Of Christmas trees and calendars...

The New Year is starting to look very close right now. January 2014 will be an important time for The Small Things, as we will be opening the pilot house of our children's village where Loveness, Pray, Anna, Queen, Isaak and Auntie will be living as they start school. This is a huge thing for them, so a massive thank you to all those who have signed up to sponsor them. The response to the appeal from the Girl's Gone Child blog post has been wonderful, so thanks also go to Rebecca Woolf for all her help getting the word out.

Opening the pilot house to the school-starters is also a huge step for us, as we branch out from the orphanage. It should be a very big year for The Small Things - hopefully we will have lots of successes to look back on this time next year as we move towards setting up the children's village.

We'd like to take the opportunity to celebrate the success of our Holiday Sponsorship drive and to thank everyone who has signed up as a sponsor. There is no way we would be able to continue our work without your support. The 'small things' that you are all doing are going to make a huge difference. 

Look how much our tree has filled up since November, when there were only a few children its branches! The picture is actually looking even better than this, thanks to the sponsorship that has come through for Isaak just in the last couple of days. 

It's not too late to get Shalom, Irene and the twins on the tree, and we would love to get the full set!

Calendars 2014

You may know already that our 2014 calendars have been on sale for a while on the website, but we now have a couple of previews for you so that you can see just how much you want one in your home! If you haven't got your calendar for the New Year sorted yet, then we can definitely help.

Coming up in January, we have Peace looking happy and warm in the ball pit, with little Neema on the trampoline:

Then in May we have the wonderful Mama Pendo, who holds the orphanage together. Loveness is really showing how much the children love her, but the rest of them seem to be a bit more interested in her birthday cake! We also have Brighton at the top and Big Maureen showing us her strength with that chair:

Finally, my personal favourite has to be October, which features a happy Isaac, a standing Shujaa, and babies with bubbles:

The calendars are selling for $20 in the US, £12 in the UK and $25 elsewhere in the world, and there should still be time to order before the New Year! Go to http://www.thesmallthings.org/helpprojects.html and scroll right to the end to order.

For those in the UK there is also another option - the desk calendars. These are new for this year and we're interested to see how they go. They will be £6 plus delivery and we won't be able to sell them through the website, so please drop me an email on megan@thesmallthings.org with your address if you would like one. Or, just maybe, you could win one on Facebook!

Again, here is a little preview:

The front cover

March pictures Loveness looking very beautiful and reflective as she hold Isaac.

Thank you all for reading and Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Nkoaranga!

Hello all! After a week of internet and electricity problems, we're finally back online - just in time to tell you (and show you) our amazing Christmas and New Year with the kids. First, with your donations, we were able to buy a ton of new toys for the kids. This is so important for their development, both physical and mental! Here is a quick video showing the difference that made, and saying thank you directly to our donors.

Then, on the 24th, we had a whole day of fun-filled activities. All the kids got beautiful new clothes from Fred's World and greengorilla, who donated a TON of gorgeous organic clothing. We also were (just) able to get new (to them) shoes for each kid - although that's definitely our biggest need right now, and most of the time, shoes! If you or someone you know would be willing to take up a collection of good quality used shoes, please get in touch.

Andrea in Fred's World

Dainess in Fred's World

Ericki in Fred's World, feeding his baby

Shujaa in green gorilla 

Maureen and Ester in green gorilla

Vicky in Fred's World

Simoni, Zawadi, Neema, Maureen and Baracka in Fred's World 

We've also been loving the gorgeous nappies donated by Baba and Boo! Amazing quality - some of the only nappies we can use with a single outer - and beautiful. The little girls even express opinions about wanting the pretty ones!

Little Ebeni in stars

Miss Vicky

After everyone was dressed, we got a visit from Dimples Junior, a wonderful clown based in the Arusha area. All the profits that he and his lovely wife make from clowning go to their own nonprofit, which is dedicated to helping street children, so we were especially happy to support them. 

Then in the afternoon we got our yearly visit from our wonderful friends at KATZ Volunteers, who arrange Baba Christmas's visit to a number of local orphanages! The kids were thrilled, and especially enjoyed the "snow." Thanks KATZ!

Snow!!

Mama Neema getting in on the fun

Baba Christmas and Loveness 

Isaac isn't sure he approves

We also received a Christmas gift of another kind - a miracle baby named Angel. She is so beautiful, and we are honored to have been entrusted with her care. We will do our best to honor her mother's memory.

WHAT IS THIS MAGIC?

All in all, a great Christmas.

We get to do this EVERY YEAR?

Finally, yesterday we had a little mini celebration with our toddlers ringing in the new year.

Mama Pendo and Maureen

Vicky 

Thank you all so much for an incredible 2012, and we can't wait to do even more for these wonderful kids in 2013. We are so grateful to have you by our side!

Returning home

I am now officially back in Africa, and I couldn't be happier. It honestly feels like I've come home. There's something about this country that makes you so relaxed and happy. I can't really explain it, but everyone is just so happy here, it's really lovely.

Sweet (and huge!) Ebenezer

Seeing the kids was the best Christmas present I could have ever asked for; it was so nice to see them running up to me and screaming my name out before they jumped on top of me. I can't believe how much they have all grown- it's crazy. The babies have all been moved into the toddler's cots because they're too big for their old cots now, so it's really strange to walk into the toddler room and see the children that I saw learning to crawl and sit up, now able to stand and try to say my name. It's such a relief to see how big Ebenezer has gotten now, we were really worried about him when I was here before because he was so ill, but now he's sat up, crawling about, even attempting to stand sometimes. Here are some Christmas highlights from the other kids.

Stevie enjoying his cake

Christmas havoc! 

Andrea and Pray considering their Christmas presents

Zawadi holding a much healthier
(if a little concerned) baby Peace

Little Peace looks like he has put on some weight since the pictures I saw a few months ago, which is good to see. He's still unbelievably tiny, but the fact he is actually putting on weight now means he is growing and progressing, so the Mamas have done a wonderful job ensuring he is cared for sufficiently.

It was really funny seeing all of the Mamas again, because they all looked so shocked but happy to see me at the same time. It was really nice to know that they remembered me too, and were happy to see me again, as they all gave me a massive hug hello.

The children keep asking after the other volunteers I lived with (Wapi Jasmine, na Emma, na Megan, na Bosk, na Andre, na Charlotte?), and we've all told them that the volunteers love them very much but sadly couldn't come back to the orphanage this time, and they said that they love and miss them too. So, don't worry guys, they still know you care for them and they still love you to bits.

Words cannot describe how nice it is to be back with the children. It has really reminded me of how special they are to me, and how much I want to ensure that I am always a part of their lives. They are all such loving, caring and lively individuals- even at 6 o'clock in the morning! Being back at the orphanage is the best feeling in the world, even when I'm exhausted. I know that I am there to help the kids and that encourages me to work harder. I wish my visit could be longer, but unfortunately I'm only here for two weeks. I will just have to make the most of my time whilst I am here. I honestly cannot describe how amazing it is to be back with all of them- it's like I never even left.

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and have a lovely New Year. I am now going to go and change about 100 nappies, be mauled by 30 kids and sing Bob the Builder a countless number of times and I couldn't be happier!

My African Homecoming

So, I'm back!

I can't describe how amazing it feels to be walking into the orphanage at 6 each morning again, because, in all honesty, it feels like I never left. I feel like I'm 'home,' just with extra big babies and kids around me that seem to have grown overnight!

They are absolutely awesome. I didn't think they could get more beautiful or funny or wonderful but they've certainly grown up and are maturing and outshining anything I could have imagined. The Mamas are, of course, still doing a fantastic job of caring for these individuals and truly deserve more praise!

One person I would really like to mention that doesn't get heard about so much is big Franky - an amazing role model for the children who, despite being deaf, works tremendously hard for the kids, is so reliable, always there to help out, blowing up balloons for the Christmas tree, caring for any crying children and cheering them up in no time, making us volunteers laugh just as much! He really is a fantastic, selfless human being. I can't think of enough words of praise to give to all of these people!

Baby Peace in a Christmas hat

So, after a very tiring 10 hour bus journey from Dar, it was all made worth it to hear the calls of "Bessan!" as I arrived at the door to the orphanage. I was greeted by a massive hug from Eman Ndogo which was such a lovely surprise. Seeing all of the toddlers up and running, the babies crawling and our two beautiful newbies; Peace and Shudja. So gorgeous and precious and extremely smiley.

As for yesterday, wow, what a very dazed group of children as they awoke to find Baba Christmas out in the garden! All very sleepy and not really knowing what was going on, they soon hyped up to play with the masses of new toys and books that had very kindly been donated by Tracey, Wendy, Anna and Rebecca Woolf - so a big thank you to you all for your generosity and for making this Christmas extra special for the children.

So with lots of balloons, photos, presents, food, soda, cake, fake snow, the Nkoaranga Christmas party went very well. Lots of messy, sticky, smiley laughing, children; what a perfect way to spend my christmas.

Abdulli with a Christmas toy

As for the general welfare of the orphanage, it is going wonderfully. The play area is great and much safer and enjoyable for the children (and I might well brave the adapted slide now it no longer resembles a vertical drop!) The chickens are all healthy, growing, laying, clucking and doing everything chickens do! Everyone is doing a great job and I have never seen the children so happy and developing so well.

In particular I would like to mention what a huge change I have seen in Abdulli. He's developed much better socially and is so interacting with the other children lots more, playing games rather than sitting alone and is also more verbal. Very pleased with him so lets hope he can keep it up!

More updates to come on the children's development. To all of you lovely readers, thank you for your support and love for the children, a very merry christmas to you all.

Our Christmas Tradition - Why does my family give?

I'm Kristina Alexander, the latest board member at The Small Things. I'm currently studying social work in Canada - and counting the days until I return to Tanzania next summer!

Multitasking with David (left) and Ester - look how much
they've grown!

As far back as I can remember I have always wanted to go to Africa. My parents would maybe even tell you that at certain times in my life it was all I talked about. I know this to be true as the months that led up to my trip there I researched, I read, I packed, I repacked to fit more into my suitcases, and in a last ditch effort to take everything I wanted to donate to the orphanage I vacuum packed a suitcase! My family and friends gathered for a farewell dinner where they showered me with love, encouragement, and donations to take with me. What started off as my dream became my reality when I boarded the plane from Victoria, BC, Canada and flew for 22 hours to Tanzania in August 2010. My mom’s last words were “I love you”, and my dad’s were “go live your dream.” And that’s what I did.

I was fortunate enough to live with a local family in a small village not too far from Nkoaranga. They accepted me as their own and taught me the customs and cultural traditions in a country that I was unfamiliar with. In the evenings I would have Swahili lessons with the children in my new family, and my room mate and I would lay under our mosquito nets and talk about our days and this crazy place that we were calling “home”.

Cuddling my "bean," Ester

I still remember the day I arrived at Nkoaranga and was greeted with an abundance of bright smiles, hugs and kisses from the school children, and open arms from Mama Pendo. Instantly you fall in love with this place, you can’t help it. Mama Pendo is an amazing woman and I have never met anyone quite like her. She has been at the orphanage for 22+ years and has seen some of the children arrive as babies and graduate from school 18 years later. She remembers everything about the day a child arrived, why they are there and who comes to visit them and when. She is a support system for the mamas that work there, the volunteers that come and go, and a true servant. She is full of enthusiasm, can cook, clean, mend a scrape on a knee, feed the children, laugh with them, change them, fold laundry, tend to administration work and sing like an angel; the list goes on. She was truly a mentor for me when I was there.

As my days turned into weeks, and my weeks into months Christmas was on the horizon. With Christmas coming it was time to decide what my family would sponsor this year. Without hesitation my sister’s suggested Nkoaranga. What more could I ask for then to carry out our Christmas tradition in a place that I loved, and my family was growing to love through my emails and photos I was sending home. It’s a whole different experience when you get to see your donations in motion. Our Christmas tradition started in 2002 when my Grandma Margery Scanlon passed away.

My nephew holding a "Project MAJI"
bottle and a picture of Stevie that I
gave him to help him understand that I'd
made a donation to "Auntie Kristina's African
babies" in his honor.

Growing up my Grandma was always an important part of my life. As far back as I can remember she was always there for me. Her constant flow of encouragement to try harder in school, set my goals in life high, and become a better person was evident; after all she was a teacher. She taught me that sand stayed at the park so empty your shoes before you leave. She taught me how to eat chocolate wagon wheels, and hide my smarties from my Grandpa. She taught me how to pick raspberries from the bushes in her backyard. She even assisted me with my school work, and sibling rivalry. But, perhaps the greatest lesson that I learnt was to put others before myself, to help those less fortunate than I was, and be generous in everything I do.

For over 25 years my Grandma sponsored children through World Vision. At any given time she had multiple children on the go. She proudly displayed their photos and sent them little presents in the mail. I was always intrigued by this. When she passed away my parents sponsored her children along with the ones they already had. And it was that Christmas my sister’s and I started a new Christmas tradition. We wanted our Grandma’s legacy to continue and the generosity that she shared with others to not be forgotten. Each year since then we have sponsored children in the field of education in a third world county. I just never imagined that last year I would get to give our families donation to Nkoaranga and see our donation make such an incredible difference for the children there. For that I am truly thankful.

This year will mark the tenth Christmas that our family will celebrate without my Grandma. However, when my mom opens up the gold present under the tree in my Grandma’s memory, and the tears flow, we will feel her there. The gold present simply contains a page of written words put together by three sisters and their families to remind my parents that Grandma will never be forgotten. She lives on in the gifts we give to others, the moments and memories we share as a family, and “the small things” that we do. I never imagined that my families' Christmas tradition would ever make it hand delivered to Africa, but I’m so thrilled it did.

However your family chooses to celebrate the holidays this year I would encourage you to create a new tradition. A tradition of sponsorship for the lives and education of the children at Nkoaranga. A tradition that will make the difference between a child attending school or not. A tradition that you will always remember, and will be a gift that the children will never forget - ever. You may never have the opportunity to meet them in person, and may only hear the stories and see the pictures through The Small Things, but I can tell you first hand these children are the future for their country. They will become the voices of change, the movers and shakers, but they need our support to get there, so this holiday season please give.

In Memory of our Grandma Margery Scanlon 1913 - 2002


Please consider starting your own family tradition of charitable giving - we're grateful for anything you can give.

Blessings

An example of the unwrapping phenomenon at work -
I feel sorry for whoever will change Miriam's diaper! This picture
was taken today at the orphanage - thanks Amy!

Maureeni cuddling with
Emily in her nappy

Today I arrived home to a HUGE package in the hall - and I opened it up to find it stuffed to the brim with incredible, super high quality nappy wraps (their great Snug Wraps line) and organic baby wash, all donated Liz, John, and the team at Real Nappies! Real Nappies is a fantastic New Zealand company that encourages modern, responsible cloth diapering. At the orphanage, we are constantly struggling with nappies that have simply fallen apart - they are generally not particularly high quality to start with, and then they are used and washed and re-used to within an inch of their lives! The outer wraps are constantly falling open and leaving the nappies to unravel... leading to predictable unpleasantness, and even more work for the mamas washing more clothes. These nappies will make a huge difference in the day to day lives of the kids AND the mamas, which is what we're all about!

We might hold off on
this advanced Kozy
technique for a few
weeks!

We also have two Kozy Carrier slings and fantastic Kiddy Kozies in the mail from Kristi at Kozy Carriers - these high quality slings will make it easier for mamas and volunteers to wear the babies while they go about their chores. Babywearing is widely acknowledged to be one of the best ways to stimulate development, which is crucial given how big of a problem developmental delays always are in an orphanage setting. As you can see from Andrea's photo below, the kids already LOVE to tie their "babies" onto their backs and pretend to be mamas - they will be incredibly excited to have mini versions of the mamas' slings to practice with! A huge thank you also goes out to Anna Black for helping to connect us with Kozy Carriers - and for her amazing work helping us to analyze the kids' progress and develop low budget developmentally stimulating activities for the babies. We are profoundly grateful.

Little daddy Andrea with his "baby"

Another thank you goes out to Rebecca Woolf of Girls Gone Child (AGAIN!) for her care package including some preemie formula that she (thankfully) didn't need for her own gorgeous twins. As you can see from the photo of Daoudi taken today, he will still need some extra TLC by the time we get there in December - and this type of donation can make the difference between life and death for another child like him. Rebecca, Molly, and Tracey are also helping us out with some Christmas gifts for the kids - because we're passionate about giving our kids not just enough to survive, but a full, happy, and healthy childhood.

One more way to be a part of that is to buy a holiday gift through Elemental Threads, a gorgeous handmade design-your-own handbag company. Just enter code "TheSmallThings" at checkout to have 25% of your purchase sent to the Nkoaranga kids as a charitable donation. It's a great way to take a gift that's already fantastic and make it that much more special. Orders must be in by 11/15 to guarantee delivery for the holidays! Alternatively, please also keep the option of gift donations in mind as you plan your gifts. Your loved one will receive a beautiful card letting them know that you were thinking of them.

Little Daoudi this morning

As you know, we're a small organization, run completely by volunteers. Seeing people from all over the world come together to help our kids confirms my faith in humanity daily. Thank you for being part of that, and, as always, for caring about our kids.

Days to celebrate

I have a confession to make, one that may not come as a huge surprise to those of you who have been following the blog for a while. I adore and am hopelessly in love with every single one of our kids. But one little girl has had her tiny fist wrapped around my heart from day one.

A few months in, still tiny

Zawadi means gift, and she is. When I first arrived at the orphanage, she was a tiny, tiny thing - a year old and only twelve pounds, unable to speak, with a big old protruding belly filled with nothing but worms, and tiny, weak little arms and legs, bent from rickets, that couldn't bear her weight to crawl. Instead she swam across the floor, my beautiful little wiggle worm. While it's not unusual to have some level of delay for orphanage children, the undiagnosed worms had left her profoundly sick and weak, and we were for a while worried that she had underlying HIV.

Just a week after I started work at the orphanage, she caught a cough that was going around. The difference was, she couldn't shake it like the other kids did. Her tiny little chest shuddered with every breath, and we took her to the hospital - pneumonia. A round of oral antibiotics failed, so I had to hold her, tears streaming down both our faces, as they tried and failed, over and over again, to find a vein in her underdeveloped little arms. I wrote a poem about it that day, and I knew I'd never be the same. 

Walking for me on my last day - what a gift!

Every day after that we got closer. She began to coo for me, then babble, then, slowly to talk, to crawl and, on my last day, to walk. She is a stubborn little goat of a girl, contrary, possessive and protective, but with giggles that light up a room and are all the more beautiful for their rarity. I call her my Zi, my mpenZi (sweetheart), my mbuZi (goat) - she calls my name.

She turns two this month, but nobody knows when. Her mother died in mysterious circumstances a few months after her birth. Her father, who had a history of domestic violence, disappeared. She came to us in January of 2010, and the mamas estimated her birth would have been sometime in the month of October - so that's all she's ever had, a birthday of 0/10/2009.

And at 18 months, toothy and standing!

A picture from her first day, courtesy
of Diane, who was volunteering when she
arrived

Every kid deserves a birthday. In reality, every kid deserves a family and a home - but for now at least, that's out of my hands. So, little girl, from now on I will celebrate your birthday on October 17th - a lucky number for me, and my new favorite day of the year. Today I'll celebrate Zawadi's birthday, and how far she's come - from a gaunt, serious little face to a delicious ball of giggles. I plan to move to Tanzania when I'm done with my program and do everything within my power to adopt her - it may or may not be possible given the complexities of adoption law. I will be there for her, though, for every day of the rest of her life, and many, many more birthdays. 

Zi isn't the only one to have a birthday this month - it's a busy one for the orphanage, although birthdays aren't usually acknowledged there. So happy, happy birthday to all of our beautiful October babies!

Abdulli turned five on October 3rd

David turned four on October 7th

Andrea turned four on October 10th

Neema turns two on October 27th

Furaha ya kuzaliwa kwa watoto wetu - happy birthday to our kids! 

We try to cover the big things - sanitation, nutrition, staff, and education (still working on the funds to get this year's kids into school!). But the little things are also important. We're hoping to find some stores in the US or UK that might be willing to help us bring some sunshine into the kids lives for Christmas this year. They love Bob the Builder especially! If you are or know someone who can help us, please let us know. 

Also, a special thanks and welcome to everyone heading over here from Girls Gone Child! Whether or not you are able to donate today, please help us spread the word about our work - tweeting or liking us on facebook costs nothing and makes a huge impact. Thanks again for visiting!