forgive me in advance please, for it is not my intention to leave anyone unappreciated and I am not always here to witness your wonderful contributions . . . but we are VERY grateful for our Tumaini volunteers.

 

 

Having been pre-forgiven for missing a deserving supporter (please) may I share just a bit about a few of the wonderful people who have given their time, their efforts and their hearts to us here at Tumaini . . . we’ve had some extraordinary people enter our gates  . . . Michael McCann and Mama Rebecca and Dada Rachel from Australia who not only have returned as a family, bringing their hearts and skills (Michael organized and was part of our second Kilimanjaro summit, raising money for Tumaini with every step), and has established Tumaini Australia, soon to be a registered charity, in support of all the good we try to do here for our children . . . oh, AND they sponsor Gerehad!

To Cindy Pichette who spent hundreds of hours building our website, thank you!  To Dave and Jackie Egles of BC who are owed an enormous debt of thanks for not only sponsoring Kelvin and Connie and taking Kelvin to Canada for an extended and very educational visit (Connie will go when she is older), but to Dave and his team who also installed our solar generated power system so that when the lights go out, WE are not in the dark!  We immediately became very spoiled and hardly notice when electricity is lost! (It is usually a volunteer from across the street who comes to tell us THEY are in the dark . . . we look up and realize that ours is the only house in sight with the lights on!)  Dave and friends Mike, Dave, and Paul were our third team to climb Kilimanjaro in support of Tumaini!

To Bibi Pat who brought not only her teaching but medical and psychiatric expertise and visited and loved us here TWICE, thank you so much!

Mariel Goodman from Michigan, USA and her father Tom, an ER nurse, for joining us and updating our medical supply cupboard and tending to all sorts of nasties, and mother Diane and sister Robyn, and extended and church families who have embraced us at Tumaini, helping to support Christina and Mary and have returned (and will this summer) return again to Tumaini as a family . . . karibuni tena.

And what about our precious Mathilde who has come and taught our children, bringing her entire family for a second visit, and Jenna who spent a month teaching Latifa the first half of the alphabet and became her long time sponsor, and Sean (who organized and successfully summited on our FIRST Tumaini Kilimanjaro climb, and Milou and Minke (who joined us here with the hope of making a real difference and HAS, for the lives of two little girls, Mulki and Busainer and their HIV+ Bibi).

And recently we’ve been gifted with Mr. Jake Burnett, Headmaster of Glenlyon Norfolk School in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (Kelvin attended this school while visiting), supporting teachers and Class 6 students, and, additionally, Mr. Burnett’s Victoria “Oddfellows”, who donated the money needed for us to outfit a Chemistry classroom with laboratory materials (they were trying to learn about chemistry and microscopes, etc. from a photograph), chemicals, models and TEXTBOOKS!  We are supporting a wonderful volunteer teacher who is providing exam writing students with much needed knowledge (the students had not seen a science teacher this year, until her arrival) and part of the money donated is helping her with travel costs!  We are so very grateful for your kindness Mssrs. Oddfellows of Victoria and to Mr. Burnett and GNS for the enormous future plans we are building together for a mutual and continuous relationship with our two schools!!

How do we say thank you to a young lady (Kris) who, knowing she was coming to Africa (but not knowing exactly where), simply wanted to raise money she suspected would go to a good cause somewhere and, bolstered with support from her mother and father and friends ended up MAKING and selling HUNDREDS of SPRING ROLLS, gifting us with 10,000,000 shillings towards our new school!  Ahsante Sana!

 

 

 

To my Wing Girl, Korosho, for simply picking up whatever needed picking, wiping what needed wiping, packing, unpacking, organizing, reorganizing, loving, hugging, bandaging, well, you get the picture . . . and still having the time for some girl talk . . . ahsante sana dada . . .

 

 

To Valentin and Jenny, psychiatric nurses in Belgium, who joined us here for two months and sewed, (Rebecca you will LOVE Jenny), painted, repaired or constructed just about everything around here, thank you!  And a special thank you from Baba Steve when he had to race back to North America to care for Amanda and Valentin stepped in and took over HIS projects! Thank you!!  Additionally, thank you for sharing your own special gifts (as “mature” volunteers) for which I am truly grateful.   



Mama Lizbeth loved us daily!

To Kathy Hoey a retired teacher from Ontario, Canada for bringing her remarkable teaching skills to our first graders for January and February . . . and to Mama Lizbeth for your love, your never ending clothing repairs, your chocolate!!  Thank you so very much!

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Tine (in yellow) and Faye from Belgium, who have reached out to a group of families left homeless after they were attacked as “squatters” and their homes smashed and broken in an attempt to force them off land they have lived on for some forty years . . . for providing to these families, for loving OUR children here at Tumaini, for embracing us and bringing her (Tine’s) grandparents to meet us, for outfitting our children with new school shoes and finally, for establishing Tumaini Belgium, again in support of all the good work we are trying to do here, how do we say thank you?

 

 

 

 

To Mama Pam who is spearheading our U.S. delegation . . . for bringing us our second container (and most of its contents), for introducing and talking up and out about Tumaini in her small, Ohio town, and discovering many, MANY people interested and caring enough to support her in what will be Tumaini USA . . . thank you so very, very much little sister.

 

And finally, although I can hardly call her a volunteer as she has become a fixture and lifeline here at Tumaini, dedicating her life and work (both here and in Canada) to us . . . to the children’s beloved sister Katy who tearfully said goodbye to us today and headed back to Canada to work and to save so that she might rejoin us here in the fall . . . To our dear sister who works tirelessly and without glamour, doing all the things no one else wants to . . . the scheduling, the chore lists, homework, day after day after day. . . organizing the volunteers, dishes, and toilets and wiping noses and kissing knees and doctor’s appointments . . . and the MOUNTAINS of receipting Oddo and I provide her monthly . . . the love, the firm but gentle and consistent guidance she brings each child here.  Her heart . . .

To all of our volunteers, shared here or not, we thank you.  Each of you has brought an extraordinary something to us at Tumaini and we thank God and we thank YOU for that . . . to each of you from each of us (and to Katy our prayer is that you will rest and not miss us too much for you will return shortly . . . very shortly) Ahsante Sana kwa upendo wenu!!  (Thank you very much for your love!!)

Report cards for our Tumaini Classes I and II students follow . . . be well!