April 1st, 2023
Five of our Fort Worth Christian girls volunteering at Neema Village this month went with Kelle Samsill, a Neema board member, and Anna Kimambo, our MAP Director, to visit a grandmother with her granddaughter. We had heard from Social Welfare that this poor grandmother needed help.
It was amazing how happy this widow woman was with her special needs granddaughter. The grandmother and girl could not stop smiling!
They were living in a mud hut with no electricity, no running water, no inside toilet, no car, no family, no medical help, and especially no government or non profit help to support the little family and they couldn’t stop smiling!
Going up into the mountains in Maasai country, the FWC group had to park the car and walk in over a foot path that gets pretty slippery in the rains, through a gully and up into the dirt swept yard of the mud hut.
Janet, the little special needs granddaughter was eighteen years old. Grandmother asked if any of the girls in the FWC group were that age. Kelle said they all were seventeen and eighteen years old, just the same age as Janet. The girls may have been in a bit of a shock.
As she held her, Kelle was surprised at how tiny Janet was, During her bath you could see there was not much to her little eighteen year old body.
The girls listened as grandmother talked about her life caring for her granddaughter. She didn’t complain or accuse anyone and she was not angry at what life had given her. She just seemed full of joy at being able to take care of Janet.
She wasn’t asking for a hand out but she had heard that Neema helps mothers and widows with small businesses. Anna gave her some money so she could buy a little food and then Kelle and Anna worked out a plan for a goat business for her. You don’t have to do a lot of hard work for goats, just feed them and watch them have babies so you can sell them. It sounds like the perfect business for this busy grandmother.
So, this week Kelle and Anna loaded up the cars with goats and volunteers to get grandmother started in her goat business.
Ally, Melanie, Nancy, Elaine and the goats went with Kelle to meet Janet.
This funny little goat below seems to be saying, “Is this my new home?”
We were so grateful to be able to help this sweet family.
Martha ran away from her Maasai village at night. Her father had died and the village elders wanted her to marry an old man who already had other wives. She walked to the highway about three hours at night to get to the main road where she hitched a ride with strangers to town. I cannot imagine how brave you have to be to do this! There are hyenas out there! In town Martha heard about a place that helped girls who ran away from early marriage and FGM. It was the sweet little church orphanage down the road from Neema Village.
The girls from the orphanage come to Neema Village on Fridays to sew and that is where we met Martha. She quickly became a leader in the group, leading the Maasai songs and the girls in prayer before they begin to sew. Dora the sewing instructor says she is a very good seamstress. After finishing the course, Martha received her own sewing machine from Neema Village.
Now she is ready to start a sewing business out in another Maasai Village. She has learned to make school uniforms. All school children wear uniforms here. To get her started we will buy her 3 bolts of fabric, good scissors, thread, other notions and a chair. She will also need rent for six months and money for food for six months. She is young and energetic and will do very well. If you want to help women like Martha please go to the Neema Village website www.neemavillage.org
We just finished our 17th Save The Mothers session helping twelve very brave grandmothers learn how to save mothers during childbirth.
I have to tell you after a week of working with these brave, smiling, lion hearted women I have begun to wonder if maybe we are not the ones who are in need of help!
Be Blessed dear ones,
Dorris and Michael