All kids are thriving!

We're very happy to do yet another post about how all of the Nkoaranga kids are thriving! The babies are growing, the toddlers are running around singing and dancing, and the school kids are in the top of their classes at school! 

On saturday, Bekka, Mama Pendo and I went to Usa River Academy School were we with the help of The Foundation For Tomorrow and our great sponsors among you we were able to send Ericki, Dianess and Steve last year. Many older Nkoaranga kids are also at the school, and everyone was very excited to see us and came running at Mama Pendo with big hugs.

We were able to visit all the different classes with Nkoaranga children in them and see their work and results. It was wonderful to see how all of the kids are doing really well and even have top spots in their classes - so proud! They were all very proud to show us their work and how well they could spell things and tell us what their favorite subjects were - everything from English, Swahili, math, geography to social studies!


Other than doing really well academically the kids also seemed to be very happy and enjoying going to school. We were shown around the school and it is located in a beautiful area with lots of green, luscious  nature surrounding it and it is a great place for the kids to be staying.

At the orphanage all of the children are thriving as well! Filipo is now walking which is very exciting! Frankie still prefers to sit down or to be cuddled - however, I managed to get one step from him yesterday. Hopefully he will be walking on his own in no time! Kristina's beautiful home made dresses were handed over to the kids on Friday and they absolutely loved them! Great colors, adorable prints and pretty little girls to match them! The mamas very grateful as well and thought they were beautiful dresses! So for the past few days we have had colorful, happy girls running around the orphanage with these dresses on!

The orphanage also really appreciated all the shoes, thermometers, sheets, clothes, cups and plates that I brought for the kids that I have received from sponsors in Denmark. 


All in all, the kids and the mamas seem to be doing really well. I am so happy to be here again and I can't wait give you more updates on our work and how the kids are doing. In the coming weeks we will be joined by many other volunteers and we will start working on several projects. The installment of solar energy at the orphanage and parts of the hospital will begin and we are right now looking into expanding the chicken coop at the orphanage as well as expanding the kitchen garden.

Furthermore, our micro grant pilot project will run this summer and it will be very interesting to follow this project.  The mamas have shown their gratefulness for all of the work we have done at the orphanage and since it is very important to us, that we are working with the orphanage staff on what the orphanage really needs and how we can support them it is great to get such feed back. As an example of this, one of our current projects is providing all of the mamas with English lessons and they are enjoying this so much that they have requested to continue attending class for another few months!

My internet time is up - more updates should be coming soon from our current ground members!

Summer week one - welcome back!

Little Ebenezer with his grandmother's sister, who is so proud
to see how much he's grown! 

SO! Things have been crazy but fantastic for the last week, I finally have time to sit down and write a quick recap. The kids have, I swear, doubled in size since I was here in December - in a few cases literally! The two new babies are doing really well - Ebenezer and Neema - although poor Ebenezer has a bit of a chest cold that has been giving him trouble. He's on meds now, so hopefully that'll be taken care of soon. This time of year is something of a trade off - it's colder so there are fewer mosquitoes and therefore less malaria, but they get more miscellaneous bugs, especially since they spend a lot of time squished together inside.

Little Maureen going for
 a stroll

Big Ebenezer, showing
off his standing

Vicky, little Maureen, Gracie, and big Ebenezer are all walking beautifully. Filipo and Frankie can walk well with a hand, and with a bit more confidence I think they could easily walk alone, but they sit down immediately when the hand is removed. Hopefully in a few more weeks I'll have videos and pictures of them walking, too! This group is funny - they can all speak to varying degrees, but mostly choose not to. In particular, Maureen can say pretty much anything she wants to - I've caught her singing full, complex songs - but flat out refuses to do it on command. If you didn't know better, you'd think the whole group was mute! Such a contrast to a year ago when Baracka, big Maureen, Neema, Zawadi, Ester and David were this age - with Baracka and big Maureen chattering away, the rest HAD to start talking to keep up and get their share of attention. No pressure in this group, though!

Maureen (left) and Zawadi

Neema in her LSE gear

The older group is now potty training and starting school, which is fantastic to see - and they're SO. SMART. I love watching them singing, dancing, drawing, and writing in class - they're doing extremely well. Neema is also our new LSE MPA mascot - she was too cute in my sweatshirt. Speaking of the LSE, Light Up the Night is going really well - the entire orphanage is MUCH safer with the adjusted switches and outlets, and we're about to start on the solar lighting for the orphanage and maternity ward (courtesy of fundraising by Kristina and the LSE MPA).

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to see Kristina much, as she's been struck by.... something unpleasant, it's not totally clear, but she's sick. Keep your fingers crossed for her! Marie will be here tonight, so we can help take good care of her. I'm also counting down the days until Riz, Adam, Jordan, my mom, and Patty arrive - it's going to be a full house!

I have a bunch more to say and I haven't even gotten to the older kids yet... but I have to cut it short for now, my internet time is running out. More to come, soon!

48 hours till I'm on that plane!

What a rush - two days till I'm in the air on the way to my kiddos, and less than three before I get to hold them again! I couldn't possibly be more excited if I tried. And to make everything even more fantastic, our wonderful partners at Speranza Tanzania (a great Italian group that works primarily with the hospital - have Google translate the page for you!) just shared photos of the incredible school supplies they were able to get a hold of. Some will go to the orphanage pre-school, and others will go to Nkoaranga primary school, just next door - over a hundred kids per class, very few materials, and in some classes they don't even have desks. Between Speranza Tanzania's haul and the stationary donated to Claire Wyatt to bring over, hopefully we can make their year a little easier!

We will also be bringing over a water filtration system for each building, because currently students have no access to safe water during the school day - this is an extension of Project Maji, the filters were so well received that we got requests for more! Take a look at some of the amazing donations below...

They were able to collect all this with the help of a local church in Rome. Similarly, a wonderful family recommended donating to us during a Bar Mitzvah ceremony where Claire was the photographer. Claire's older brother Ben has also chipped in, running a charity golf tournament at his university to raise enough cash to buy 20 containers of premature infant formula - an AMAZING gift because it's just not available in Tanzania. Almost all of our donations come in from individuals, and every tiny bit helps. I can't wait to be back on the ground and see the excitement - and watch the solar lighting installation! - firsthand. 

Just for fun, here are a few of my favorite pictures that hadn't made the website yet. They're all going to be so much bigger when I get back, I figure this is probably my last chance to get these great shots out there! 

Morning snack - bread and porridge

Beautiful Frankie

Me and my boy Pray

Ester getting tickled by another kid!

Simoni grinning

Bethan and Maureeni

Maureen cuddling David

Zi looking skeptical 

Baracka shocked by camera flash

When you hear from me next, I'll be on the ground in Tanzania! Can't wait!

Micro Grants Project

Whenever possible, we at The Small Things believe in keeping children in their communities with whatever family they have, be it biological or adoptive. According to UNICEF estimates, as many as one in six families in East Africa is caring for at least one orphaned or abandoned child. As part of our work with Nkoaranga orphanage, we are developing a pilot program which seeks to help those in the surrounding community who are outside of the structure of an orphanage, but who are nonetheless playing an active part in caring for orphaned children. We choose to support them not just because it is the right thing to do, but also to investigate whether this is an efficient and cost-effective way of keeping children well cared for without the intervention of orphanages.

Thriving local marketplaces

The program will seek to help families affected by parental death - whether they are families caring for orphaned children, families who have lost a parent and are in danger of having to give a child to an orphanage, or young adults who have been orphaned. The program will run for 6 months, and will target from 8 to 10 participants who fit the following criteria:

• Are living in extreme poverty, AND 

• either run a struggling business OR 

• want to start a new business. 

We are targeting individuals for whom a small lump sum grant (from $50 to $100), along with business training, will realize their potential for growth to the point where they are able to sufficiently care and provide for their households in the long term. We will also build an incentive component into the program, with a further grant allocated halfway through the program if they are meeting mutually agreed upon targets. Follow up will continue for six months using personalized “report cards” created for each participant.

Adam

We have a fantastic team working with us on this project. Learn a bit more about each of them, below!

Adam Ross Russell: Adam is an American third year business student at Bryant University who will be heading up this project. He has developed a simplified business curriculum, and will be working in conjunction with Rehema and Vaileth to teach it to the participants. He will also lead the participant selection.

Riz

Riz Kaiser Din: Riz is a graduate of the University of Hertfordshire, in southern England, holding an HND in Computing, an undergraduate degree in Software Systems for Art & Media, and a Master of Arts in Interactive Multimedia/Information Design, as well as prior experience in East Africa. He currently works as a graphic designer, and brings to this project his real-world experience of running an independent/freelance design business in the UK. He has developed templates for selection interviews as well as sample documents for the business course. He will also be leading the design of the personalized report cards, and lending his expertise on creating promotional business materials.

Rehema

Rehema Mussa: Rehema is a local Tanzanian young woman who was taken in by extended family at a young age, and studied through a local vocational program for orphaned youth after secondary school. She has experience as a secretary and teaching basic computer skills in the area, and knows the community and orphanage extremely well. She will be our head translator and assistant teacher as well as primary follow-up coordinator, and is also looking forward to developing her own computer training and graphic design business further.

Vaileth

Vaileth Pallangyo: Vaileth is a recent secondary school graduate who grew up in Nkoaranga and has attended school through The Foundation For Tomorrow, the same organization that oversees our kids’ schooling. She has recently started training as an accountant. As she wrote on The Foundation For Tomorrow’s blog, “Bookkeeping is my favorite subject in school. Some students dislike it but I find balancing books challenging... And because bookkeeping is my favorite subject, would you be surprised if I say I hope to become an accountant someday? I would run my own company after gaining enough experience working in other companies. I believe this is possible. I can make this happen.” We hope this will be a positive step on her path.

Thank you to the donors who made this project possible, including Joanna Waley-Cohen, Ramya Subramanian, Dan and Ellen Hart, Ed and Susan Brubaker, Erik Budlong, Emilie Jensen,  Kate Lamb, Max and Hilde Goldberg, Todd Learmonth, Josh Brownstein, Mary Jo Carter, Valerie Lamb, Allen DePalma, Lisa and David Loeb, Michael dePascale, Penny and Peter Branden, Ben Hart, Rita and Oliver Hart, and Ellen and Michel Plantevin!

Update from Kristina - This week at NK

Baby Peace is sitting up and eating solid food - where does the time go? I'm thrilled to say that I'll be out there in just 11 days as another pair of hands - I can't wait! Thanks Kristina for the updates, and thanks to our fabulous incoming Danish volunteers Stine and Peter for funding a significant portion of the new dryer purchase. We appreciate it and can't wait for you to meet the kids this summer!