Announcement:  Neema Village to Drill Water Wells!

Neema Village is still in the process of restoring the drilling equipment to full functionality. A number of repairs and modifications have been necessary, and we are making plans to purchase a larger vehicle to tow the rig. All the equipment has now been transported to Neema Village in Arusha. We have had a number of talks with the drilling crew in Dar es Salaam, and tentatively plan for them to travel to Arusha when we schedule the next well to be drilled. We have already identified several villages that need water, and pending on the results of the water survey and receiving drilling permits from the government, we will choose one of them for our next drilling site.

Bekah and Kim had made plans about the “What Ifs” during the quarantine and this time a “What If” actually happened. Angel, our Social Worker, got the call on day two of the quarantine that a baby needed picked up at the hospital. Angel agreed to stay outside the quarantine so she can go to the hospital to pick up the babies. She has two virus protection outfits and I am sure she was the only person at the hospital in masks and full gear.

New babies are always weighed, cleaned and dressed and then have their first bottle at Neema. The hospital does not have bottles so we get to give them their first bottle. For this baby he will have to go into isolation to make sure he has not brought the virus in to the other babies.

Little Mohammed was named at the hospital. He was born February 20. His mom had gone home after the c-section but the incision opened and became infected. A konga (large colorful cloth) was stuffed into the open wound. She also suffered a fistula from the difficult birth. She was admitted back into the hospital and is seriously ill. Please pray for her. Sweet Little Mo is malnourished, long and skinny but alert. He finally stopped crying and took his first bottle.

Just a few days later and Mo is looking so much better. He will need a sponsor. None of the eight new babies who have come to Neema in the last few weeks have sponsors. 

It has been raining for four days in Tanzania and finally the sun came out and the babies got to get out for a walk. Is there anything cuter than happy babies?

Maria, below in the red sweater, is holding Nasra who has finally gotten big enough to get out of isolation and go for a walk outside. Nasra was about two pounds when she came to Neema. She is a big girl now. Praise God.

Yehhh! Bryson in front, Dorcas in the pink dress and Jackson make for a happy walk. Look at that happy smile on Jackson’s face in the picture below.

Forty One Neema staff have left their families and moved on campus until the quarantine is lifted. They love to play games with the big kids. Since all Tanzanian schools are closed our big kids are back home at Neema.

God has provided a safe place for these abandoned, orphaned and at risk babies during this virus. We are so thankful many of you are praying for them. When this is all over we will expect you back at Neema Village. Please say a prayer for Bruce White since Kim missed her last flight out of Tanzania and is not able to get home.

(Kim’s family above with her husband Bruce, the Saint). Neema Village will be going into hard lock down tomorrow, Monday April 20, 2020. Tanzania has now closed all it’s borders, the last flight in or out is now closed. Which means we will not be able to get back in and Kim will not be able to get back home to her family until the planes begin flying again.  She has accepted it and we believe God has put her at Neema for such a time as this.  (We are missing our volunteers!)

With so many new babies, the task of getting ready to lock everyone in has been daunting.  Kim is a super organizer, but I cannot even begin to tell you all the things she has had to do and think through to lock down this busy baby home. Michael and I are so sorry we are not there to help. Actually, Linda and I are thinking of wading a river in from Uganda with suitcases on our heads to get back in to help!!

On Monday morning the nannies who have no children at home will be moving into the volunteer house and they will not leave to go home until this is over. (nannies in volunteer house above). The guards, cook and maintenance men will move into the Mothering Center. They have all signed an agreement and understand they cannot leave campus and then come back in until the lock down is over. It was a bit rough for them knowing they would be leaving their own families and if something happened, they could not be with them. There were some tears. They will be compensated well with double pay, they all wanted that but it was still hard for them.

I hope they remember that Kim is half way around the world from her family and receives no money for her work at Neema. I can’t even find words to describe that, I think it is pure sacrifice. Kim pictured above with some of the diapers and goods for the lock down.

With the school kids home at Neema (all schools in Tanzania are closed) and all the new babies that came in this month, the idea of keeping 57 babies and employees fed, housed and safe from the virus was a full time job.   For two weeks Kim and Bekah have worked with Emanuel and the staff, making lists and bringing in essentials. The shelves in the stores are emptying out because the ships bringing in goods are not allowed to dock. “There are no more diapers to buy in this town,” Bekah said, “because we have bought them all!

She has had to think: Do we have enough formula for 2 months, what to do with the cows, the chickens, the garden, do we stop all building projects (we cook for the builders), will the nannies actually agree to leave their own families and move on campus, where can we sleep them all, how can we feed them all, how can we feed the chickens and cows, how would we get a plumber in, what if we run out of water or cooking gas or electricity, what if we get a new baby, what if we get sick, what if one of us dies??? 

All very real questions and many more they have been working through for the last couple of weeks. Yes, it’s been daunting. Someone asked about cutting the grass during the lock down since David the yard man is not considered essential. Kim answered, “I can’t think about the grass, I’m trying to keep everyone alive!”

 The little things like getting beds for everyone has been a chore but they have gotten it done. The farmer, cow men, and gardener will not sleep on campus but will walk in behind a rope down the fence line and into the bottom area to take care of the cows, chickens and garden.  We had to build a bathroom down in the garden since the men could not come up to the baby home.

The milk buckets and baskets of eggs and produce from the garden will be left there as well and clean milk buckets set out each morning for the milking. 

Kim has bought all the malaria medicine and Zpacks she could find at the local pharmacies. Our oxygen tanks were all leaking and no one could fix them so they had to buy a large oxygen tank which cost about $2,000 USD for baby Phillip who is home from the hospital but still on oxygen. There are no ventilators to be had anywhere or I’m sure they would have tried to get one of those! 

Kim said yesterday, “Mom we all have headaches every day from trying to think through everything we would need to have a lock down and keep the place running and everyone fed and the lights on and making sure no one gets sick.” She had told me earlier that she would do everything she could to make sure they were all safe no matter what the cost.  She has had our nannies sewing 450 masks. She sent 150 masks to the local hospital, (they had none) and she sent 100 to Social Welfare (they also had none). All our staff got 2 masks and gloves. The staff staying home were given bleach and soap as well. Kim and Bek called a big meeting and explained to them how to stay safe.    Our school kids are modeling the masks.  

Michael and I could not be prouder of our girls. They are amazing.  

 For all those precious ones in lock down at Neema Village:

It’s a tough time in the world today but I cannot imagine anything worse than being an abandoned baby in Africa in the middle of a world pandemic. The baby, (above) was left at the hospital. Nanny Juliette has this little no-name baby girl with jaundice outside in the sunshine.

Little boy Mishack, above, was born March 25th. His mom had a c-section in the hospital. She died while in recovery and this little one was left motherless. Hopefully a family member will step up to keep him after he is stable. For now we are standing in the gap for him.

These four newborns are Furaha #1, Lucy, Neyesu and Furaha #2. Furaha means Joy in Swahili. You just can’t have too much “Furaha!” Baby Furaha #2 and Neyesu are twins. But how sad, three moms who will never hold their babies. Lots of mouths to feed, currently there are 19 small babies! with a total of 57 babies, toddlers, crawlers and big kids on campus.

Phillip, the little one who was brought in almost starved, is back in the hospital and our nannies are staying with him 24 hours a day. . They are giving him TB medicine and antibiotics for pneumonia. Poor little guy is a fighter. Please continue praying for him and the nannies who are staying with him.

Click on the picture above and hear our big school kids sing their favorite song “Jesus is Alive.” Some of them came back to Neema to make a DVD of thirteen songs for you. We are sharing a song a day for 13 days on Facebook as an encouragement during this trying time.

Now that you have heard that beautiful song, let me tell you I am a bit discombobulated!

Kim White, better known these days as The General, has put Neema on lock down. Volunteers have been cancelled, some are still trying to get home amid the airlines cancellations.

No drop-in visitors are allowed and staff is checked at the door with thermometers and hand sanitizers.

The Arusha stores are having the same run on supples as the rest of the world so Kim is buying a 3 month supply of baby formula, rice and beans, corn, oil, baby wipes, diapers and other essentials. The diapers filled up one load in the van!

Diesel to run the generator is critical so they have stocked up on that as well. With babies like Phillip, who have no fat on their tiny little bodies, power to run the heaters, incubator and warming table is essential. City power here is notorious for going off.

Schools are closing all over Tanzania so our big kids in boarding schools are coming home to Neema. It is always fun to see our school kids like Meshack, Nengai, and Memusi. It does mean extra mouths to feed. God is Good!

I dislike posting pictures like this, we prefer to show our chubby, happy babies but real life happens at Neema Village. I wanted you to see little Phillip’s eyes. He is three months old and weighs about 4 lbs. Please be praying that this little guy will survive.

We are so thankful that our daughter Kim is at Neema. With her organizational skills Neema Village is preparing to meet the Corona Crisis. I know she and Bekah, Hannah and Ashley as well as staff and nannies are exhausted. Please be praying for them as well as baby Phillip.

Neema Village had two babies in the hospital in January and February, one of them, Christina, is an abandoned baby who will live at Neema until she can be adopted. 

She and another new baby, Joyce, both became sick and we took them to the doctor who put them in the hospital. But Christina was sicker than Joyce and was eventually put in ICU for over a week. Many of you who follow Neema Village Facebook were praying for this little abandoned baby. Bless you. Even now this picture makes me cry as I remember how we prayed for her while she whimpered and pled with her eyes for us to help her.

We hired overtime nannies 24 hours a day to stay in the hospital with both babies. One day I had taken three volunteers and our daughter Kim to the hospital to check on the babies. They were medical people and also wanted to see an African hospital. Dr. Matthews, the pediatrician, told us Christina was not doing well and that part of her bowels had died and would have to be taken out or what they touched would die too. But they would need blood for the surgery he said, and Christina was A Positive.   

All four volunteers were tested and all four were A Positive! Amazing isn’t it, how God works!

Christina is now back home at Neema and doing much better. Thank God!  She had one little set back but is home in our isolation room now.  Keep the prayers coming. 

Michael and I are home in the States for our Granddaughter Hayley and Rob’s wedding and taking care of business and visiting friends and family, and eating as many McDonald homestyle hamburgers as I can!  That is our little adopted Tanzanian granddaughter, Maria, in awe of Hayley in her wedding dress.

Michael was diagnosed with Typhoid before we left Africa so we have spent a lot of time in Doctors’ offices. We are amazed at how thorough the medical community is here! He has seen almost every kind of doctor imaginable, except gynecology of course, and there is still no definitive diagnosis except Typhoid. Typhoid is a killer and he has had a pretty rough time of it but doing better now. That is Michael above working on the new aerobic sewer system at Neema before we left Tanzania.

Before we left, we put together the totals for last year at Neema Village. We received 23 new babies from Social Welfare in 2019. Thirty babies were adopted or put back into a family home in 2019. Our highest number of babies in the house for one month in 2019 was 63! It’s loud, it’s messy and sometimes quite wonderful, right Kim White? Our daughter Kim is pictured above.  

Hannah tells us there were 215 volunteers last year who stayed in the volunteer house. Hey, all 215 of you guys, We Love You!! That is Steve from Australia pictured above.

Music with Kathy, Isy and Shannon, VBS with the Burkhalter puppets from Rusk, Texas and a prayer and medical clinic out in a Maasai Village led by the Billings, Montana group all rounded out a busy couple of months for the fill-in Neema Directors, Kim White, Ashley Berlin and Hannah Patterson. You three Rock!

Sarah writes:

The mother had had a stroke at the birth, the father’s whereabouts were unknown, and no other family could be located. The baby was left alone in the preemie unit at the hospital. She only weighted 1.3 kg when Social Welfare called Neema Village to come pick up the baby. The mother had put Joseph as the father’s name on the birth certificate, so we named the baby Josephine. 

A few months ago, a man walked into the baby home with a young wife and said, “My name is Joseph.” He had come for his baby girl. We stalled him then because Josephine was too little and still on the bottle. Today the family came again.

Today the stalling was over and two Maasai men with the young wife had come for Josephine.  

Putting babies back with their family is one of the best things we do but it is still tough when the baby has wiggled her little self into our hearts like this one.  

We packed her bags and I stood there with tears while Angel gave the two men the “no cutting or we bring the police” and the “she must go to school” speeches. Josephine has bonded with the mom and has been riding around on her back today.

In her little red going home dress Josephine walked confidently down the porch and out to her new life. They are Ngorongoro Crater Maasai so I will sign up to go on that safari in hopes to spot our little Josephine someday.

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

My sister Joleta’s granddaughter, Kelsey Titlow volunteering from Palestine,Texas for a few weeks, got to hold one of the babies on the ride home. Susan Hergenroether from Wisconsin held the other precious bundle.

One girl and one boy, they both had the abandoned baby tags on their arms. Nannies Rehema and Witness gave them their first baths. The nannies love to name the babies so Rozina wrote suggested names on the board. Out of eight or ten names Anna and Patrick were chosen and tonight little Anna and Patrick are safe, warm and fed at Neema Village. 

And tonight, somewhere in Africa, God is preparing the hearts of a new mom and dad who will come someday and walk out the door with another baby and a huge hunk of my heart. It is what Neema Village does best.  

We had to park the car and walk down some narrow mud alleys, places where you could easily get lost, and after asking directions a number of times we came to the house. 

It was mud and sticks with one small window that let in so little light I could not see the woman. I turned my phone on so we could see. She had a bed and a bucket which she turned upside down for Steve to sit down. 

We four, Jessica, Marilyn, Bronte and I sat on the bed and Zubeda, the mom, and 3 of her children crowded around, her clothes were hanging around our heads. 

It is hard to describe despair, but we could feel it as we listened while Anna quietly interpreted Zubeda’s words for us. 

Her husband had been killed on a pikipiki, that is a motorcycle taxi which is how many people get around in Arusha. After she could not pay the rent she had to leave her house and had not been able to find a place to live so Mama Samueli was letting her live in this room. The bed took up most of the room. It wasn’t much of a room, but it was free.

I was desperately trying to think what all Zubeda needed and what we could do. She needed everything. She had no food, Mama Samueli had given her some ugali, cold corn meal mush.  We asked her where she cooked, and she replied I have no food to cook. There were no lights, no bathroom, no kitchen, just four mud walls, a mud floor and a rusted tin roof. We weren’t sure where all six of them slept. Her beautiful little girl should have started to school this month, but she didn’t have clothes and mom could not afford lunches or uniforms or books.

We asked how we could help. After talking with Anna, Zubeda thought she could make a business selling used shoes, we noticed she was barefoot. She will come to Neema Village in the next few days and talk with Anna about how we can help her get started in a shoe business. First she will need to move to a bigger room, near foot traffic where she can work a business. A room with a light bulb would be nice.