Good Luck Gracie!

Beautiful Gracie

This week's news from The Small Things includes an exciting update about Gracie. Sweet Gracie, aged 2 years and 8 months, has left the orphanage and her Grandmother has brought her to the SOS Children’s villages. Gracie has an older sister already at SOS so they will now be together. Born very underweight on June 21st, 2010, Gracie Spent her first three months in the hospital and was very sick. Her mother was HIV positive and died shortly after birth and at around three months old, Gracie arrived at the orphanage. Since then, she has grown into such a beautiful little girl who has a great future ahead of her. This is a fantastic opportunity for Gracie and we are very happy for her. We will miss her so much, as will the other children! She is such a bubbly and happy girl who will no doubt make an impression and fit in well at her new home. Luckily she won't be far away so it will be easy to visit!

Gracie, I don't think that is where the nappy is supposed to go!

Gracie will not be on her own. Our wonderful Farajah is also there and thriving. Farajah will be turning 8 years old on Friday and has always been a very bright and mature young lady so we have no doubt that she will keep a watchful eye on Gracie as she settles in.


To find out more information about the work of SOS, click here.

More good news! The kids who had malaria in the last two weeks are now recovered and doing really well. Mama Pendo has informed us that Little Ebeni is crawling everywhere and very quickly! Little Neema is still "swimming" on the floor but doing well and is very mobile.

Poor Angel is fighting an ear infection that's leaving her miserable but she's otherwise healthy and really gaining weight.

Keep a look out for upcoming blog posts featuring guest blogs from our half marathon runners who are hard at training in preparation for April 7th, as well as details on our new fresh food program at the orphanage and an insight into our new addition to the media team - Chelle McCann!

Click here for The Small Things 2012 in review newsletter released today! And if you aren't already signed up to receive our annual newsletter by email, sign up now to avoid missing out next time.
(You can find the subscription link on the right).

Bekka with Grace on day 1

A very happy baby

Even happier when she got her independence and learnt to walk!

Gracie and Eman, amazing children. We will miss you Gracie!

About us!

The Small Things

a nonprofit working to support the children and 
staff of Nkoaranga Orphanage, Tanzania

and its parent hospital

Ebenezer

Simoni and Zawadi

Peace with his mohawk and James Bond look!

Vicky, who also has a fantastic scowl when grumpy

Isaac being held by Loveness

Gracie and Eman

A quick refresher on what we do, for those who've joined us more recently! 

The Small Things was founded in June, 2011 and since then we have completed several projects aimed to improve, aid and support these beautiful children and the incredible women who care for them...

Project Maji (water)

One of our first projects was installing a well at the orphanage and hospital, since they were without water as much as one day out of three! Since then, we also installed sustainable water filters into the taps in the orphanage kitchen and maternity ward at the hospital, relieving the need to constantly boil water and wait for it to cool.  Clean drinking water is now readily available, meaning the children no longer need to go without when they are thirsty. 

 - Read more about Project Maji here - 

Light Up the Night

The electrical system at the orphanage was old and dangerous - we decided to raise the money rewire the whole orphanage, to prevent a repeat of the short circuit which caused a fire on Valentines Day, 2009, and would have claimed the lives of seven babies had it not been for the heroic efforts of Mama Cantate, one of the women who looks after the children.  In addition, installing solar panels means no more changing nappies by the light of gasoline lamps or candles.

- Read more about Light Up the Night here -

Project Education

Nkoaranga Orphanage only cares for children up until the age of 5.  If they did not have the option to attend school, there future would consist of being shuffled from orphanage to orphanage, and at best, becoming house servants.  The chance to attend school and receive an education really will change their lives! Project Education works with a fantastic sponsorship organisation called The Foundation for Tomorrow which facilitates the children to attend a high quality boarding school, as well as receiving medical care, pastoral support and extracurricular activities.  So far we have helped 7 children to start school!

- Read more about Project Education here - 

Staff

We have a few different projects that support and enrich our staff. We have directly hired four staff members - Mama Linda, who works with the children, Mama Kevin, a cook, and Mamas Agness and Brenda, who keep the orphanage and grounds clean. We've also started paying overtime for extra mamas to come in on the weekends, when there are rarely enough volunteers, and begun a one-to-one care program for premature infants, where an extra mama is hired to work explicitly with a premature infant until they have caught up in weight and health. We additionally provide English courses and run monthly staff-volunteer lunches to encourage communication. We have also provided management training to Mama Pendo, our incredible head mama. We love our staff! 

- Read more about one-to-one care here - 

Community Outreach

It is said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that's the rationale behind this project. In the summer of 2012, we ran a pilot business education and microgrants program, aimed at helping struggling families in the community providing care for orphaned and vulnerable children. All families in this project were living in dire poverty; in many families one parent had passed away, and in several others the family are caring for orphaned children in addition to their own. It was an amazing experience, and we learned a lot, while helping 14 incredible families. We are currently evaluating our options for future years, as to whether we should continue to run this type of project alone, or whether we would do better to team up with organizations that specialize in this type of work. 

- Read more about the program here - 

We hope you have enjoyed reading about who The Small Things are and some of the things that we do (or at least looking at the pictures!) To get involved, click here, and donate, volunteer, or just help spread the word!

Please join (or like!) us on facebook - HERE!

And if you would like to learn more, we would love to hear from you at info@thesmallthings.org or (firstname)@thesmallthings.org to contact one of us directly.

From all of us at The Small Things...

Thank you!

P.S. Here's a picture of Vicky wearing that scowl I mentioned earlier!

Guest Post by Beth, Nathan and Cara

Beth, Nathan and Cara are three fantastic volunteers who got in touch with us through the website in December and overlapped briefly with our stint in early January - the kids adore them and it's a pleasure to hear that they've returned to the orphanage! Below, their updates on the kids' development. 

Cara cuddling with Neema in January

Children change so quickly, even in just two weeks!

Big girl Gracie!

We are three volunteers from Wales, and yes we can happily admit we have fallen madly in love with the children in the Nkoaranga orphanage. So much so that after being here for a month in January and having to leave for another project (planned stay a month), but ended up returning to the children within 10 days as we missed them so much! It is crazy to think about how much you can miss the children when you have bonded with them in such a special way.

We have been back in the orphanage now for a few days and we cant believe how much the children have changed in only a fortnight! Shujah and Peace, the two small babies of the orphanage have grown a lot in the time we were gone. Shuja has almost doubled in size and now happily sits in the high feeding table, even though he does not yet take solids he just likes to sit there and watch the other children munch away. Peace has also grown and is starting to show such a happy personality, with laughs and giggles all most throughout the time he is awake.

Another nice thing to see is the slightly older babies beginning to walk, when we left Gracie she was standing on her own with a little wobble here and there...we have returned to a very stable Gracie who loves being praised when she stands for a rather long time on her own two feet. And we are so happy to announce that we watched the first three steps on her own, with only the bribe of a teddy! Vicky is also getting very confident with her walking and we are sure she will be following in Gracie's footsteps any day now. She also loves showing off her pearly whites, as four new teeth have grown in what seems over night.

Ebenezer (left) and David playing in t

Some more great reports and developments are that the smaller toddlers are attending the Nkoaranga orphanage school, Maureeni Kubwa, Baracka and Miriam. At first they were a bit wary about going, but with the encouragement of the other children they put on their adorable uniforms and trooped off to school. Its such a big step for the three of them, and they look so grown up in their uniform. They are now all enjoying attending the school every morning and need no encouragement from anyone!

As you can see its hard to believe how much children change in such a small space of time, we are so happy we came back to the orphanage to see them develop and grow. We cant imagine how much they will have change when we return in the future! We have been so lucky to meet such amazing children and are going to miss them so much when we have to return home, something none of us want to think about!!

So from the three of us, Beth, Nathan and Cara; Thank you for your support to these amazing children!

Facing up to our limitations

For all the ways that we try to make growing up in Nkoaranga orphanage wonderful for our kids, we can never fully compensate for the lack of a family. For the older kids, their relationships with each other are so beautiful that we can sometimes be forgiven for thinking they are just as well off. In many ways, they are. But there are serious, long term consequences of rationing their care - consequences we are facing now.

Little babes all in a row

When January of 2011 rolled around, we had seven babies under six months. Gracie was six months, Frankie and Maureen were four months, Filipo and Vicki were two months, and Ebenezer and Reziki were one month. We were down to just a few volunteers, since most of those who had been with us in the fall had left to spend the holidays in their home countries, and the next cohort hadn't yet arrived. Both Ebenezer and Reziki were profoundly premature and very sick, and despite the best efforts of all the volunteers and mamas, there were days on end where the babies didn't make it out of bed. Reziki came to take up more and more time and energy, as his physical state deteriorated, and he passed away at the end of the month.

Things improved slowly after that - as the babies got bigger and some of the toddlers, like Baracka and Maureen, became more independent and needed less help, we were able to get the babies up every day, outdoors every day. They began to eat formula and then food, to gurgle and sit. By the time my father, Dr. David Ross Russell, did physicals on all of the children in April, none of them were too far out of line for their age. Unfortunately, since then, several of the children have plateaued. Gorgeous Frankie and Maureen, who are both over a year, are yet to crawl, although they are making attempts with their arms. Their weights are normal and they seem to be otherwise healthy.

Frankie definitely
 isn't underweight!

Studies show that children in orphanages lag an average of one month of development behind for every three months they stay in the institution. When the children are spaced in age, and we have enough volunteers, we can often thwart that delay - with this cohort of children, we have failed. We don't know how long it will take them to catch up, or what it will take, or whether it is even possible. We hope that it is. We're already planning intensive intervention with the children during our December trip, and to train the volunteers arriving in January to continue that work. But who knows if it will be enough?

The truth is, any time that we don't fail, it is a matter of luck. There are twelve women covering the orphanage, twenty four hours per day, seven days per week. That means that there are between two and three caretakers at any given time for thirty children. The orphanage is desperate to hire more staff, but they cannot do it without help. Consider that those women need to complete, every single day, shopping for thirty children, preparing food from scratch for thirty children, boiling water to drink for thirty children, washing clothes for thirty children, changing and washing cloth diapers for at least ten children, and running school for all the rest. When the water is out, or a child is sick, a mama will be unavailable for anything else until the problem is resolved. The mamas are heroic - but they are human. The children are resilient - but not invulnerable.

They need more time than we have been able to give them. That's why I want to talk about one very specific and direct form of donation. It costs $100 USD, or about £65 GBP, to employ a caretaker for a month. Not all of us can commit to that full amount - but what about half of it? What about a quarter of it? If we can get the financial backing from you, we will hire new staff and have them working with these children SOON. Think about the upcoming holidays - is there anyone on your list who would feel good about giving a chance at normal development to an orphaned child? Who would rather know that a woman in the developing world has a job, and a group of orphaned children have a caretaker, than have another piece of electronic equipment or jewelry?

This isn't just a fuzzy, feel-good approach to combating the problem - numerous studies have shown that even severely neglected children, which these children are NOT, can recover to an amazing degree once they are given the proper attention, exercise, and encouragement. Look at Zawadi, who was not only unable to crawl at a year old, but had severe worms and rickets - and now she's walking up a storm. Simoni, who couldn't walk at two and a half years old, only scoot, because no one had had the time to work with him to overcome his rickets. And now he's running all over the place. Our babies can recover, and given a chance, they WILL recover. Our job is to give them that chance, and to give the orphanage the resources so that we don't face this problem with each cohort of children.

After that, it's out of our hands.

Hire Orphanage Staff

Full Sponsorship : $100.00USD - monthlyHalf Sponsorship : $50.00USD - monthlyQuarter Sponsorship : $25.00USD - monthly

This is in honor of:

References: 1, 2, 3, 4

Board Bios - Emily Butler

My name is Emily Butler. I live in Leeds, England and have my whole life. I’m 19 years old and finished my A levels last year. In September I will be going to Manchester University to study Adult Nursing. I always knew I wanted to take a gap year because I wanted to have the chance to experience another culture and knew I would never get the chance to after university. I have always loved volunteering, and have been taking part in a variety of placements since I was in my mid-teens. I have been a member of the British Red Cross for 4 years now, and have taken part in various first aid duties. I have also done quite a bit of volunteering in a care home, as well as tutoring a young boy with Asperger's syndrome.

My classroom at Nkoaranga primary school

I have done a variety of volunteer work, but never in my life have I ever experienced anything like the work I did in those 6 months at Nkoaranga. Not only was I working in the orphanage, but I also taught a class of 75 children, aged between 10 and 14 years old, for 4 and a half months- this was such an incredible experience, terrifying at first, but so rewarding. Watching the children learn and improve was amazing, and it was so nice to know that this was due to my teaching.

Going on a gap year, everyone tells you that you will fall in love with the country you visit and make friends that you will know for the rest of your life, and I thought, ‘Yeah, I’m sure it will be lovely, but I seriously doubt that will happen’. I could not have been more wrong.

Living in Tanzania was, hands down, the greatest experience of my life. I met such incredible and inspiring friends in Africa, and I know I will know them for the rest of my life. The children at the orphanage were the most beautiful, little individuals I had ever met and it was impossible for me not to fall in love with every single one of them. Watching the children grow and knowing that I was one of the first people to see Gracie sit up, Ester's first steps and Zawadi overcoming rickets and walking without any assistance was so special and I count myself as the luckiest person alive to have been given the chance to experience that and encourage the children along the way.

Simoni giggling, as usual!

Working at the orphanage was incredibly challenging; I never knew it was possible to experience such a range of emotions in one day. Joy when the kids ran up to me and hugged me as I first walked into the orphanage each morning, annoyance when the kids were being a little bit too cheeky, fear when a child was crying, happiness when I saw their beautiful smiles and finally, love, always love. No matter how hard the day was, there was always an unbelievable amount of love.

Me and our beautiful big helper, Farajah

The only way I was able to leave Nkoaranga Orphanage was knowing that I would be back to visit as soon and as often as possible. Being part of The Small Things gives me a way of helping the children, even when I’m such a long distance from them. It gives me a connection that I am so grateful for. I love knowing that any work I do over here can help those incredible balls of energy that are so far away.

I am currently spending every day working towards earning enough money to go back and visit the children, but, until then, I will continue to work with The Small Things to help to look after our wonderful children from an entirely different continent. You don’t understand how grateful I am for the work everyone is doing to protect and care for these beautiful children. I want to thank all of you for supporting and helping the The Small Things- you, the volunteers, the mamas and the board members of The Small Things are the reason our children are safe. The reason they are still smiling and making us laugh in so many different ways. So, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you. Everything we do is for the people at Nkoaranga and, though we can do no great things, everything we do is done with an amazing amount of love.

Best friends - Farajah (left) and Dainess

Board Bios - Emma Shaw

This is the first of a series of introductions to our fabulous board members - meet the lovely and talented Emma Shaw! 

My name is Emma Shaw and I came to Tanzania through the organisation "Oyster Worldwide" as part of my gap year between school and university. After considering many other countries including Patagonia, Nepal and Zambia I chose Tanzania because of how much the placement had to offer: teaching English to both primary and secondary school children, voluntary work at the local hospital and, of course, care work at Nkoaranga Orphanage.

What I didn’t expect was that I’d become so involved at the orphanage - that I would be the one trekking across the hospital grounds at night, carrying a small, unwell child huddled in blankets. It made me realise that, when it’s a child in your care that needs treatment, the hospital is no longer an ‘interesting place to gain medical experience’. When you’re scared for a child and in need of help you don’t care about any of that. You just want them to make your child better.

It was moments like these that made me realise that volunteering at Nkoaranga Orphanage wasn’t going to be something I could just drop and move on from once home. I really didn’t expect this, and I have no idea why! I didn’t realise how important making sure that the children have a safe, happy future would become, which is why I’m so glad to be a part of The Small Things, and so determined to do all I can to give them as bright a future as every single one of them deserves.

Although my hardest moment physically at Nkoaranga orphanage was the morning after my first night shift when we were helping to wash all of the big kids – I remember feeling almost sick with tiredness (a first for me) - it gave me a whole new appreciation of the incredible work the mamas do every day. However, my hardest moments overall were definitely when I was scared for a child. I was scared when Gracie (normally so placid and sweet tempered) was crying so unstoppably, hysterically and harshly and we had no idea why, and I was constantly scared about losing Ebenezer. He was so sick, tiny and premature when he came in - then months later, after he had come so far, he got profoundly ill again and reignited all that fear. I found changing him very hard as there was no escaping how much weight he’d lost and how tiny he’d become. I was scared I’d break him. 

Ebenezer shortly after his hospital stay -
still back and forth twice a day for IV medication

On the other hand, another thing I found really hard was refusing the children water because there wasn’t any that had been purified and I’m so excited that, thanks to the success of Project MAJI, that will never have to happen again!!!

I had SO many amazing moments with the children – all of them hilarious, touching and unforgettable. For me, it was so rewarding to see Pendo settle in, and this sometimes cheeky, sometimes serious but always beautiful, kind and sweet girl emerge from her shell – and give everyone lots of kisses on the cheek! I always found putting the big kids to bed really special. They’d call my name and I’d go over and crouch down under their mosquito net to have a whispered talk with them, before kissing them goodnight, wishing them sweet dreams and telling them I loved them. It meant so much to be able to do that for them. 

Pendo cuddling with her buddies Farajah and David

And then I have tons of hilarious memories, such as the time one of the schoolchildren, Tumaini, and I were searching for socks in the pile of laundry in the sink and, being the adorable but clumsy girl she is, she switched on the tap, soaking everything! Her eyes went wide and her “Ohhh…pole! (sorry)” couldn’t have sounded more shocked (or amused)! Being there for Ester’s first steps; Frankie’s inevitable bawling at my lack of speed whilst feeding him; hanging out the washing and realising that the two little boys helping me were helpfully “rinsing” everything in a muddy puddle before passing it to me…the list is endless!

I think the thing which concerns me most at the moment is ensuring that not just the children ready to go to school this year, but that all those in the coming years will be able to go to school and have a good education, hopefully through our partnership with The Foundation for Tomorrow. While the children are at Nkoaranga orphanage I feel happy knowing that, between Mama Pendo, all the other Mamas, and volunteers looking after them, the children have people who care about and want the best for them. What worries me is when they leave and have to fend for themselves, and the life that awaits them. As we grow and develop as an organization, it is a challenge we will have to face. 

However, I think it’s impossible to say what the most important work to be done is in the long term, because everything that contributes to a healthy, happy childhood for the children matters: it’s important to have the filtration system fitted so that the children don’t have to be denied water, or risk sickness from drinking it straight from the tap; it’s important that mosquito nets are correctly used to avoid malaria; it's important that formula is available to keep babies healthy, and to aid recovery if they do fall ill; it's important that the hospital is also supported because all children need healthcare at some point; it's important that any psychological issues that a child has are addressed, and it's important that when they do go on to school, they are happy, healthy and fully ready to do so. Our job now is to try to balance those many important jobs to be done, and we hope you'll come along with us for the ride! 

P minus 9 hours!

So I am currently just kind of running around in the manner of a headless chicken trying to make sure everything is set for the arrival of the 'rents - we have quite a lot lined up already so I hope it's not too hectic. I really want them to see the Tanzania I've fallen in love with, not to mention my babies. It feels almost like having set up a blind date and waiting anxiously to see if they even like each other - except this blind date cost, erm, significant money for the tickets alone, and is two weeks long, so they better damn like each other. Says I. Not much I can do now but wait! In the meantime, here are some snapshots of the past week.

Knew that good health streak wouldn't last... malarial Baracka FAAST asleep in the hospital

Our little fashion plate, Loveness

Don't mess with the chick with the bear. Even Ester looks scared.

Gracie got bored waiting for her turn to be changed and decided to take matters into her own hands

 

 Neema is WALKING! Thrilling, although it's probably a good thing Zawadi doesn't understand any of the things I say to her to encourage, erm, healthy competition to get her walking without help too! 

Dianess and Gracie in perfect audience/performer symbiosis

The good news is, I'm PROBABLY not dying!

 First: I'm too lazy to do a Safari post, apparently, so you can see all the pictures here.

Ok, this time I have a better excuse for my extended absence than "I've been really busy" - I have, in fact, been running through the catalog of African ailments and also possibly the patience of several doctors. It all started a week and a half ago with a double bout of malaria and bronchitis for me and malaria and pneumonia for my friend Peter (see his lungs below). This, while unpleasant, was also a pretty great excuse to lay on the couch for a few days and watch movies until our brains melted and temperatures went away.

My sick buddy and my gorgeous friend Sydney a few days earlier at his birthday celebration

Unfortunately, it didn't work quite like that. Four days later, two days after finishing our courses of meds, I still had a fever and Peter was coughing up a lung several times a day (he must have had LOTS of lungs in there), so we went back to the hospital. This is when we got the pretty picture of Peter's lungs, after much wrestling, because the DOCTOR WE WERE SEEING DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO READ X-RAYS so he wouldn't order them. Thankfully I'm a pain in the butt and also know many of the doctors well through the work with the well, so we managed to get one done and read eventually, confirming pneumonia and getting an Rx for stronger antibiotics.

This should not be so difficult to get read in a hospital.

As for me, they did a typhoid test which came back sort-of-kind-of positive-ish, so they told me I probably had typhoid despite having had the vaccine, and gave me some antibiotics. Fast forward a few days to Monday, a full week after the initial diagnosis, when I had to go into Arusha with the hospital secretary (see the last post about church and chickens) to get some financial stuff figured out for the well drilling. He was, to say the least, a little concerned upon seeing me shivering violently for about an hour, and insisted on taking me to the referral hospital in Arusha on Tuesday. At this superfancy hospital, they still didn't have covers for the thermometer, necessitating an armpit thermometer reading, which my deodorant apparently screwed up by insisting I had no fever. After half an hour of shivering violently in the 80 degree waiting room, another patient complained and I grabbed the damn thermometer, wiped it down with my handy and omnipresent waterless hand sanitizer, and stuck that sucker under my tongue. THEN the believed I was sick.

Unfortunately, they concluded that the typhoid result WAS a result of the vaccine, and my blood was clear of any signs of bacterial infection, sooooo... basically they have no idea why I still have this stupid fever. Thankfully, the Jewish doctor network came through for me - the wonderful and well-connected Ruth Sack saved my life by harassing her brother, who is an infectious disease specialist, for a name of a specialist in Moshi, about an hour and a half away, who has gracefully agreed to see my diseased self tomorrow morning. So tomorrow I'm up early and heading to Moshi, and hopefully they will tell me I'm not dying and possibly even figure out what the hell is wrong with me. Crazy idea, I know.

As for everything else... it's been kind of a rollercoaster. Some things at the orphanage are going incredibly well, so let's start with the good. We have three chickens brooding, although they have laid their eggs in two next boxes and therefore insist on attempting to roost ON TOP OF EACH OTHER. None of them seem to have done this before. Regardless, we're hoping to successfully hatch at least a FEW chicks. It's all up to the cooperative powers of Porky, Lola, and Bugs.

Gracie, who was tiny and very sick with Malaria when I got here, and Loveness, who has moved up to be with the big kids all the time and is SO PROUD.

Zawadi looks silly with her hair gone but she is consenting to STAND as long as she can hold onto something, and can occasionally be cajoled into walking all of three steps before she makes her scrunchy pissed off face.

We had a ton of help lately from our neighbor and one of the world's sweetest fifteen year old boys, Frankie, who all the kids obviously adored beyond all reason.

David has been sick but on this particular day he was just ridiculously adorable in his matching outfits with Baracka, also attempting to eat his shoulder. Peter did nothing to stop these atrocities.

But the big news... we HIT WATER! It was earlier than we even expected, at around 50 meters - we had been afraid we would have to go to 100 meters or more, so this is very exciting. We still have to buy PVC pipes and get a pump installed to get water up and to the orphanage, but it's still a huge breakthrough and within a few weeks we should have a fully functional water system for the hospital and orphanage.

The drill rig and our personal Superman, Chuck.

The importance of keeping the health of the kids up and preserving the sanitation in the hospital was brought home powerfully this week, too. We lost one of our babies. Rezeki was very premature when he came to us three weeks ago, and had had several medical issues, including a nasty abscess and trouble eating. He was admitted to the hospital last week on Thursday, and he passed away on Sunday. I'm still numb and really struggling with the whole situation - several of us volunteers thought he was sicker than the mamas were giving credit for, he seemed to throw up everything he ate and had diarrhea, but he went to the doctors a few times and they never admitted him, so we convinced ourselves it was ok. And it wasn't. At all. And it's really, really difficult to think that maybe if we had pushed harder, he could have been saved. I tell myself I've been busy, and I have, but I can't shake the feeling that I should have known and I should have done something more.

So I'm trying not to be completely sunk by the despair of his tiny little life, and use these feelings instead to fuel pushing harder for better nutrition, for clean water, for more donations to hire more staff, for better organization of information between shifts... something to stop the wrenching of gaining my precious, beautiful, already adored beyond all reason new baby cousin Jamie, and in the same week losing a baby, a baby with no family, with no one to fight for him, whose name is already gone from the orphanage in the insane struggle to keep caring for the kids we have. And I understand that the mamas HAVE to be tough, have to block out the pain to keep doing the work that they do - but I'm not so tough. So I'm asking my mother to say Kadish for Rezeki this week, and it would mean a lot to me if you would keep him in your thoughts too. I can't stand the thought that he will be forgotten so fast. And, as always, any money will be turned into real improvements for these kids, so that they're healthy and so that they know that people out there in the world DO care about them.

Ok. That's all I can really handle for today, and I'm sorry to end this on kind of a bummer note. I will keep you all updated on the health situation as soon as I know what's going on, and also can get out of bed. Minor detail.

Nkoaranga Orphanage

Ok, this is going to be a long one, and pretty picture intensive. But please, I promise it's worth it, if not for my completely inadequate words then at least to learn a little something about how things are going over here. Last Friday was my first day at Nkoaranga (probably spelled wrong) orphanage, wayyy up on top of Mount Meru in Tanzania. To get there, you take one dalla-dalla to a stop called Kilala, then wait for another one to go up the mountain. And I do mean mountain - twisty, turny, dirt road, single lane up and down mountain in a dalla that can't really even begin to handle the stress - and since it's a tough ride, they pack the dallas as full as conceivably possible. Sigh. This is a picture from the back of the dalla - now keep in mind that there's another row of seats and there are only 3 people standing rather than the usual 7 or 8. Often the boy employed to rustle up customers and collect money actually rides on the outside of the van because there's no room inside.

This actually underestimates the insanity by several factors of ten

 Anyway, the orphanage. It was intense. They usually have a maximum of 23 kids but they just received 3 babies - Maureen and Frank, each one month, and Grace, four months - who came in and went straight back out to the hospital for a week, because she had (still probably has) malaria. A volunteer paid for treatment, and she's back now. On top of that they have another 24 kids ranging up to about age 6. Within the first three minutes I had a kid plopped in my lap - not that I don't love it!

Baby Grace - about the same size as the one month olds, she's teeny from the malaria.

The orphanage consists of a kids' dormitory, a babies' dormitory, shelves and shelves of shared clothing (nothing is individually owned), a kitchen, and the central room that serves as a classroom, feeding center, playroom, and everything else. They had a second dormitory for the older kids but it was burned down in a fire last year - several of the kids sustained some pretty serious burns.

The main, central room and the older kids eating

This particular day, two of the central volunteers were gone for a week, so it was just me, Christian, Christine, and Guilia - and Christine and Christian had to leave in the afternoon, so for the afternoon it was just the two of us.One little girl in particular really liked "helping" with the babies - hard to tell how much of it is actually wanting to help and how much is just looking for attention, obviously a difficult commodity to come by. All the older kids pick up the little ones, not really understanding how to support their heads, and leaving me in a constant state of moderate panic. I could REALLY have used some Xanax that day!

Christian putting down baby Maureen, Tumaini "helping" with Zawadi.

The orphanage runs through the constant work of between three and four "mamas" - Mama Pendo, who has been running the orphanage for 22 years and is the heart and soul of the place, and a few others. However, their attention is essentially utterly consumed by the incredible amount of work it takes to do the laundry, the cooking, boiling the water, changing the diapers, on and on forever - and their ability to interact with the kids is consequently pretty seriously limited. For social and emotional interaction, it's pretty much all down to the volunteers.

Breakfast - from left, big Maureen, Baracka, and Zawadi.

Zawadi, in baby-bird mode

 The kids are total sweethearts, but definitely a little wild. Baracka, pictured above, spends 80% of the time he's not in someone's arms crying, and because of sheer logistics, he can't be in someone's arms all that often, so the munchkin is usually miserable. Zawadi, on the end, is about half the size she should be - she's a year old - and she eats a lot, so there's some suspicion she may be HIV+. Unfortunately, they can't get tested until 18 months. I'm aware that several other kids are positive, but it's not openly discussed.

The slide of death

Slide of death angle 2

 They have a backyard with an absolutely terrifying slide, that honestly nearly gave me several heart attacks over the course of the day. More than 45 degrees, and the kids are fearless. They also wander in and out of the buildings, even in and out of the gates - the horrible truth is that no one wants them so no one would ever abduct them, and they know to come back because it is the only place they will get fed. Breaks my heart.

Neema and her movie star smile

 That said, these are for the most part remarkably happy, sweet, adorable kids. They all need as much love as possible, so they tend to cling - I spent most of the day with a kid on each hip (and sometimes another on my back), at least three piling into every available lap! They push every limit and it's really difficult to keep them safe - but they actually keep themselves remarkably safe given how badly they could be hurt almost every minute of every day.

Christina entertaining on the trampoline - close to the ground, but the springs do not mix with little fingers

A crazy merry-go-round thing that wouldn't have made it a week in my old elementary school

As the kids can go in and out, so can animals. A rooster made the unfortunate choice to enter, and was gleefully attacked by a mob of kids. Mama Pendo grabbed it, but then gave it back to the kids to "play" with. I ended up grabbing it and taking it outside, the poor thing could barely move it was so scared. Everyone laughed at me because the same chicken will probably be dinner - but  it doesn't need to be tortured before that.

You may not be able to tell, but she is carrying a chicken in her hands.

Some of the kids have other medical issues. Simoni is over 2 years old, but he doesn't walk yet - he can crawl and stand when lifted, but the lower half of his calves seem to not work. Thankfully, a doctor from a nearby rehabilitation center has agreed to come out and take a look at him. It still doesn't slow the little munchkin down!   

Christian and Pray

 The kids are almost never given water to drink, because the few gas burners are almost always in use for cooking and can't be used for boiling water. Also, the less they drink, the fewer diapers have to be changed. I had water with me and ended up distributing it all out - a few kids, like Pray (full name Pray-God), guzzled for minutes on end, cup after cup. Pray also has some pretty serious burns on his head and body from the fire, but if possible, it seems to have made him into even more of a risk taker - the kid's a bulldozer, keeps up with kids twice his age.

Toddler Baracka

Farajah

Since the kids don't have clothes of their own, and their hair is usually shaved to avoid lice, it's sometimes hard to distinguish gender. This is Farajah, a sweet, sweet 5 year old who became my little barnacle. She has finished the pre-school they offer at the orphanage and, luckily, has been sponsored to continue in her education. That's the hope for each of these kids - most of them get a sponsor who will pay the cost of their tuition, room, board, uniforms, etc for a local boarding school. It's only a $900/year commitment, and it makes a world of difference for these kids. Without it, they will probably be shuffled to another orphanage, where education usually stops at age 10, and go on to become house servants, at best. With a sponsor and education, they can do amazing things. Crispin, the founder of Tamiha, the organization I'm working with, was raised in an orphanage himself, before being sponsored and sent to boarding school, earning scholarships through college, and coming back home and transforming the lives of hundreds of people in the 5 years since Tamiha started - over 200 women in the microfinance group, over a hundred kids have gone through vocational training, and just this week they're opening up a shelter for homeless women and children - apparently the first of its kind in Tanzania.  

All of this brings me to Emmanuel.

He's one of the oldest kids there. He has absorbed everything they have to teach him at the orphanage - he's a fast and voracious student, can do basic reading and math, is quickly learning English, and has a smile that could light up any room. He's generous and kind with all of the other kids, helps with the babies, and is just all-around one of the nicest kids I've had the pleasure of meeting, here or anywhere else. Of all the kids who are ready to go to school, Emmanuel is the only one left without a sponsor. Unfortunately, as these things go, people on safari will sometimes stop by, volunteer for a day, pick the cutest kid (statistically, usually a girl), and leave money for them. Which is why I'm asking here whether any of you might be willing or able to take on Emmanuel's cause. It's no small commitment - $900 per year for 12 years to get him through schooling and eligible for college. But it is his best hope. 

If you can't take on the commitment for Emmanuel, I'll be posting soon about the Tamiha orphanage, which schools and cares for kids who have no parents but have extended family to take them in at night. They also need sponsors, $470 per year, to attend the local school (I'm hoping to sponsor a child there myself). Additionally, and I know this is a long way off, I'm requesting that anyone who might be considering giving me a birthday or holiday gift this year please donate instead - I'll be working on figuring out how to use the money most effectively. As of last week, they were out of almost all staple foods and another volunteer paid for Mama Pendo to go into Arusha to get more gas, because they were also out of fuel for cooking. Every cent is scrupulously documented and accounted for - I was there yesterday when a pickup truck piled to absolute maximum capacity pulled up to the orphanage loaded with food for the next 3 months, for all the kids, using only half of a thousand dollar donation from Christina's family. There's also no medical fund, which hasn't become an emergency since the hospital next door will usually agree to treat the kids regardless, but things like follow-up antibiotics, check ups, or more serious medical issues are all up to chance and who happens to be there with a few shillings in their pocket that day.

I'm going to keep writing about the orphanage and all of their needs, as well as another orphanage we work with, called Farajah, which apparently is in even worse shape but houses slightly older kids. Please, please think about whether you might be able to help - trust me, I'll remind you later. If you're able or willing:

In the meantime, I'll be off cuddling some munchkins.