Worth a Thousand Words

Adam and Zawadi

David

Patty and Zawadi

Big Ebenezer

Big Ebenezer

Loveness

Loveness

Baracka

Simoni

Adam and Simoni

Baracka

Stine

Simoni

Miriam

Claire and Neema

(Some of the best photos of our kids from this summer, huge thanks to Claire Wyatt for her talent!)

Microgrants Update - Adam

First, I want to give a few pressing updates about orphanage business - then we'll move on to Adam's summary of the microgrants project and its current status! 

• Thank you to those who have donated for Ebenezer's care. He was released on Tuesday from the hospital, but was re-admitted yesterday (Friday). His chest has remained wonderfully clear, but he's caught the flu going around the orphanage, and had a high fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. He was admitted for rehydration and observation. Fingers crossed he will be out soon!
• One of the microgrant widows, Mama Agness (not the same one Adam describes below), was also admitted to the hospital on Thursday, along with her son, Evans. He has had chest problems since he was a baby, and we offered in the course of the project to pay for him to get medical care. When they arrived on Thursday, Evans couldn't walk because of extremely severe pneumonia, and Mama Agness could barely carry him, as she had severe malaria, anemia and dehydration herself. Both are now recuperating in the hospital, and along with our friends at SperanzaTanzania, we are trying to figure out the exact nature of Evans' long term problems. Many of the possibilities will require extended, long term care, so this is an issue we will touch upon again. 
• On a more positive note, we now have two orphanage bunnies! The kids are loving getting to know them. One is white and the other is black and brown - what could they be but Chundvi (salt) and Pili-pili (pepper)? 
• The solar panels are being installed as we speak, and they should be done tomorrow! Hooray!

Now on to Adam's updates: 

Things have been going extremely well with our community outreach microgrants project! In the last two weeks we have almost completely finished the first and most intensive portion of our project. We have analyzed each family in the program, and given them each the money or materials to be successful. In a few situations there are areas still pending, due to the difficulty of both transportation and communication in Tanzania (but that can be expected!). Those should be smoothed out within a few days however, and phase one will be complete. There are a few families that really stood out in our program and I have decided to highlight a few.

Meet Baba Sunday. He and his son are both HIV positive, living in a house together with no electricity and no stable source of income. When we originally went to see him he told us of his idea of becoming a carpenter, using skills he learned many years ago. The only problem was the lack of tools. We are funding his purchase of new tools and materials to get started.. With the skills he learned from our business seminar and the grants we hope he can use the planning to start a successful business and keep food and HIV medication on his table.

Meet Agness. She is a young adult living with her grandparents and several brothers and sisters. When we met this family we found out the Bibi (grandmother, 85 years old) was digging rocks to make an income for the family. Agness wanted to help and to do so we got her lessons in baking from a local friend, as well as her own oven and a small grant to start her off.

Meet Mama Massawa. She is a widowed woman taking care of 4 children. For her business she is taking on chickens for selling eggs as well as growing vegetables to bring to market. While her business is quite similar to some of the other participants, her attitude is not. After the targeted classes we had on raising chickens and agriculture she told our partner Rehema in Swahili, “If these people don’t succeed with all that you all have given them, it is not out of lack of help. It would only be laziness on the part of the people running the business. Thank you and god bless you.”

To hear her say that means a lot to the heart of this project. We want them to feel as if they are supported more than just financially. We have focused entirely on well-rounded businesses. Her words leave us confident in our efforts.

Sadly, I am back in America now. My partners will continue on, getting each family a bank account with a small amount of cash. They will continue to check on each family, and give support in any way they can.

We hope that all of our participants succeed, and the second phase of our project is just to continue to follow up on each family and their progress, through home visits and checks of their records. We hope that what we have given will be enough. The hard work of everyone involved has already shown. I speak personally when I say we all look forward to the future to see how it all pans out.

Second Round - UPDATED

I feel like history is repeating itself... our beautiful boy Ebenezer, who is just four months old, has been hospitalized for the last several days with bad bronchiolitis and/or pneumonia. Big Ebenezer was also hospitalized around the same age with malaria, pneumonia and meningitis! They were originally hoping our lwould be out of the hospital today, but it looks like that is not going to happen - he's just not well enough yet. We're keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow, though! He is actually at an expensive referral hospital in Arusha, rather than the local Nkoaranga hospital - they lacked the equipment to treat him and were simply out of ideas. The doctors are fantastic there, but it costs quite a lot - we would be eternally grateful for any donations towards his care. Thank you to Emelie for starting off the first donation!

Ebenezer just a few days old

Big strong boy last week

The other kids are doing well, although there's a nasty bug going around that has us all (myself included) coughing constantly, with a sore throat and various flu symptoms - but at least it's not malaria! We're also mourning our imminent loss of Adam, who has quickly made himself indispensable with the kids. They are going to be so sad to see him go back to the US tomorrow! He's gotten especially close with Simoni, Maureen and Vicky. We will all miss him! 

More coming soon, including tons of pictures - but I have to get back to our last micro-grants class! If you'd like to contribute to Ebeni's care, please click "Donate" in the sidebar, and write a note on the next page stating that you'd like it to go towards his care. Thanks so much! 

UPDATE: Our strong boy is getting out of the hospital today (Tuesday)! His lungs are clear for now, but he's going to have another checkup on Friday to make sure everything is gone. Huge thank you to Martina and Lorenzo at Speranza Tanzania for their help getting him safely home, as well as to Patty and Emelie for their donations! We're still not sure what the final cost will be including his check ups and medicines, so donations are still greatly appreciated. 

Ebenezer and Mama Pendo sunbathing in the hospital courtyard

Adam and Ebeni in his hospital room yesterday

Microgrants guest post: Riz

Hey everyone! I'm here to give you all a general update on the progress of our microgrants project, before my colleague Adam posts a more detailed version in a couple of days, but first I will take this time to tell you all that Bekka was right - Tanzania is AMAZING. Being here and working in the local community and orphanage has been much better than I anticipated, and I couldn't be happier for this experience. But now, we get down to business.

The project is going extremely well, we're ahead of schedule, which has given us plenty of time to head up to the orphanage and hang out with the kids - who've all fallen in love with us, and definitely us with them! They are amazing kids who are taken care of by wonderful, and patient mamas. Mama Pendo especially, must be some sort of baby whisperer (Watch out, Cesar Milan!), seeing as she has the magic to make a crying baby smile in seconds, she is truly an amazing woman.

We've met with a number of families who're struggling to provide for themselves, and we are going to do our very best to give them the tools and materials they need to succeed - whether it be through the kukus (chickens!), or growing vegetables.

One situation in particular touched me the most - though that doesn't discount the rest of the families we've met with. It is of a grandmother in her 80s, who lives with her grandson, Frankie. Unfortunately, both of Frankie's parents are no longer around, giving his grandmother the responsibility of raising a young child on her own. Raising a child can be difficult at times for anybody - but for this grandmother, she's doing it on an extremely low budget with which she can barely feed herself, so she sacrifices her hunger for the sake of her grandson. She told us she spends most nights crying because she doesn't see a way out of this situation. It was a very moving meeting. As we were about to leave, she shook all of our hands with such passion, and told us that she thanks God that we came to see her.

Dad watching his son
during the first class

One other situation I was moved by included the story of a single father, raising his 6-year old son while trying to improve his struggling business. We met the young child, and he was full of zest (where do kids get the energy from?!), which was great to see. We want his father to have a successful business which produces enough revenue for him and his child to have a good life. We don't want them to be neglected, not when they desperately need our help.

Hanging out with the teachers

That is why we're doing this project, to allow families like these who deeply love their children to stay together without having to make such racking decisions. We want to help as much as we can, but by giving them the tools to improve their own futures, rather than through handouts.

While things have been going extremely well, we are working with a limited set of funds which is making us pay extra attention to finances. Currently we are trying to divide our original grant pool into 15 rather than 10 grants, which means less money for each person. We would very much appreciate any donations you can provide - even a small amount like $30 can go a long way to helping us help the families. So please give anything you can! We (and the families) appreciate it greatly.

Parties and playing

The internet has been an elusive creature for the last week or so... power outages seem to magically time themselves precisely for my arrival in internet cafes. It's downright uncanny. That said, I have a lot of exciting news (and, as always, adorable photos) to share.

One of Mama Pendo's oldest with one
of the youngest!

Last Saturday we had a real treat – a local community development class graduated and held their ceremony at the orphanage. They provided a HUGE meal, and thanks to your donations, we were able to supply transportation for a number of older kids to come back to Nkoaranga from the places they are currently living. We had a group from USA River Academy (the kids who are enrolled with TFFT), as well as a group from SOS Children's Villages, which included Farajah and Aroni! We also had some kids from SOS who had been at Nkoaranga 16, 18, or even 20 years ago, when the orphanage had JUST gotten started, and was mostly just Mama Pendo in a small building next to the mortuary trying to take care of a few abandoned kids! Needless to say, it was fantastic to see them all back – and SO much fun to see the reunited kids playing together. It reminds you how much they really have grown up as siblings – being separated is difficult for them, and they are thrilled to be back together. Zawadi in particular jumped on Farajah and refused to be moved for most of the rest of the afternoon, even to come to me! She missed her “little mama.” All the kids also loved the cake – especially Neema, who ate four or five pieces!

Neema blissed out on cake 

Mama Cantate with Wema, Farajah, Pendo, and Aroni

Stevie with the memory book I made for him
with the help of many former volunteers' photos!

Ericki with his memory book 

The USA River Academy kids performing 

Overall, the day was wonderful – a pleasure to see all the kids, to see their excitement at the improvements in the orphanage (especially the playground!), and to see Mama Pendo honored for her many years of hard work.

Adam with Loveness
(top) and Baracka

Riz and Simoni

Adam and Riz have both arrived, and the micro-grants project is in full swing. In the last two days they've already done eight interviews, and are off today to (hopefully!) polish off the rest. Although many families just want chickens or other basic livestock, a few have really creative ideas – and we're hoping that bringing these families together will allow them to collaborate and share ideas and resources. The first class is later today - we will keep you updated on how it goes!

Adam and Neema

Of course, not all the time is dedicated to work on the grants project... Adam and Riz have also been loving their time with the kids, and vice versa! The kids are always so excited to meet new people, and especially when those people are “cool guys” - they don't have much exposure to positive male role models, so we are thrilled to give them a few. If nothing else, they love being thrown, flipped, and turned upside down – and the guys have been happy to oblige, and tire a little slower than I do!

Peace

Shujah and Peace are working on crawling, although they are currently most talented at spinning in circles on their tummies. Ebenezer and Neema are growing and thriving, and are now both sharing their beautiful smiles with us! Poor Ebeni was a little off this morning, and he seems to generally struggle a bit with digestion – we are hoping that the gentle preemie formula coming over with Claire, Dorothy and Patty on Sunday will help soothe him a bit! Neema continues to be a little stunner and captivate everyone when she bats those big brown eyes.

Neema

Filipo took his first steps last week, which was incredibly exciting. We had all been trying to coax him towards it for a while – but of course, it was Mama Pendo who finally got him to make the move. I swear she has baby magic. As soon as he got up, he hasn't looked back! Frankie is now all alone sitting on the floor – although even he took a few steps last week. Unlike Filipo, however, that hasn't tempted him towards full-time walking. He still prefers to be carried everywhere, and bawl loudly if that desire isn't immediately satisfied!

Mama Marie and Frankie

It's also been a huge pleasure to hang out with Marie and her mom - their donations have and continue to be thrilling and hugely helpful. Special thanks to the big, beautiful box of gorgeous organic kids' clothing from . As you can see, the kids also enjoyed just playing in the bags it was brought over in! They've also taken on the very exciting project of rebuilding and expanding the chicken coop - it is about half done and will be fully finished soon, allowing the kids to eat meat at least once, often twice a week! Huge progress.

Marie and Neema

Mama Pendo, Marie and the clothes donation

Ebeni and Frankie playing in the suitcase

Half finished new chicken coop

 And now, just a few of my favorite shots from the last week, because why not?

Beautiful Ebenezer

Me and my baby girl!

Coming up: A Wednesday kids' safari to the Arusha snake park and Mount Meru Game lodge, the arrival of Dorothy, Patty, and Claire, and a report from the first grants class. Stay tuned!

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!