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!

Consider the Night Lit!

Consider the night officially lit!

We are thrilled to announce that all the solar lighting is fully installed in the orphanage and maternity ward. There's not a lot to show in pictures, since the panels are on the roof and the wiring is in the walls, but the solar lighting has already been used for several deliveries and been extremely helpful with our newest tiny guy, who eats every hour.

Isaac

Speaking of which... welcome to our gorgeous new little man, Isaac. He's just two weeks old but doing beautifully – healthy at 3 kilos and with a gorgeous head of hair. He loves to be held and is currently eating once an hour, which is great for him if slightly less fun for the mamas!
 

Do I HAVE TO walk? 

Litte Ebenezer and little Neema are doing great, both healthy and happy – Neema in particular has developed a belly that would make Buddha jealous. Big Ebenezer is much improved after the attempt at flying that knocked out his front teeth – he's fully healed and extremely smiley again. In fact, that whole age group is doing great. Frankie is finally WALKING, after taking a million years to decide it was worth the effort. Maureen just turned two, and is talking in full sentences and can count to ten in Swahili and English (CRAZY). Filipo has been going through a major developmental growth spurt, and is now talking his little head off and has gotten infinitely more cheerful and interactive.

Vicky's serious face

Grace is moving up to the big kids' room to make room for Shujaa to move into the toddler room – he has started standing up in his crib, so it's time for something with higher walls! Peace said his first word yesterday – “Acha,” or “Stop it,” quite common choice for the orphanage kids (if you had 23 brothers and sisters it would be your first word too)! Vicky continues to be gorgeous and sweet and make hysterical faces.

Big Maureen kissing her BFF, Miriam

Moving on up... Ester continues to test everyone's patience by refusing to use the potty and using her pants instead, but she's so cute it's difficult to stay annoyed for long. Neema, big Maureen, Baracka, and Miriam are all healthy, happy, and enjoying school.

Simoni with his great grandparents

This week Mama Pendo and I took two trips to visit Zawadi and Simoni's families... and after great visits, they have agreed to let me move forward with their adoptions! I could not be more thrilled or honored.

Loveness and Pray are happy and healthy, no significant news about either of them. Andrea, David, and Pendo have all learned to write their names and are practicing that new school on every surface! They are ready to start school in January and are absolutely raring to go. Abdulli has been trying very hard but still isn't quite there – we're still trying to find a specialist to come out and test him so we can make concrete school plans, at which point we will need to find him a sponsor! The big kids are now back at school, although we had a fantastic day painting with them (along with volunteers from Speranza Tanzania, check out more pictures on their post, although Google Translate will be your friend!).

Painting with the school kids

We also have a bunch of great new volunteers, welcome to Emma, Tess, Christina, Sophie, and Ashlee. The kids are really benefiting from all the extra attention. Even the chickens are thriving – we have eight new chicks and more hatching every day.

Basically, life at Nkoaranaga is hectic but wonderful, as usual, and I am loving it, and dreading having to leave in a few weeks! In the meantime, I'm going to get back there and hug some babies. Thank you again to everyone who donated to Light Up the Night, including everyone who participated in Kristina's event and the MPA's fundraising – we couldn't be happier!

Summer week one - welcome back!

Little Ebenezer with his grandmother's sister, who is so proud
to see how much he's grown! 

SO! Things have been crazy but fantastic for the last week, I finally have time to sit down and write a quick recap. The kids have, I swear, doubled in size since I was here in December - in a few cases literally! The two new babies are doing really well - Ebenezer and Neema - although poor Ebenezer has a bit of a chest cold that has been giving him trouble. He's on meds now, so hopefully that'll be taken care of soon. This time of year is something of a trade off - it's colder so there are fewer mosquitoes and therefore less malaria, but they get more miscellaneous bugs, especially since they spend a lot of time squished together inside.

Little Maureen going for
 a stroll

Big Ebenezer, showing
off his standing

Vicky, little Maureen, Gracie, and big Ebenezer are all walking beautifully. Filipo and Frankie can walk well with a hand, and with a bit more confidence I think they could easily walk alone, but they sit down immediately when the hand is removed. Hopefully in a few more weeks I'll have videos and pictures of them walking, too! This group is funny - they can all speak to varying degrees, but mostly choose not to. In particular, Maureen can say pretty much anything she wants to - I've caught her singing full, complex songs - but flat out refuses to do it on command. If you didn't know better, you'd think the whole group was mute! Such a contrast to a year ago when Baracka, big Maureen, Neema, Zawadi, Ester and David were this age - with Baracka and big Maureen chattering away, the rest HAD to start talking to keep up and get their share of attention. No pressure in this group, though!

Maureen (left) and Zawadi

Neema in her LSE gear

The older group is now potty training and starting school, which is fantastic to see - and they're SO. SMART. I love watching them singing, dancing, drawing, and writing in class - they're doing extremely well. Neema is also our new LSE MPA mascot - she was too cute in my sweatshirt. Speaking of the LSE, Light Up the Night is going really well - the entire orphanage is MUCH safer with the adjusted switches and outlets, and we're about to start on the solar lighting for the orphanage and maternity ward (courtesy of fundraising by Kristina and the LSE MPA).

Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to see Kristina much, as she's been struck by.... something unpleasant, it's not totally clear, but she's sick. Keep your fingers crossed for her! Marie will be here tonight, so we can help take good care of her. I'm also counting down the days until Riz, Adam, Jordan, my mom, and Patty arrive - it's going to be a full house!

I have a bunch more to say and I haven't even gotten to the older kids yet... but I have to cut it short for now, my internet time is running out. More to come, soon!

Nkoaranga Angels: LSE MPA

As many of you know, I am currently studying at the London School of Economics in the Master's of Public Administration program, focusing on International Development. I have never in my life encountered such a breadth of interesting, talented, intimidatingly intelligent people with such fascinating and diverse life experiences, all of which they bring to bear on the program. I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of it! They're also charitable and extremely generous - the program's Student Association, MPASA, has a Philanthropy wing, and each year the entire program votes on a charity to raise funds for. This year, they chose us at The Small Things!

Souraya

Joachim

Leo

Through the efforts of our two fearless second year leaders, Souraya and Leo, as well as our newly elected leader for next year, Joachim, as well as the amazing participation from the class, we managed to raise over $5,500! This was achieved through a number of creative avenues - from pub quizzes to bake sales to scavenger hunts to candygrams to hoodies to gambling! Here are a few highlights of the year's events.

Blackjack and "Pin the Tail on the Beaver (LSE's Mascot) at
Games and Poker Night

Jo (front) and Merce (back), two of our departing second years,
showing off the charades slips at Games and Poker night

One team crammed into a London phone box
during the Scavenger Hunt

Another team rocking out in an intersection for the Scavenger Hunt

Ebenezer Ndogo, one of the preemies
being helped by the one-to-one care

After talking to the group and the board, we've decided to use $2,000 of the money raised to complete Light Up the Night! That means that thanks to the students of the LSE MPA, we will be able to put solar lighting in the hospital maternity ward as well as the orphanage, making things much safer for the 30 orphanage kids as well as for hundreds of laboring mothers each year. The rest of the money will be divided between various other projects - part will go towards paying for a new mama's salary for the next three years in conjunction with Western Union and Millie and Mikarla, part will go towards the new cooker and dryer for the orphanage, and part will stay in reserve for unforeseen expenses, like paying for one-to-one care for premature infants.

Pray, who was badly burned
in the fire that inspired Light
Up the Night

We at The Small Things are all incredibly grateful - but I want to personally thank each and every one of my incredible classmates for their participation in this huge gift to the kids of Nkoaranga orphanage. I want to thank you for choosing us, despite the complications of being a US registered nonprofit operating in the UK. I want to thank you for spreading the word to friends and family - Team Least Squares from the Pub Quiz (Tolu “T-Statistic”, Faisal “F-Statistic”, Sarah “Stata Star”, Joachim “Joint Hypothesis”, and Hayk "Histogram Hero") were particularly wonderful ambassadors. I want to thank the people who baked and helped us harass random passerbys for the bake sale - especially Molly, Kyla, Josephine, Liz, Merce and Josepha. And of course, none of this would have been possibly without the incredible leadership of Leo, Souraya and Jo, and the hard work of the rest of the Philanthropy team.

Andrea, one of the kids headed to
school in January

Most importantly, I want to thank you all for coming out to our events and making them such a pleasure. It will be up to the class to decide which nonprofit they choose to support next year - while we would be incredibly grateful to be chosen again, it would also be fair for people to choose another of the many deserving nominated charities. But please know that you've made a huge difference for us this year, and the projects you've sponsored will affect mothers and children in need for many years to come.

Progress

Just one of many outlets and
switches moved out of the
reach of little fingers

We've come an amazing way in the last few months. Between Kristina's event for Light Up the Night and your generous donations, we're now at almost $7,500 of $9,500 total needed to finish the project by installing solar lighting in the orphanage and hospital maternity wards, an effort that WILL save lives. Check out the difference this project has already made - the orphanage rewiring is now FINISHED. No more electrical outlets in the reach of little fingers, no more dead lights in the baby room from the fire years ago, no more random holes in the wall with wires sticking out - hooray!

We still have a few more hurdles before the finish line, but we are getting closer every day. We also have received news that our gorgeous boy Andrea may be getting sponsored for school next year... keep your fingers crossed! In the meantime, please consider donating to Light Up the Night or towards Pendo, Andrea, Abdulli and David's school costs, or taking one of them on for long-term sponsorship (a quarter sponsorship is just $19 per month and can change their lives).

Mama Cantate describing the fire that sparked Project Light Up the Night

Can you imagine cooking for 30 kids
on this??

We've also got some great projects coming up this summer, including a pilot business micro-grants and training program for families either already caring for orphaned children or single parents in danger of having to surrender a child to the orphanage system. We also will be hiring a new mama and replanting the garden for the coming year. We ALSO just had a few large unforeseen expenses - replacing the completely dead orphanage dryer that is often the only thing that keeps our kids' beautiful butts clothed (especially in the rainy season!) as well as repairing the stove, which had disintegrated almost completely - to the point that the mamas often cooked on a fire outside instead. We're also replenishing our stock of chewable vitamins, liquid vitamins, and formula to keep the kids adequately nourished. On top of all of that, we've got some great volunteers coming over the summer, including medical students and a Swahili major who will be working with us to create cross-cultural children's books that we hope to distribute to other local orphanages as well.

And as a reminder of why we do this all, take a look at the beautiful face of my happy, healthy little girl Zi, who just a year and a half ago was riddled with worms and couldn't even crawl because she was so weak. Better medical care, better food, access to formula and vitamins, better support for the mamas so they have more attention for the children, better volunteer support, better infrastructure - happier, healthier kids. Just 18 days till I have the privilege of being with them again! 

Grant us the serenity

I have always loved the serenity prayer, whether or not one connects it with religion or God - I think it's a really beautiful and powerful way to think about life, especially the difficult and raw parts that this type of work exposes you to.

"Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." 

Serenity

I never fully got the chance to honor and memorialize Rehema, a beautiful little angel who was with us for just a few short days. I am sorry I never got the chance to meet her, though Jasmine, Dora and Anna have given us a glimpse of her days at the orphanage, and assure us she was taken care of and loved. It appears her mother was unable to get to the hospital and gave birth in unsanitary conditions, then passed away - leaving little Rehema, already premature, with infections she was not strong enough to fight. Her name meant compassion, and I hope we gave her that at least. We will remember you, little girl, and strive to be compassionate to honor your memory. 

Courage

We couldn't help Rehema - but there are parts of her story that echo things we can help. Her birth was unsafe - we have made huge strides with Light Up the Night, and are over 80% of the way towards our goal. That means we've already raised enough to rewire and install solar lighting in the orphanage. Now we are just over $2000 away from being able to install solar lighting in the maternity wards as well. This is crucial - electricity is out several nights a week, and the incredibly hardworking hospital midwives cannot do their job properly if they can't monitor the laboring mothers and summon more help from the doctors when necessary. 

I also am thrilled to deliver an update on our beautiful boy Peace. As you may remember, he struggled badly to gain weight during his first month - he remained just two kilos. However, thanks to your donations, we were able to fund 24/7 care for him during his second month, and he more than doubled in weight! He's kept up that progress since then - take a look at him below with baby Shujah, who was not premature and is several months older than him. Same size! And Shujah is NOT a small baby! We're so proud of how beautifully they are both growing, and were thrilled to hear from Jasmine and co. that they would never have guessed on their recent visit that he had been so premature if they hadn't already known. 

Shujah (left) and Peace (right)

Wisdom

Asimwe cuddling baby Ebeni
a few weeks ago

Little man giving a sly
smile yesterday

Because this intervention worked so well with Peace, we have been able to help out another gorgeous boy who has been struggling, little Ebenezer Ndogo. He has been lucky to have some of the school kids home for a break from boarding school, giving him lots of extra loving - but we were still worried about his lack of weight gain, vomiting and diarrhea. So in concert with Mama Pendo, we decided to fund four weeks of one-to-one care for him as well - and the results already seem to be showing. Friend of The Small Things Steffi was at the orphanage this weekend, and sent along these pictures of Ebenezer Ndogo already smiling, and looking healthier by the day. We're thrilled that it's helping! 

Hope

Beautiful girl Neema Ndogo

Luckily, sometimes we are blessed with babies who are healthy and happy from day one. That seems to be the case with beautiful Neema (who will have to be Neema Ndogo since we already have a Neema, now Neema Kubwa!) who came in over the weekend. She's only a few weeks old, but already looks wise beyond her years, with a beautiful, thoughtful little face. Neema means hope, and she is ours - we hope that soon all our beautiful babies will thrive as she seems to be doing already. We hope that they'll all get as big, and beautiful, and sweet, and funny as our Neema Kubwa, two and a half and with dimples that can slay you from a mile away. I personally can't wait to meet both of our new arrivals, to see how Peace has grown, to try to catch the running toddlers that I held on their first days in the orphanage, just a few days or hours old. It makes everything worth it. 

Maureen, who I met on her first day, comforting baby Peace.
Keep paying it forward, little girl. 

39 days to go. 

"Light Up The Night" - A Blazing Success!

It has been a long time coming, but finally on April 29th my gala dinner and silent auction for "Light Up The Night" (details) took place at at The Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort & Spa in Victoria, BC.  

"Light Up The Night"

The evening proved to be a huge success; and thanks to the generosity of all who attended, and made a donation in lieu of attending we were able to raise $608.00 for food which includes: bananas, pineapples, rice, oil for cooking, meat, fish, chicken, toothbrushes, and underwear.  This will help to stock the pantry and provide them with a surplus to use in times of need.  Thank you to those who purchased 3 containers of baby formula.  This will help with our new baby Ebeni who is very weak and struggling right now.  I feel fortunate to be able to return in less than 2 weeks to assess the needs of this little one and help where I can.

 $1100.00 was raised for education and an additional  $7292.00 for the electrical work and solar panels for the orphanage. With the $60 already donated, that brings us to a grand total so far of $7352! 

Thank you to everyone in my local community that contributed to the silent auction tables.  Thank you to The Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort & Spa in Victoria for sponsoring my event, and taking a chance on a girl with a crazy fundraising idea! I can't even begin to thank the members of my team at work who have provided the funds for David's first year of education; and I feel blessed to be a part of sponsoring this amazing kid.  

Many people are wondering where "The Mosiac Ladies" ended up.  Well, the beautiful quilt that was made by my amazingly talented mother was auctioned off with all funds going towards "Light Up The Night".  It will be a lovely house warming gift from one sister to another.  Don't worry if you missed out on this beautiful piece of fabric art, there will be a chance to bid on another one...more details to follow.   

"The Mosiac Ladies"

I can not even begin to express my thanks and gratitude to my family as I have planned this fundraiser, whilst working on my degree.  Their support has been more than I could have ever asked for.  From the very beginning my mom has been hands on assisting where she could.  Thanks to my dad for taking some wonderful and memorable photos of the event.Thanks to my sister and brother in law who out bid many people and took home 8 silent auction items; the record for the evening!  Without them this night would not have been possible. Last but not least a tremendous thanks to my boss at work for giving me the time off so I could return to Nkoaranga, and spend 7 more weeks with the children and mamas; I can't wait!        

My family ~ my cheerleaders!

I wish that I had the words to express how thankful I am for everyone that attended the evening and made it possible, but there are no words to express what I feel and how grateful I am for all of you.  I think that Mother Teresa says it best, "We ourselves know that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean.  But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.  We can do no great things, only small things with great love."  That's what we are all about at The Small Things as we work to enhance the children and mama's lives at Nkoaranga, one small thing at a time.

My brother in law, my beautiful sister and niece. 

My "oldest" sponsors, my grandparents

Neela, Sandra (my mom), and Deborah.
Deborah made 50 pairs of pants and shorts for the children this summer.  

      

My work team and some of David's new sponsors

To contribute to "Light Up the Night" and help us reach our goal, click below! 

Thank you to everyone who came out, and who has helped us to reach this point. Your help will save lives, and we are very, very grateful.