And Suddenly, It’s Christmas!

Year number ten for us at Neema, can you believe that! God is so Faithful. He has taken this little gift of an idea from two old retired people who landed ten years ago in Africa with little more than suitcases and He made this huge, living, beautiful, sometimes loud and chaotic place called Neema Village.

Thirty-One babies came to Neema this year and twenty-four babies were able to return home, were adopted or entered our Foster Care/boarding school program. Today there are 57 babies living in the baby home at Neema Village. 

Babies must be special to God; he sent his Son as one!

Twenty six moms, like Prissila above who wants to start a rice and beans business, entered the MAP (Mothers Against Poverty) program and 21 moms started new businesses this year through Neema’s program for abandoned and abused women.

To help stem the tide of babies left without mothers in Maasai land thirteen “Save The Mothers” sessions were held this year. That is 143 Grandmothers better trained to save lives of women in childbirth.  

In all the work that goes on at Neema, one thing stands out as we look at this year. Our beautiful, dedicated, amazing nannies! 

They are just people like us, they make mistakes, they fuss and yell at each other but overall they are giants and they deeply love these babies. They stay late, they come early, they spend nights on end in the hospital with little sick ones and they work on Christmas! 

At Christmas we try to remember them. Every year for ten years we have tried to give each employee a $100 dollar gift. It’s not much but it means everything to them, it means Christmas for their own kids, it means a trip home to the village to see the family, it means paying school fees, it means food on the table for their family. In a country where the average monthly income for a family is one hundred dollars it means a lot.

It’s amazing to write, and a bit scary, but today we have 87 full time employees! 

As you have followed along this year, seeing the work (like harvesting the beans above), I hope you have seen standing behind all that happens here at Neema are those 87 incredible people changing diapers, fixing endless bottles, cooking, cleaning up spills, getting little fussy ones to sleep, walking the halls late at night with sick ones, racing breathless to the hospitals, sleeping in chairs in hospital rooms for weeks on end…I could go on and on.  

We really do try not to ask for money, we have always felt that is not our job. Our job is to tell the story and we let God handle the money, but at Christmas, for our nannies… I’m just sayin’.

At this time of year may you remember that sweet gift in the manger and may He gift you with those three priceless treasures that only He can give, Hope, Joy and Peace. Merry Christmas from our big school kids to you!

You can help make Christmas for the nannies on the official website: