The 5 Baby Challenge

Have you heard of the ‘5 baby challenge?’

As you may already know, The Small Things has recently been fundraising in order to raise money to provide wages to cover overtime hours for the mamas for the next two months. These overtime hours are not just for anything. These hours are vital for ensuring the survival of our newest and most vulnerable babies and this is our '5 baby challenge.'

In the last month a total of five orphaned new born baby girls have come into Nkoaranga orphanage; Hope, Irene, Joanita, Lulu and Faraja. One baby is usually enough to handle, right? This situation is made even more serious when you put into perspective the fact that these babies are now in an environment that consists of twenty two other children. This means we now have 27 children in total, 8 under a year old! Normally, the orphanage is staffed by just two to three mamas at any given time, plus volunteers - however, with this many new-born’s, that's just impossible.

Meet our five newest girls:

Faraja

Hope

Irene

Lulu

Joanita

This is why we have been paying every day for one or two extra mamas to come in and focus full time on the tiny ones, as part of our one-to-one care program (although in this case, it's more like a two-to-five program!)

For those of you who have been following the steps of The Small Things for a while now, you will have seen exactly how effective our one-to-one care program has been in the past. It has literally saved lives and the successfulness of it has strengthened our belief that little things really can produce great big outcomes!

Peace, at over one month old, weighed just 4 pounds (2 kilos), not gaining an ounce his first month. We hoped that applying an intense care program would help, and thanks to your donations, we were able to fund 24/7 care for him during his second month, where he doubled in weight!

And this is Peace now! He is a brilliant character; so cool, laid back and happy to sit back and observe!

Our goal this time was to raise enough money to continue to pay two extra mamas to come in every day for the next two months. It costs about $6/day for each staff member, which adds up to $800 for 60 days. Just $800 to make sure Hope, Irene, Joanita, Lulu, and Faraja all survive. We were overwhelmed with the rapid response and the generousness of our supporters who donated enough money to exceed our goal of $800 in just three days of our Crowdrise fundraising page going live! 

This doesn’t mean we will stop there. It is truly a massive relief to know that we have the secure financial ability to pay for the hard work and time that the mamas are taking out of their own busy family lives in order to ensure that the children of Nkoaranga Orphanage get the best start in life. This is such a crucial time and we are very fortunate to have such skilled, devoted and passionate women who do their best for these special little people.

The care for these babies will still need to continue after two months. Donations towards the ‘5 baby challenge’ would still very much be appreciated and any amount goes such a long way. Giving up one cup of coffee immediately covers more than half a day’s wages for one mama!

Our crowdrise page is still up and running. Click here to keep up to date on our progress and to donate to what is an extremely worthy cause. Please, help these gorgeous girls to grow up healthy and happy by giving them the best possible start in life! 

Volunteers are a fundamental part in the everyday running of the Orphanage. We are looking for volunteers to start as soon as possible! With this many children currently under the same roof, we need a few more energetic people to keep them all occupied and having fun! If you think you’re up to the challenge or know somebody else that might be, please email volunteers@thesmallthings.org today or visit our new and improved website for further information. 

Meet new friends from around the world by volunteering in Nkoaranga. In this photo we have Mie from Denmark, Sarah from America and Romany from England!

A new website, a new era for the Small Things

We'd like to use this week's blog to welcome you to our new website. Some of you may have looked at it when it was linked to the Facebook page yesterday, but there are a few changes and new ideas to draw your attention to.
Firstly, and very importantly, we would like to thank Riz Kaiser for all the work he has put into getting this designed and up online. We think he's done an amazing job and managed to deal with the joys of Tanzanian internet connection admirably! Getting the website up has been a source of internet-related frustration for a while, so we are glad that Bekka and Riz can now get back on with their lives.

Here's Riz with Peace last week, playing in the garden.

Next, we have a major announcement to make:

The Children's Village

The Small Things has been considering expanding for a while. Although there are numerous baby homes and orphanages in the Arusha area that take in young children who need it, there is much less provision for kids once they reach the age of 5 or 6. For the last few years, the Nkoaranga children have been enrolled in the TFFT (The Foundation for Tomorrow) programme that has taken them through boarding school. This has been very successful and there are several generations of ex-Nkoaranga children currently working their way through Usa River Academy not far from the bottom of the Nkoaranga hill. Unfortunately, TFFT has a limited capacity and cannot possibly provide for all the children who need support beyond 5 years old. 

For many years Mama Pendo, who runs the orphanage, has wished that boarding school was not the only option for these children. Boarding is challenging for children at any age, but 5 seems extremely young to be leaving your home behind. There have been children who have understandably found it very difficult in the past.

In launching our new Children's Village project The Small Things is taking on a major challenge to provide good quality care for children as they pass through school. There is a lot of planning still to be done and we certainly aren't rushing into things head first. However, we are aiming to meet the very clear need of children who have aged out of Nkoaranga orphanage and potentially other orphanages and baby homes in the area. Many children return to their extended families at this age, but for some this cannot be possible. We hope you will continue to support us as we make this challenging next step. Keep an eye on the 'Children's Village' tab in the 'About' section of our website for updates on how we are getting on.

Here are the last two years worth of Nkoaranga orphanage 'graduates' at Usa River boarding school. They've settled in really well and we are very grateful to their sponsors, but we hope our children won't always have to make such a challenging adjustment at such a young age.
(From left: Andrea, Erik, David, Pendo, Dainess, Steven)

Sponsorship

This brings us on to our second new development. Instead of just asking for donations towards our work we are launching a new sponsorship programme to help us support the children in the orphanage. This is similar to the school sponsorship we have looked for in previous school years to send children to boarding school, but as explained above we are hoping they will no longer have to board. 

To avoid inequality developing between the children with sponsors and those without, money will be used very carefully and put into a communal fund to support all the kids. However, this is a really great opportunity to put a face to to your support of Nkoaranga orphanage. Sponsors receive twice-yearly update videos and a letter detailing the child's progress, and will receive new photos monthly. Sponsors are also encouraged to send letters, birthday or holiday presents, and can track their child's progress through our website and Facebook page.

We've set up several levels of sponsorship, which should make this a viable option for those for whom school sponsorship was out of reach. This starts at the 'Rafiki' (friend) level at £10/$15 per month and goes right up to 'Shujaa' (hero) level at £100/$150 per month.

We'd love to build this up into a really strong source of support for the kids. Please go to the 'Sponsor' tab under the 'Help' menu on the website to find out more about it.

Here's Abduli, who my family currently sponsor through TFFT. It's been great for my parents, who haven't met the children, to learn more about the child they are supporting.

Volunteering/Interning

Finally, we'd like to make another shout out to anyone who might be interested in volunteering or interning. Our new website also has a 'Volunteer' tab in the 'Help' menu, which now makes our volunteering guide available to download. If you're interested in volunteering, please have a look to see if the Small Things might be just the right organisation for you.

We also highlighted recently on the blog that we're looking for interns to be out in Tanzania for a few months at least. This might be a really good opportunity for recent graduates and those interested in getting into non-profit work. Again, please go to our 'Volunteer' page to find out more.

Guest Post: Emily Butler

This week, Emily Butler writes about her recent trip back to Nkoaranga Orphanage (and her recent ambitious fundraising venture!).

For those of you know do not already know this incredible young woman, she originally volunteered in Nkoaranga in 2011, where she taught English as well as doing care-work at Nkoaranga Orphanage! Following this, she became one of the original board members of The Small Things, playing an integral role in forming the charity, as well as doing crazy things such as sky-dives to support it!  She returned to Nkoaranga over Christmas last year (her dedication going as far as spending Christmas Day in Dubai airport!), so this is her 2nd time revisiting everyone there...but this time, she brought her family!  She is now on our child-welfare committee, continuing to put her new skills towards supporting the kids and Mamas.

"I have now been back from Nkoaranga Orphanage for just over a week and it still feels like it was all a dream. I cannot believe that a week ago I was running around the orphanage playground, laughing with the kids and having such an incredible time.

Over the summer I had the great honour of introducing my family to the Nkoaranga kids and, boy, was I nervous! It had been over a year and a half since I had last been in Nkoaranga and I really did not know what to expect. The village had changed so much and I was so worried about seeing the kids again (as I was scared they would not remember me) that I did not know if I would be able to manage it or not. 

But it was amazing. As soon as we walked into the orphanage, we were rugby-tackled by about 20 kids, all screaming with joy to see us again. They took to my mother straightaway (of course) and, before we knew it, we were settling into the routine of things.

One thing that really struck me was how BIG they had all gotten. There were about 6 new babies that I had never met before, and the babies that I had known were now running around and talking in full sentences. It was especially amazing to see how both Ebenezer Kubwa and Peace had grown as they had been so underweight when they first arrived at Nkoaranga. It really shows how hard the Mamas all work to protect the children and ensure they are healthy. Seeing the Mamas again was wonderful and they were so warm and welcoming. They could not believe that my mother was, in fact, my mother and kept asking if she was actually my sister, much to my mother’s absolute delight!

Whilst we were there, my mother and I were able to take the 3 eldest boys -  Stevie, Ericki and Eman - out for lunch. They’ve been working so hard at school so we felt they deserved a treat. We took them to a cafe at the bottom of the hill called ‘Tanz Hands’ which is a rehabilitation centre where we are frequent visitors (to the point that the women in the cafe actually remembered me...oh dear!). The boys were all really well behaved and I don’t think I've ever seen them eat so much. I was really proud of all three of them that day as their polite and well-behaved manner really reflected what a good upbringing the Mamas are giving them.

The next day, we took all of the kids to a big playground near Arusha where they could jump about in ball pools and throw themselves down a huge slide to their hearts’ delight. We had a wonderful day and the kids absolutely loved it. Once again, I was reminded of how proud I am of the children as they were all so well behaved throughout the day. I got a bit over-excited in the ball pool with the kids and managed to lose my camera. That was fun: rummaging around desperately in the ball pool whilst I am being jumped on by numerous children of all ages and sizes. I eventually found it, but not until the other volunteers had been able to have a good laugh at what a muppet I was. I definitely deserved that.

My father and brother also came out to meet the children whilst we were there and it was lovely. They kids adored them and I think it was really good for them to have some male role models around, especially since they were able to lift the kids into the air quite a bit, which the kids loved! My brother’s back, however, did not.

I remember walking into the playground one morning and seeing my Dad being chased down the hill by about 3 kids, whilst my brother was being chased back up it. The sight literally brought tears to my eyes. My brother said to me afterwards (and he’s probably going to kill me for quoting him), ‘I was really dreading meeting the kids because I’m not really a kid person. But they’re amazing. I can see why you’ve fallen in love with them.’ It meant so much to hear this from him, and to be able to show my family what wonderful, funny, loving, crazy, amazing little beings the children of Nkoaranga Orphanage are. The trip could not have been more perfect.

The children of Nkoaranga Orphanage mean the world to me, so it was really important that I was able to show my family exactly why that is. I think it is fair to say that they now understand.

Our sweet little Vicky was ill the day of the big trip out so did not get to go, so my Mum and I, along with two other awesome volunteers (Mia and Nanna), took her out for her very own trip. We went for a very filling lunch and had a wonderful time. Vicky was so well behaved and sat there colouring quietly the whole time. I became very close to Vicky during my trip there this summer so it was particularly hard to say bye to her again at the end of it. She has grown into such an amazing personality and is hilarious: a really cheeky, funny little girl. It was lovely to meet her big sister, Queen, and see how well they get on and how they played together at the orphanage, despite having not lived with one another for all of Vicky’s life.

It is amazing spending time at Nkoaranga Orphanage but it is also really hard. You’re reminded everyday that these brilliant children do not have what I see as the most important thing in the world - family. This is until you realise that they don’t necessarily have a conventional family, but their own special Nkoaranga family, made up of the kids, the Mamas, the volunteers and The Small Things. This family is so full of love and joy. It’s not ideal that the kids are in the orphanage, but they are safe, they are healthy, they are happy and most of all, they are loved. This is what I feel is important.

Seeing the children with the Mamas is a beautiful experience as you can see what a strong bond the Mamas have with each and every child. It was seeing this and knowing that someday I would return that meant I was able to say goodbye again. This definitely will not be my last trip to Nkoaranga Orphanage. Being back at the orphanage really reminded me of how hard the Mamas and members of The Small Things are working to protect the children, so I wanted to do something to help...

...which is why I shall be giving up alcohol from September 16th for 6 months.  This means that, as a student, I shall be celebrating freshers week, Christmas, New Year's and the end of January exams without a drop of alcohol, which is something that I see as quite a challenge. Please sponsor me to give me a bit of encouragement along the way. This can be done at by clicking here.

Thank you so much for anything you can give, it really is appreciated."

Here’s a little video to show you just how much the kids have changed since I first walked through the doors at Nkoaranga Orphanage. Enjoy!"

Board Bio: Bethan Crisp

My name is Bethan Crisp. I am 21 years old and I am currently studying Anthropology at Brunel University in West London.

In the Amazon!

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to pursue my studies and career in Law. That was until I began planning some time out of studying in order to travel to Tanzania. Suddenly, my head was filled with adventure, spontaneity, getting ‘out there’ and experiencing the world, (as cliché as that may sound!)

I visited a few universities  and it was during one visit that the realization fell upon me that spending the next, however many years in a dull, brown bricked classroom, (which is how this one particular Law department looked!) was just not for the person I was becoming.

I changed my course and I could not be happier with my decision. I have been on an inspiring placement to Ecuador where I lived in an indigenous Quichua community in the Amazon for 6 months and the confidence it has given me is brilliant and extremely encouraging.  

Anyway, how did I get to Tanzania? I originally went to Tanzania through the organization “Oyster Worldwide” in September 2010 as part of my gap year between college and university. I taught English at a primary school to a class of 70 students for 6 months, until meeting some amazing volunteers in Nkoaranga, also there through Oyster, who took me on a visit to the Orphanage. I fell in love with the children and from that moment, I just knew it would be impossible for me to keep away.

Big Franky with Pray and Fillipo during music class

Such happy faces make working for The Small Things and being a volunteer at Nkoaranga so rewarding!

I was nervous at first to meet the children. Before Tanzania, I had never really been a ‘children person’ or very natural with babies. The children at Nkoaranga completely changed me. They were so welcoming and full of love that I had no time to be shy. They were just such brilliant characters and made an immediate impression and I suddenly felt like I had come to the place that I was destined to go to since arriving in Tanzania. Something had always been missing and until I met these children at Nkoaranga, I didn’t know what that missing thing was.

This year whilst I was back in Nkoaranga, I saw the arrival of baby Hope. It is a very bitter sweet situation to witness the arrival of a new resident of Nkoaranga Orphanage; to be able to hold and interact with such an amazing form of life but to have to wonder about the tragic circumstances that have brought him or her to us. It was fascinating looking at such a small bundle of 'Hope' in her blankets with her eyes closed and thinking about her future. It was very emotional for me as I stood in the baby room looking over at all of the small, sleeping little people. I can only be glad that they are in a safe place surrounded by love and people who will be there for them for years to come.

Baby Hope in her bundle of blankets, the first day I met her. 

I didn’t expect to become so involved and connected to the orphanage. I think that may have been due to every time in England if I was given a baby to hold, he or she would immediately cry their eyes out! Here, at Nkoaranga, a baby would stop crying and feel content if put into my arms. I felt needed. I felt infinitely responsible to care for them and ensure I could be a part of their lives and a part of giving them a future they deserve; a future that any child deserves.

This is why I now work for The Small Things. It gives me the opportunity to do just that – have the ability to contribute to the livelihoods of these beautiful individuals from England when I can’t physically be there with them. I was first in Tanzania for 10 months and I returned for the Christmas and New Year of 2011. This year, after 18 months, I made my third return and saw such a wonderful difference. Such big, gorgeous, healthy children! I had the opportunity to visit the older school children at USA River Academy who had been at the orphanage on my previous visits. How amazing to see them as such flourishing individuals, learning, happy, running around on the grass together and absorbing life.

Visiting the older children at USA River Academy this year. I first met them in 2011 in Nkoaranga Orphanage. It is so great to be able to see such wonderful, physical changes and pure proof of development.

Life at Nkoaranga Orphanage is tough, to say the least. The mamas and, not forgetting, big Franky, do outstanding work. I'm sure many parents would say that looking after one or two children is hard enough. But imagine two mamas a day with over 20 babies, toddlers and young children craving their attention, not enough toys to go around, or not enough of the same toys to prevent any arguments! Sounds challenging, right? 

Loveness taking care of Isaac. The older children can be so helpful when there aren't enough hands to feed a hungry mouth or to sooth a crying baby.

I grew very fond of big Ebenezer. It seems so ironic for him to now be named 'big' Ebenezer (now that we have another little Ebenezer in the orphanage too,) considering he was so tiny and so sick when I first held him back in 2011. I feared for his life. So to see him again this year was indescribable. He is such a funny boy who absolutely loves a cuddle and although he seems relatively sweet and innocent, he definitely has his cheeky moments! He certainly knows how to win your heart, even after you send him to bed and wait for an apology after he has misbehaved, he quickly makes it up to you with a kiss on the cheek!

A tiny, premature baby, Ebenezer,  who became so sick that it was touch and go as to whether he could pull through. 

....But he did! And he is such a fun, lovable, beautiful and, most importantly, healthy little boy today! 

I love a good challenge and what better motivation to complete one, than to do it for the kids? Upon return from Tanzania my first time, I conducted 'Project Maji' which raised over $1,000 for water filtration systems for the orphanage and hospital. 
Then, I went a step up and in December 2011, planned for myself and 4 other previous Nkoaranga volunteers to jump out of a plane and skydive! I still to this day have no idea how I managed that. I not only have a fear of planes, but also of heights! So if THAT wasn’t a challenge, I don’t know what is!
This April, I also took part and completed a sponsored half marathon in aid of The Small Things. I’m not a huge fan of running, especially a run that goes on for more than 2 hours! But I did it and I would do it all over again for the children.
I am of course now thinking and planning my next challenge; something bigger and better. Ideas are on the cards so you will have to keep a look out to see what I plan to get myself into next time!

Success of Project Maji! Stevie, Andrea and David drinking safe, clean water.

High up in the air! A terrifyingly amazing experience.

At the finish line! My first half marathon which I plan to do again next year and beat my time.

  

There are too many amazing memories of the children and Nkoaranga Orphanage for me to go into here. This is why I would tell you to go to Nkoaranga and experience it for yourself and to make your own memories!

 
I am very grateful to be a part of The Small Things because it allows me to play a part in the continuing development of the present and the future of these children. I am a member of the communications, fundraising and volunteers committees and I love being able to assist and help prepare new volunteers who are set to travel out to Tanzania. I am thankful to have met such devoted people and to work as part of a team where our strength grows immensely due to the support of all of you who take the time to read our blogs, keep updated on the children, provide feedback and donate to our projects.

Thank you everyone for your support and encouragement to The Small Things but also to the steps of my past that led me to where I am today.