An Nkoaranga Christmas! #GiveandReceive

With only 1 week left of the Holiday drive, we wanted to wish you all a...

HAPPY HOLIDAY! 

This week, TST celebrated Christmas with our children, and hard-working Mamas and volunteers. We started out by setting up the tree while the little kiddos were taking a nap, putting the wrapped presents under the tree, and then handing out all the gifts to our wonderful children. They were incredibly excited, and the celebrations went on for hours with the kids unwrapping and playing with the toys!

We wanted to share our celebrations with you, and have made a little video to give you a taste of Christmas at Nkoaranga:

Without you, we would never have been able to give our amazing children all this, and we want to say THANK YOU with all our hearts for your incredible support throughout 2014! 

We are excited to have many new sponsors joining the TST family – welcome to all of you! A big shout-out as well to all of those sponsors who joined us before the start of this year's #GiveandReceive campaign.  We are so grateful for your ongoing support, and excited to share 2015 with everyone!

How can I join in?

During the #GiveandReceive drive, our goal is to get FULL sponsorship of all of our children, and so far 11 children are fully sponsored!  We are thrilled!! 41 children still need more sponsors to become fully sponsored.  You can get involved by helping us to spread the word about the #GiveandReceive campaign, checking out our campaign website or signing up to become a sponsor!  We are so grateful for whatever support you can give.

What does it mean to become a sponsor?

By sponsoring a child through TST, you will build a special relationship with the little boy or girl.

• Share the development of your sponsored child through quarterly reports, pictures and videos. 
• Once they are old enough, your sponsored child will also write you at least two letters a year themselves.
• Follow their progress and growth through our monthly newsletter, Facebook and Instagram accounts, and Youtube channel!

When you sign up to sponsor a child during the Holiday #GiveandReceive drive, you will also get a gift from us in return in the form of a personalized card, Tanzanian ornament, or the 2015 TST Calendar, sent home to you! 

Find out more, gaze upon our sponsorship tree(!) or sponsor a child at our campaign site:

 #GiveandReceive

Thank you so much - Happy Holidays!

2 weeks left! #GiveandReceive

We are now halfway through our #GiveandReceive Holiday campaign, where our sole goal is to get FULL sponsorships for ALL of our children! THANK YOU to all of our incredible sponsors and supporters – you are amazing! 

Since the start of the campaign, we have many new additions to the TST family – welcome to all of you! A big shout-out to all of our sponsors who have stayed with us through many good and exciting times, and a few very difficult ones – we are grateful to have you on board for next year's continued success!

What have we achieved so far during #GiveandReceive?

We have 39 children in total who need sponsorships, and 7 of them are already fully sponsored!! Many of the others are incredibly close to being fully sponsored – go to our sponsorship page to see the individual elephant meters (Curious? Take a peek!) we need to fill up for each child. Why not sponsor a child as a Christmas present, and give an extra push to get each kid fully sponsored?

Believe it or not, we still have some wonderful children who have no sponsors at all.

Adam

Adam, pictured below being cuddled by our lovely Vicky, is the youngest baby at the orphanage. He was born a healthy little boy at the end of July this year, and came to the orphanage after his mother tragically passed away after giving birth. He cried a lot in the beginning, but he is getting bigger now, and you can often catch him smiling!

Priska

Priska is a lovely little girl, who lives in Pippi House, a safe house for survivors of sexual abuse, where she receives vocational training, medical care, and psychological support. The Small Things support Priska through our Outreach program, and she is one of the children who needs sponsors!

If you think you could become Adam or Priska's first sponsor (or a treasured sponsor of any child!), you can find out more here!

Where does your sponsorship money go? 

All the sponsorship money goes to providing for our children, and below you can see a breakdown of all the costs associated with caring for the children at the orphanage, and Pilot House (for future Happy Family Children's Village!) respectively.

Help us, help our children AND get something in return! Become a part of our family and community through sponsoring a child, and get a personalized card, Tanzanian ornament, or the 2015 TST Calendar, sent home to you as a thank you! Click here to go to our #GiveandReceive page, and help fill up the Christmas tree with our children!

If you have any questions about sponsoring a child or Outreach family, please contact our sponsorship coordinator Theresa at theresa@thesmallthings.org, and she will be happy to help you!

Thank you!

Ebenezer's wonderful story: from a difficult first year as a baby to being reunited with his family!

This gorgeous boy went home to his loving father and brother last week, which is always a special time for all of us at the orphanage and TST – celebration for the best possible outcome for the child, follow up to ensure their transition is smooth, and getting used to their absence on a day to day basis. Ebeni was special for me, though – it truly felt like coming full circle.

I had been at Nkoaranga all of two months when Ebenezer arrived at the orphanage. Now he is known as Big Ebeni, but he was teeny tiny at the time! He was extremely premature and sick, and came in together with another little boy named Riziki, who was in the same situation. These boys brought me back to reality, and made me realize how much the orphanage needed help. All the other children who had arrived at the orphanage as new-borns since my arrival (Maureen, Vicky, Filipo, and Franky) were healthy and thriving. But that is not always, or even often, the case with orphaned children, and my eyes were opened the day Ebeni and Riziki arrived.

I was terrified to hold either of them for a long time – they were so tiny, you could feel and see all of their bones, their tiny hearts beating in their chests. And then Riziki passed away, tragically, just as he had started to gain weight, and I never got a chance to know him. His death shocked me into consciousness of how serious the plight is in Tanzania – that orphanage work is necessary because death is everywhere, and impossible to hide from. It pushed me to move to orphanage work full time, to focus on Ebeni, to invest time and energy and money into his care so that he could pull through – and in working with Mama Pendo on his care, we realized how similar our visions were, and a hazy vision that would grow into TST began to take shape.

Ebeni is the epitome of our goal for TST and Nkoaranga Orphanage’s role in the community. It is extremely unlikely that he would have survived those first months without the formula, round the clock caretakers, and numerous extended hospital stays that would not have been possible had he remained with his widowed father. However, his dad and brother visited regularly for all four years of his stay in the orphanage, and worked continuously until they were stable enough to take him home. The orphanage served essentially as respite care for a family going through crisis, and allowed them ultimately to survive and stay together. I could not be happier or prouder for Ebeni or for his beautiful family, and I hope we will see more and more of these full circles closing as we move forward!

Benny with his happy father and brother! 

A-Z of everything that is great about Tanzania!

Hello Everyone!

My name is Rose, and I have been working with TST in Nkoaranga for over 4 months now. In such a short amount of time, I fell in love with our wonderful children, and Tanzania in general, so I recently made the decision to extend my stay in Tanzania from 6 months to one year. I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with TST and being able to witness its growth and hopefully contribute to it! I am also looking forward to learning more about the culture, and enjoying all the wonderful things Tanzania has to offer. Here is my A-Z list of everything I love about Tanzania:

A – Avocados
They are twice the size of avocados back home, and cost 500 shillings (20p) instead of £2!

B – Bananas
Bananas are everywhere, and so many different kinds! We even have banana trees in our garden in the compound. Thanks to Ashley, making Banana Bread has become a tradition for our group meals and events.

C – Chips mayai
I was torn between choosing Chips Mayai or Chapati (I know Theresa would have gone for Chapati) but it has to be chips mayai – it is essentially a chips omelette (literally translates into “chips eggs”), and I can tell you with confidence that there is no better comfort food than chips mayai.

D – Doughnuts (Mandazi)
These doughnuts are locally known as Mandazi and they are little drops of heaven! It’s better to not think of the amount of calories and just enjoy it with a cup of Chai.

E – Embe (Mango)
Mango season is approaching, and I cannot contain my excitement. At the moment, they’re around 500 shillings each (20p), by the middle of January they’re going to be everywhere and around 100 shillings each (what!).

F – Frank
Alright I know I’m technically cheating, but I'm sure all the previous and current volunteers will appreciate this! He is our wonderful driver, who makes every trip memorable.

G – Greetings
This is probably one of my favourite things about Tanzania – walking out of the office, and having a 10 minute conversation with people in the community with just greetings!

H – Hot Springs (Maji Moto)
After driving for miles in the middle of the desert (probably getting lost a few times), you will find this magical oasis hidden behind large fig trees. The perfect place for a volunteer social!

I – Ice Cream
Azam Ice Cream is a must when you’re in need of comfort food.

J – Juice
Nothing beats a glass of fresh mango or passion fruit juice!

K – Konyagi
“Konyagi, the spirit of the Nation, is a drink that brings many people from many places together with one rhythm and one spirit” can’t argue with that one, but they forgot to mention the lovely headache that it comes with the next day.

L –Landscape
I am so grateful to be living in a community where you can go for a hike at any point and witness the most beautiful sceneries ever!

M – Markets
The markets in Tanzania are amazing, specially Tengeru Market every Wednesday and Saturday. You can buy everything from clothes and shoes to all your fruit and veg. (I bought a pair of Vans for £2)

N – National Parks
From Arusha National Park to Tarangire, Serengeti and Kilimanjaro. Tanzania has so many beautiful national parks for you to visit.

O – Oranges
They may be green instead of orange, but they are absolutely delicious and probably the most accessible fruit after bananas.

P – Piki Pikis!
Not everyone’s favourite - but these motorbike taxis are my favourite way of getting around.

R –Rice with Sauce
Probably my second favourite dish - rice with sauce, beans and vegetables (of course you can get meat too). If you’re having a lazy day and don’t feel like cooking which is most days for me, Baracka outside of our compound makes this dish everyday!

S – Swahili
I think Swahili is such a great language to learn. “pole” – my personal favourite, meaning sorry, but you can literally say it with regards to anything e.g. sorry you are tired. How wonderful is that!

T – Tea (Chai)
The nation’s favourite drink, black tea made with hot milk and lots of sugar and spice.

U – Ugali
I can’t say I personally love it, but Ugali is a classic Tanzanian dish that is served with sauces, vegetables, and meat.

V- Via Via
This one’s for you Cassie! Everyone’s favourite ‘meeting place’ on a Thursday night.

W –Watoto (Children)
This blog post would have been pointless if I didn’t get to write about my favourite thing about Tanzania – the beautiful Watoto of Nkoaranga community that I have gotten to know and adore with all my heart.

Y –Yogurt Drink
Locally known as mtindi, this yogurt drink must be tried at least once!

Z – Zanzi
This is basically the Tanzanian version of Baileys – I don’t think I need to say anything else.

I hope the blog has made you consider booking a flight to Tanzania! Thanks for taking your time to read it, and please do get in touch with me if you have any questions or if you would like to volunteer for us! (rose@thesmallthings.org)

Asante sana!

Rose