Donations!

We are now officially set up with a separate bank account for "The Small Things" and the capacity to take numerous types of donations, including monthly contributions! Woo hoo!

Baracka says, I'm off to make a donation right now!

Honestly, I've been struggling pretty hard with being away - the kids keep invading my dreams! - and working in whatever limited way I can to help them and make their lives happier and healthier is the only thing getting me through. That and knowing that so many people here have taken the babies into their hearts as well - and I promise you, your heart might hurt a little from the amount it has to stretch to hold all that love, but it's worth it in the end.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I was dreading the arrival of this day, and now it has finally happened - I looked at a photo of one of the babies and literally didn't recognize them, they had gotten so big.

Vicki now

Vicki on day one

Filipo (left) and Ebenezer now

Ebenezer on day one

Filipo on day one

I honestly thought the first picture was of Maureen, not Vicki, or a new baby altogether - she has changed that much! I guess babies do that, but it doesn't FEEL like I've been gone at all. Meanwhile, seeing Ebenezer doing so well is a huge relief after his nasty health scare in April - malaria, pneumonia, and meningitis, poor little scrap! In the meantime, some changes have taken place for the better...

Pendo smiling and happily adjusted to life at Nkoaranga

And some never change.

Pray peeing in his pants. Of course. 

Official - Part one!

WOOT! The Small Things, Inc. is officially incorporated as a nonprofit with the State of Connecticut!!! Today, CT, tomorrow, federal approval, next week, THE WORLD!

Ok, well, actually, we only need the federal approval. But you know, the world would be nice too.

Two roads diverged

Do you remember our gorgeous little Joyce (now named Soana Joyce), the baby girl who was adopted from the orphanage in March? The wonderful mother and father, Peter and Maria, a Dutch businessman and Trinidadian lawyer at the ICC Rwanda genocide fires in  Arusha, were kind enough to send along a beautiful photograph of Joyce on her special day a few months later. They've been very sweet about keeping the volunteers who loved Joyce in the first few months at the orphanage up to date on her progress and took some photos and letters from us to show her when she's older that she was loved from day one.

ON day one! 

All growed up - ok, almost.

This brings back something fun I don't think I ever got a chance to post here. When my family went on our short safari, we went with a very nice man named Elias, who we had met through Peter and Maria. He has a number of orphaned children in his own house and was named legal guardian of Joyce as an infant, who had been born to a woman with mental health issues who was taken in, literally off the street naked and pregnant, by a neighbor of theirs. This is a video of some of the beautiful, healthy sixteen children that Elias and his wife have taken in giving us a performance before we left for safari. 

In other news, I talked to Mama Pendo this morning, along with Rehema and Jeremiah, and all seems to be going well - and a new baby boy named Daniel has come into the orphanage, who is around two months old. Also, the garden is now feeding the kids on a regular basis! I look forward to hearing and seeing from Megan and Emily pictures of the new baby as well as of the garden. 

Make the most of it while I'm here

I'm still in Nkoaranga and writing this from a nearby internet cafe. Scarily Emily, Ross and I (Megan) are running out of time. I only have 19 days left before I'm off back to England, which is hard to really imagine. The children here do become so much part of your life when you see them every day. We'll be going in to help put them to bed tonight and I'm planning to be back at 6am to help with the bathing, changing, dressing and feeding. It's frantic, but it's my favourite shift - when you've finished you feel like you've really done something useful (this is occasionally confirmed by the mamas offering you chai for 'kazi njema,' (good work) then you really know you did well!)


The last few days I have loved watching Zawadi walk properly, standing straighter than I've ever seen her before and marvelling at how big they've got in our 3 weeks we've just been away travelling. I got a disapproving correction from Faraja on Saturday when I thought little Maureen was Gracie from the back, because Maureeni couldn't possibly be that big!

This picture is one of my favourite ones of Andrea out the front of the orphanage because he just looks so happy. That was a brilliant afternoon for photos.
It's amazing how much you learn from being here, how much the children here can teach you. It's wonderful to be in a place where you know you can make a real contribution to their lives, but they are also well-cared for and happy. Every time they see you arriving they all throw themselves on you and make it perfectly clear that they are glad you came, even if you've only been gone 2 hours. I'm looking forward to spending my last weeks here with them, but already dreading having to leave.

The best 6 months of my life

Hey Everyone! My name's Emily and I am currently working at Nkoaranga Orphanage and have been since January of this year. Words cannot describe what an incredible experience this has all been. Meeting the kids and watching them grow has been an absolute privilege.

I recently went travelling for 3 weeks and missed the kids an unbelievable amount; when I returned little Zawadi was walking all on her own! We were all so proud of her. She really has worked hard to fight the rickets and is doing an amazing job- she was even dancing the other day. I couldn't believe how much they had all grown; we were so happy that little Ebenezer has started to gain weight again and increase in size.

All of the children are beautiful and unique in their own way; before I came here I had never looked after children and the idea of it was quite daunting, but now I could change a nappy with my eyes closed- which does occasionally happen when we are graced with yet another power cut.

Getting to know all of the children is a real treat, over the past 5 months we have become so close to all of them; I could easily walk into the playroom and tell you which pair of shoes Stevie likes to wear the most and which Bob the Builder DVD is David's favourite. The work that everyone is doing to help the children is incredible and really beneficial. Working with the Mama's has been a pleasure and it's wonderful to know that the children are being cared for by women who really do love them.

We have less than 3 weeks left in Africa and the idea of leaving the children is absolutely killing me but it is so reassuring to know that we are leaving the children in the care of such wonderful and competent women.

As soon as I can I will be returning to Nkoaranga and to the most beautiful children I have ever met. They are all so clever, funny, happy and loving- such beautiful individuals. All buzzing with life- I never knew such big personalities could come out of such small people...or so much slobber. They are all perfect and I know they are going to grow into incredible individuals.

Mzungu - Turn, turn, turn

The word Mzungu, used in modern Swahili to refer to anyone of European and/or non-African descent, is quite possibly the word a volunteer or tourist can expect to hear most - next to pole (sorry) and asante (thank you) - shouted by small children who want to hold your hands and touch your hair, by women selling items in the market trying to get your attention, by (ok, at least for the females among us) overexcited young men who somehow think that yelling your race in your direction is going to make you irresistibly attracted to them. However, unlike most similar terms in the US, Mzungu is not a derogatory term in and of itself - it is categorical, used almost as a pronoun. (Don't get me wrong, it can be irritating to be called Mzungu by people who really, really should have learned your name by now.)

The origins of the word are a little murky, but it appears to come from the Swahili verb "kizungu," meaning to spin. One explanation for this is that the word originated during early trade with Arabs and others, as the mzungus "spun" around the world. This would explain why an African American, Jordanian, or Asian might as easily be considered a mzungu as a white girl from Connecticut - that the term originated from lifestyle, not race specifically.

Ninazungu nyingine kilu siku - I spin more every day. Today I booked my one-way ticket to London on September 13th, to start LSE the following week. I also booked my ticket over December break to go back to Tanzania, December 11th to January 7th. I am excited and nervous (not to mention broke) - to start studying International Development seriously, with faculty and students who will challenge me and make me better at this work that I've wanted to do for so long. To be away from my babies for these long months, but to now have that light back at the end of the tunnel... I'm scared and excited to see how big they will be, if they will remember me at all, who they will have become. I want them to thrive, and also I want them to stay exactly the same until I return. I want Z to progress in leaps and bounds, and also to stay the same precious, sweet, tiny baby I remember.

Don't ever change. Except, please grow and change and keep becoming the incredible people you are going to be. What, I just want to disrupt the flow of space-time a little - and while we're at it, can I get a teleport up in here?

Incredible little individuals!

Hey Everyone! Like Bekka I have just returned from volunteering at Nkoaranga Orphanage and I definitely seem to be missing the kids there more every day! When I first arrived in Nkoaranga I never imagined that I would grow to feel as close to the children as my friends did, but the more I visited the orphanage and the more I got to know the children there as the incredible individuals that they are I realised that, without me realising it, I'd already fallen in love with them all. It's impossible not to: they are all so full of life - so exuberant, loving and with such big personalities! Each and every one of them is just perfect (soggy nappies, snot and all!). The Mamas there are inspiring woman and it was a privilege to work with and make friends with them. I'm so glad that the children have such caring and loving people to take care of them as they grow up, and I'm so happy to have to opportunity to continue to support them as they do it!

Also, I hope you like the picture! It was taken soon after I arrived and looking back I can't believe how much Ester has grown!!! We were all so proud of her when she took her first steps...and she was so excited too!

Theme Song

You ask why we need a theme song? Really, the question is what organization DOESN'T need an official theme song? Theme songs make everything better, like bacon and acrobats. There are a few hot contenders in the field right now, and I couldn't possibly decide without all of you. Here are the current frontrunners:

Option one: The Emily Song. A classic. 

Option two: Bob the Builder. I honestly will not be surprised if the current group of babies' first word ends up being Bob. Even the two year olds know the songs pretty darn well, as witnessed below:

Option three: A Swahili religious song that Simoni is REALLY cute singing with Mama Pendo. Of course, it IS about mothers, fathers, and Jesus, three things that The Small Things kind of doesn't get involved with... But listen to that little voice! 

What do you think? 

Unanswerable questions

Why exactly do I get burned in two hours in Connecticut sun but not in six months of Tanzania sun?

Why do I get horrible itchy awful bites from American mosquitos but not from Tanzanian mosquitos?

This is just adding insult to injury.