And Thank you to all of you who stay with me to the end of my rather long blogs!  I do love sharing this journey of saving babies in Tanzania East Africa.  Bless you for coming along on the journey.

In all that we do may God be Glorified and Jesus Lifted Up!

Michael and Dorris

Ruth is an abandoned baby.  Her mother was living with her dad and step mother and when they found out she was pregnant, they began abusing her. So, she left home and later abandoned the baby. Baby Ruth was found and the police were called.  Later they located the mother. When the baby’s mother told her story of abuse instead of putting her in jail the police called social welfare who then called Neema Village.  Now this mother is getting the help she needs. She has visited Ruth at Neema. Hopefully as soon as she is stable and can provide a safe home for her daughter, they can be reunited.

This mother may be a candidate for our MAP program which was designed to help mothers like this who abandon their babies not because they don’t love them but because they are poor, desperate and feel they have no other choice.  Please consider sponsoring baby Ruth while she is at Neema Village. Go to www.neemavillage.org.

Thank you to Marve Sattiewhite (pictured in the first photo) from Fort Worth for the cute photo of Baby Ruth Burrito above.

Namnyaki came to Neema a week ago, she is also an abandoned baby.  Her name in Masaai language means “blessings”. 

She does not have family who can help her and did not seem to know how to properly care for the babies.  The baby boys were in “failure to thrive” when they were brought to Neema by friends from the Andrew Connally School of Preaching, Justin and Anna Maynard, who live on the other side of Arusha. 

The mother and babies have been in the isolation room at Neema for over a month.  They are now healthy, cute little boys.The mother has decided that she can not care for the boys right now so she will be leaving them at Neema.  Neema will help her set up a used clothing business and will apprentice her to another MAP mom who is doing a successful business in used clothing.  We will be asking friends to help pay for her apartment for 6 months while she gets her business going under the condition that she visit the babies regularly each week.  Hopefully then she will be able to take the boys home.  Mariya Halapi set her up with business clothes from our “Dress for Success” room at Neema.

Elisha and Edward, pictured below, are two little boys from a set of triplets who have been at Neema for 3 weeks.  This is the second set of newborn tiny triplets we have had at Neema in the last two months and makes 12 sets of triplets we have helped over the past six years.  What gives with this!!!

Their little triplet sister, Esther, was able to leave the hospital yesterday with their mom, so the family is finally back together again with all three babies and the mother in the isolation room at Neema.  The boys weighed 1.67 kg and 1.68 kg when they came in and are now up to 2.12 kg. 

I know the following is long but please hang in there with me to the end, you could be part of something way bigger than all of us. 

Mwajuma, pictured below with Michael, is 35 years old and has walked on her knees dragging her legs since she had polio at age 12.  A few weeks ago she came to Neema Village looking for help. It is shocking that people still have to deal with Polio in this day and age!  Mwajuma has a 12 year old son named Juma.  The father has abandoned the family.  They rent a small room in Arusha, Tanzania.  Mwajuma knows how to make the beautiful shoes with handcut leather and colorful beads that are so popular in Tanzania. Neema Village will help her start her own  shoe business.

Below is a picture of Mwajuma as she struggles to move around at her home.

It is sad and a bit ironic that Mwajuma will spend her life working on shoes, something she will never wear herself.  Her business will cost 490,000 TSH or about $250 USD

Penina (below) is 21 years old. This beautiful young woman was working on the street supporting herself, her 88 year old grandmother and an aunt with Downs Syndrome and her own 2 year old son.

Penina has heard about Jesus’ love for her and knows about his power to save her life.  The family was living in a mud house that was falling down but the uncle who owned the house has now kicked her out.

Before she moved someone stole all her goods including a stove which we had bought for her.   It was an unsafe neighborhood so we were glad to be able to move Penina away from the area.  She is now attending classes offered in the Mothering Center at Neema.  She speaks good English and wants to start a Hair Dressing and Beauty business. We will send her to a 4 month Beauty School where she will get a certificate when she passes her classes. The school cost 690,000TSH or about $350 for school and $100 for 4 months transport. Her total schooling will cost $450.

Upendo, the mom pictured on the right, has a 2 year old son named Calvin, who was severely brain damaged at birth.  After the birth the husband abandoned the family. The baby was malnourished and not processing protein when Upendo came seeking help at Neema. We put the baby in the hospital for about 4 weeks.  She plans to start an Internet/Fresh Juice Bar busness. We have hired 2 college students to teach her how to use the computer three days a week for two hours for a month.

The teachers will also be available if she has questions or problems once she starts her business. Most people from our area of Arusha do not have access to the internet so they go to town to use the internet.   Mariya brought computers from Germany and Upendo will have 2 computers to use to help start her business.

She will need a printer, a small fridge, tables and chairs and we will help her with the rent for a year.  The shop is on a very busy street corner. and the neighbors tell us it will be a good business for her.  I love the picture of her with her baby on her back as she learns about computers.

About $1,000 USD is needed to help start Upendo’s business.

Mama Iddi, pictured below, is a 63 year old grandmother struggling to keep a severely brain damaged ten year old granddaughter.

Her daughter abandoned the child with her. This grandmother is living in a house that looks unsafe and is about to fall down. She owns her own home so we will be looking for volunteers to help her work on her home.

Since she must stay home to care for the child we will help her start a chicken business so she can work and stay home.  The Pape Chicken Coops  and 40 chickens with feed for 6 months is costing $450.

Modesta, a widow pictured below, is 51 years old and has three children. The youngest is 2 years old and two of her children are also Albino.

When her husband died last year she inherited nothing, as is common with many widows in Africa, and the family had to move in with her aunt. But now the aunt says she cannot keep her any longer. Neema was contacted by a minister to see if there was a way we could help Modesta.   She and her children had no place to go so we have moved her to an apartment close to Neema and will set her up in a day care business. She has worked at day cares in Arusha before so is excited to have her own Day Care business to be called “Happy Children” or “Watoto Wafuraha”.   We have created a flyer for her to take around to her neighbors to help start her business. We have paid 6 months rent at $25 per month and bought supplies and a stove to help her set up her business. Business costs are $320.

Mama Pretty, pictured below with the chickens and the big smile, has two children.

 In August she had little twins, Pretty and Precious. Unfortunately, one of the twins, baby Pretty, passed away because of heart problems caused by malnutrition. It is surely difficult to get over losing a child in any country but even more so in Africa where these kinds of deaths are frequent and yet so preventable.

Mama Pretty doesn’t want to just be given food she wants to make her own way. She has the true heart of an entrepreneur.  We want to help her by setting her up in her own chicken business.  We will help her buy 40 chickens and supply chicken feed for about 6 months.

The chicken coop was built and donated by friends of Maria Halapi so Mama Pretty’s business is now fully funded.

 Evaline, pictured below with Mariya Halapi, has two children.  Her husband left her some months ago .  She was living in a one room mud hut with a rusty tin roof and was two months behind in the rent.  There was no food in the house, she was depressed and close to being evicted when Neema was called to help.

Now look at this hope filled young woman!  After we told her we would help with the immediate needs of rent and food, we began talking with her about how she could make a living and support her two children.   She decided to do a used clothing and vegetable stand.  Rent and food for 6 months will be $222 USD and the bundle of clothes is $75. Evaline’s used clothing business is $297.00.  It is beautiful to see the smiles on Evaline’s face now as she builds a future for herself and her children.

 

Josephine is a widow, 36 years old, with 2 children.

She has a job working at the big flower export plant in Checkerini, a small town just down the road from Neema. But the doctor says she must quit her job because of damaged lungs due most likely to the chemicals used at the plant.   Josephine thinks she can do a chicken/egg business at her home. We are wanting to build her a “Pape Chicken Coop” which is portable and will hold about 40 chickens. The chicken businesses are costing us around $450 USD to build the coop, buy the chickens and feeders and feed for six months.   In a town of 1.6 million you can’t have too many egg businesses.

 These are eight worthwhile women’s businesses if you would like to help. Gifts to Neema and the MAP program are always tax deductible. But the IRS tells us we may not have donations made with a specific name of a mom on the donation if you want it to be tax deductible. Please just put “MAP program” on the donation. You can always email me personally later with more information about your donation.   I will be glad to get you in contact with a MAP mom so you can have the personal touch of actually Transforming a life!

To support one of these businesses please go to www.neemavillage.org and click on the donate button.

 MAP (Mothers Against Poverty) has now started eleven businesses for women and has 16 more pending.  We have given away eight sewing machines to women coming to the sewing classes at Neema. 

 

 Mariya Halipa who directs MAP and all of us who love this program at Neema Village say Thank You so much for supporting this program that is changing lives one at  time.

Michael and Dorris Fortson

Psalms 112:5 – 6  “Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.  Surely he will never be shaken, a righteous man will be remembered forever.”

Now I know what monsoons are!  It has been raining almost every day at our baby home in Arusha, Tanzania; huge, blowing, blustery rains.  It has dusted all the leaves and splashed everything with such vibrant greens its almost painful.  Below is our meditation park with the scripture benches and fruit trees in front of the volunteer house at Neema Village. 

I have also learned this week that tin roofs can leak and it is very difficult to find a misplaced nail hole in a tin roof!  We awoke to find that due to so much rain, a hunk of the ceiling had fallen to the floor in the crawlers playroom last week.  Thank God they were not in there, it fell right where they sit on their mats. Even out in the villages everything is green and lush as Elfie from Germany and Linda from Texas found walking the trail in the Maasai village after church Sunday.

We moved little preemies, Neema Grace and Eliah, out of isolation this week.  They have gained enough weight to move into the small baby room.  Their new roommates are Sarah, Isac, Abasi, Zablon, Ezekeli and Loitapuaki

It was a good thing since we needed the isolation room on Friday when we brought home a mother with three little week old triplet babies from the hospital.  The mom has a bad infection from a C-section and is very sick and running a fever. 

We sent her back to the hospital to be admitted with an IV drip but within a few hours she was back at Neema after refusing to stay at the hospital.  She had cried when she left and begged us to take care of her babies so it was no big surprise she refused to stay in the hospital.  Below pictured the mom asleep in our isolation room at Neema with her three little babies in their beds.  We have a full time nanny helping her around the clock.

  Her home in Arusha where she is living is not finished, there is no running water or electricity in the house and there was no apparent food nor preparations for the babies.   Her husband was with her but said he had to leave town for work in a few days.  Since she could barely stand up she could not possibly haul buckets of water to the house while constantly nursing one or more of the babies and still prepare food for herself and her other little 4 year old boy.   She is a teacher and is so thankful for our help.

Social Welfare evaluated the situation and said the babies would probably not survive if they went home.  A couple of our volunteers and driver bundled them up and brought them all to Neema.   Fortunately we have two helpful volunteers here right now, Dr. Jon Walker, an ER doc, with his wife Sarah and their three children from Joshua, Texas and Sharon Bonogosfsky-Parker, a pediatric nurse from Billings, Mt. 

Sharon also teaches moms good breast feeding skills so she was showing the mother how to nurse two babies at a time and also pump for the third baby. 

Dr. Jon was able to diagnose that the little boy triplet had a broken leg.  So back to the hospital for this little guy pictured below.  Poor babe has a cast on his little finger size leg!  They think it most likely happened at the birth. 

Maria’s two friends from Germany, Elfie Schaller and Ria Sterzer, are volunteering for a month at Neema and started a three day sewing class for women yesterday in our Mothering Center. 

 We were also blessed this month to have one of our board members and our grant writer come for a visit.  Dr. Sue Hamby from Temple, Texas enjoyed spending time with some of our nannies.

May your lives be full of good things.

Putting Families Back Together

That is what we do here at Neema Village.  We have done it over 91 times!!  As soon as possible we put these babies back in their families or we have them adopted out or we support them in their family home.  It has never been our goal to keep these babies at Neema.  All babies deserve a family.  That is what happened this week at Neema. Two of our sweetest little chicks flew the nest.

Osligi was a Maasai baby and came to Neema when he was just a few days old.  His mom had gotten a ride on a motorcycle to try to make it in to the hospital while she was in labor.  It was the worst road we had ever driven on when we went out to that remote village last year.  We could only imagine what she must have gone through trying to make it in to save her baby’s life.  Osi’s mother did not survive the birth but the baby did and shortly after the birth he came to live at Neema.

Osi had a toothy smile that stretched from ear to ear and quite often kept us laughing with his antics.  He could also be heard screaming for his porridge most mornings!  His father has not remarried and works away from the village so his uncle who lives on the main road decided to take him.  His wife is a teacher and Osi will get a good education.  He is close enough that we can go out occasionally to check on him. 

Bakari came to Neema at about 4 months old. His mom had died and the father was unable to care for the baby.  As he grew older Bakari’s sweet personality emerged, we called him a “gentle little soul.”  He could be seen often helping one or the other of the littler children, like in the picture below.

It is always a bittersweet time for us when these little ones that we have loved are able to go home.  But we know we have to let them go.  Osiligi was fully sponsored while he lived at Neema.  Bless you dear sponsor. 

We pray that we loved them both well and that God’s love was settled deeply in their hearts.  They loved to sing “Jesus Loves Me This I Know.”  I wrote a poem a few years ago about that, I hope you know He loves you too.

“Jesus Loves Me This I Know.”

Who am I to speak of righteous things to you

Like Paul, the good I would, is but the bad I do – but

Jesus loves me this I know.

 

Moving the Widow Modesta

We left early this morning for a small village outside Arusha, Tanzania to move a widow into town. It was a rough, muddy road but such beautiful country, lush and green with huge banana trees and pink bougainvillea.

The widow we went to move is 51 years old with three children, the youngest is two. Modesta is also an Albino and two of her children are Albino. Even though Albinos are not in danger here as they are in other parts of Africa there is still some cultural stigma for anyone who is different. I guess that is pretty much humans anywhere though isn’t it.

After Modesta’s husband died last year, she moved in with her aunt. Now her aunt says she can no longer take care of Modesta and her family and take care of her own family too. Modesta and her three children had no place else to go, so Neema’s MAP program (Mothers Against Poverty) has stepped in to help.

I cannot imagine how difficult life must be here for widows. They lose not only the protection and support of their husbands, they can sometimes lose their fields, their cows, their home and even their children if the village elders decide they cannot take their children.

Today we moved her from the aunt’s home to a room down the road from Neema Village. Even Dr. Sue Hamby, pictured above, one of our board members who is here visiting Neema got in on the move. Sue will turn 80 next week, just in case you are wondering if you are too old to come to Africa and volunteer at a baby home!

Since Modesta has worked many years in a day care center, we will help her open a small day care business in her home. Hopefully this will provide enough income for her to support her family.

Until it does we will be supporting her at $30 a month. I know that is not much but it will help buy her Ugali meal.

We had been told she had only a bed to move but that quickly turned into a full load which David thankfully was able to get loaded on the top of the van.

It is such fun to be able to do things like this here in Africa. This widow could not stop hugging and thanking us and asking God to bless us. You make this work possible but we are the ones who get to do the fun part and get the hugs. So Thank You! I love this picture below of Maria, our MAP director, with Modesta and her big smile of thanks after she was told that we would help her start her day care business.

We thank God for those of you who are supporting this work so that we can get all these great hugs!

James 1:27 “True religion is taking care of widows and orphans.”

I hope you too get lots of hugs today my friend,

dorris or (Mama Neema)

There is always lots happening at Neema Village, our home for abandoned, orphaned and at risk babies in Arusha, Tanzania. We have had seven new babies in the last few months. There are three little new babies in the isolation room right now, pictured below.

Little preemie Eliah was born March 1, 2018. He weighed 2.2 kilos when he was brought to Neema. His mother is very sick with liver problems and she has two other small children at home. We have put this family in our outreach program and will be helping them each month while the mother is sick. Hopefully the mother will get better and be able to take Eliah home someday.

Baby Sarah, pictured below with Bekah, was born Feb 28th. Her mom is very sick with HIV, refuses to take the medicine and is no longer talking. Please pray for this mom who seems to have given up on life.

We test all our babies every six months at Neema for HIV until they are age two. At that time if they have not begun to develop antibodies they are clear of HIV. Many of these moms who have the sickness here in Africa get the disease from their husbands who then die and leave a wife not only destitute but sick as well. It is very sad for these families and especially for the little ones left behind.

Little Isac, pictured below, was born on January 8th, 2018. His 29 year old mother gave birth and then felt sick and was taken to the hospital and given a blood transfusion She then developed blood clots and had surgery to remove them. Sadly she passed away leaving this beautiful little boy, pictured below with Nadine one of our volunteers from Germany The father cannot care for Isac and there are no other family members who can help, so the baby will stay at Neema until the father hopefully remarries. Praise God, Isac already has a full sponsorship.

Neema Grace, pictured below, is doing great. Featured on the last blog, she weighed 1.5 Kilos and was skin and bones when we brought her home from the hospital. Now this little chubby cheeked girl eats all the time and is growing like a little pumpkin.

Identical twins, Zablon and Ezekeli came to Neema on Feb 26, 2018 . They were about 3 months old. Unfortunately their mother had passed away. The father works out of town and cannot care for the boys.

Emmanuel was brought to Neema under special conditions when we were asked by Social Welfare to take this little guy. He was pretty beat up with scabs and bruises on his face. His mother is an alcoholic and lives in a cardboard box. Emmanuel was called a “walker” because he just walked around from place to place asking for food. There are many street kids in the large towns in Africa but not usually as young as Emmanuel. We are not sure his exact age but he has fit right in with the big boys in the Montana House. He knows how to charm people, I guess that is how he got people to give him food. Emily Broadbent and Emmanuel are best buddies.
Angela Burkhalter and Neema’s baby Isac are pictured below.

John and Angela Burkhalter from Rusk, Texas and their three children spent 2 weeks at Neema. They were awesome volunteers. We have had lots of incredible volunteers this year! I wish I could picture them all.
Just have to put in a plug for the Mt. Kilimanjaro Charity climb. Contact Dr. David Vineyard from Nacogdoches, Texas if you are interested in climbing this July. It raises money for Neema and will be a blast! If you can’t climb be sure and sponsor a climber!!!

You can be a part of this precious ministry by sponsoring one of the babies beginning at $30 per month. It cost $300 per month to keep a baby at Neema. Sponsorship money is tax deductible and does not go toward buildings, land, cows or chickens, solar installation, roads or other special projects. Those are paid for by special contributions. It does pay Tanzanian staff salaries, food, formula, medical, petrol and utilities. Only Tanzanians are paid from sponsorships at Neema Village, all other workers at Neema are volunteers who raise their own support including the directors. Please go to www.neemavillage.org to set up a sponsorship. We need your help. Bless you if you are already sponsoring a baby!!

2 Corinthians 9:8 “God is able to make all Grace abound to you, so that in all things, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

Love,
Michael and Dorris

Last week we were called to pick up a little preemie baby from the hospital. The first time we saw Neema Grace she weighed 1.3 kilos. She was two months old.

Her mom had died and her father was in Kenya. An uncle came to the hospital but could not keep the tiny baby so Neema Village was called. Babies who lose their moms in Africa have only a one in ten chance of surviving to age five. It did not look good for this little one.

We began to take formula and preemie diapers up to the hospital and stay just to hold the baby. The nurses are overworked and do not have time to hold one special baby. Once we got her home she was held almost 24/7. Emily Broadbent giving her bottle in the photo below.

Bekah just weighing Neema Grace below.

Above is Neema Grace with Bekah at 1.5 Kilos (about 3.3 lbs). We have all fallen in love with this little one and there is no shortage of volunteers ready to sit and hold her. We have put her in the isolation room on the warming table and have hired round the clock special care for her. They are waking her up every 2 hours to feed her. Now see what she looks like ten days later!! No bones and a full tummy!!

I can’t even begin to tell you how good this makes us feel.

She will need all the prayers you can give so don’t stop praying!

Live Love,
Michael and Dorris

Can I tell you again how much I love this MAP (Mothers Against Poverty) program at Neema Village in Tanzania, East Africa! It is a beautiful thing to see hope come alive in the faces of these women. Eveline, pictured below with the big smile, is loving her new business selling used clothes and vegetables at her shop set up by Mariya Halapi, our MAP director.

Eveline’s husband left her owing months of back rent and two children with little food in the house. She was severely depressed when Mariya, Ema and I first went to visit her. We gave her money for food and talked with her about what she could do to make a business to support herself and the children. She could barely look up while we talked with her.

When Mariya sent these new pictures I couldn’t believe the difference in the two women pictured above! I asked Mariya, “Are you sure this is the same woman!” Mariya has worked out a business plan for Eveline and Neema has supplied some of the used clothes she is selling. She walked around the neighborhood at first selling her clothes door to door but the MAP program has since rented a shop for her and she is doing great. She will have about six months to get her business going and then she will start paying forward her investment for other women in the MAP program.

Mariya is teaching the women in the program how to keep financial records so they can keep track of their sales. She taught a business seminar this week in the Koala Place Mothering Center and most of the women in the MAP program came in for the class. Below is Eveline and Mariya in front of Eveline’s new shop.

The young moms waiting to get their businesses started love to visit with Mariya when she has time to walk down to their homes. For now they are in the Neema outreach program. You can see how these young moms love and respect Mariya in the picture below. She said one day, “I feel like a mom to them.”

Just to leave you with a smile below is a picture of two of Neema’s cutest babies, Peace Joy and Angel baby. We came to Africa to help these little ones who had lost their moms and soon realized that we had to help these mothers of Africa. Bless each one of you who helped us get this incredible program going.

“Without Hope life is a broken winged bird.” I don’t know who said that quote but I know I like it. I think we are fixing broken wings here at Neema Village so these women can fly! You can be a part of MAP by going to www.neemavillage.org and hitting that donate button!!

Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you hope and a future, says the Lord.”

Live Love,
Michael and Dorris