We all love bubbles...

As I’m sure my parents, and probably a few others, would agree, having little children in the school holidays can be a bit stressful. If you then multiply the number of kids with too much time on their hands by about 24, you get the holidays at the orphanage.

The teachers at the orphanage are amazing, and going to school is huge part of the day for everybody from Zawadi and Neema’s age group upwards. It also works out some of their crazy excess energy so that they are all sleepy for naptime after lunch. One of my favourite memories of our recent trip was watching Kantate (one of the teachers) organise running races across the front of the orphanage grass before school in the morning, seeing Zawadi and Miriam showing off their best running styles, Big Ebenezer risk getting flattened as he wandered aimlessly across the racetrack, Eman winning every race effortlessly, and Tumaini really not being too happy about it!

As a result, when school is not on, everybody is full of beans and raring to go. One of the most fool-proof ways to entertain them, and work off some of that energy, is to get out the bubbles:

….and an hour and a half later….

They are always a hit and the kids really can do this for hours and hours. I hope everyone spotted Frankie trying to eat the bubbles in that last video! (13 seconds in)

(The real joy comes when there is a really big bubble that everyone wants to pop; the real challenge is learning to blow extra-big bubbles on demand as everyone shouts “Kubwa! Kubwa! Mimi kubwa!!” (Big! Big! A big one for me!!) every five seconds. Unfortunately we didn’t get a video of this, but the highlight of my bubble-blowing morning was when I did manage to blow a really big bubble, but if went too high and everyone missed it. After a lot of pointing and shouting and jumping, the kids stood literally open-mouthed, necks craning at the sky, watching this bubble get higher and higher and linger, still intact, right over the top of the orphanage roof. We never did see it pop, it went right up and over to the other side of the building! The only problem was that I couldn’t repeat this miracle on request – and there were a lot of requests!

Here are a few pictures, just to show you how much the kids really do love bubbles:

Pray's gymnastics and high jumps to get there first are always impressive - rivalled occasionally by Baraka 

Neema was determined to get whole clouds of bubbles all by herself.

Zi makes up for not being able to reach by swinging with her cardigan!

I think Ester was just posing really :)

And my personal favourite: Miriam is unable to contain her excitement!

One piece of good news this week is that the Small Things has been able to find sponsors for Daniel's education. Daniel is an orphan who was struggling to raise the money to start secondary school. He had already managed to get a part scholarship thanks to his impressive grades finishing primary school. From the newspaper article, it's clear Daniel has not had the easiest life. We are very happy that thanks to the generosity of Lonnie, Garry, Wendy, Susan and the Somji family, we will be able to pay the remainder of Daniel's school fees and living costs for this year, as well as put a bit away towards next year. It is really great to be able to help someone who will make the most of the support the way Daniel will.

Read more about Daniel at: http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/news/4-national-news/28862-dreams-in-jeopardy-as-disabled-child-struggles-to-raise-fees.html 

On a final happy note, we are really pleased to be able to tell everyone who may not have seen it on Facebook that Neema Ndogo is much better and back at the orphanage, and is likely to be falling asleep into her food once again.

Marathon for Nkoaranga, fancy a challenge?

Have you been looking for a way of helping out the kids but not sure how? 

Well, this could be for you. 

How about challenging yourself this April by taking part in the Taunton half marathon? There are also options for a full marathon or a fun run.

Shujah says you can do it!

Bethan Crisp, Charlotte Foster, Emily Hayman and Jake Fuller are the first four registered runners, racing on behalf of The Small Things. They are looking for anybody else to join them in what is going to be a very gruelling but also VERY rewarding day!

Date: Sunday 7^th April 2013

Time: 10.30am start with a 4.30pm cut off point. 

Where: Taunton, Somerset, England. 

Click here to find out more

Or if you would like to support this event in a different way, any kind donations will be greatly appreciated to get us to the finishing line!

A big thank you from Charlotte, Emily, Jake, Bethan and all of us at The Small Things, for helping our wonderful children.

Sponsor Bethan

Thank you! From Zawadi, Maureen, Neema, Miriam and Ester 

Birthdays, Birthdays, Everywhere...

Three more birthdays to acknowledge this month - it's been a crazy one!

Our fantastic little guy Andrea turned five a week ago today. He is starting school in January with the help of My African Child, a Danish organization that has taken on his sponsorship. Andrea is a sweet and funny kid - and so smart! He is constantly translating for the volunteers, and loves helping in any way he can. He often gets so excited to tell you something that he stutters his way through it! And when he was little... oh did this boy have chub. He gives Frankie a run for his money on the fat baby scale! Thanks to former volunteers for the baby pictures - from being a baby to carrying one on his back! (Don't forget that we're still a few hundred dollars away from the up front fees needed to start our kids into school - check out the details and consider donating at the Education page!)

Neema is a little ray of sunshine with the greatest dimples in existence, and she is turning three on Saturday the 27th. She is a delicious little butterball, always cheerful and cooperative - and she's loved having her picture taken since she was tiny! As soon as a camera comes out, Neema is ON IT, usually smiling and saying "Ndizi!" which means banana - it's the Swahili version of saying "Cheese!" and Neema is the expert. 

 

And then there's Zawadi, my Zi. Technically nobody knows exactly when Zawadi's birthday is - she was brought into the orphanage after her mother died and father ran away, by relatives who hadn't known she was born until her mother passed away - it appears that her father was abusive and may have been involved in her mother's passing. I was so heartbroken by the idea of her having a birthday of October 0, 2009, which is what her file said when I met her, that we decided to give her the seventeenth. So today is her third birthday, or as close to it as we can hope to know. Zi has overcome malnutrition and bad rickets, and is now one of the healthiest kids at the orphanage (although she's still tiny!). She's incredibly smart, talkative, funny, and gorgeous - not that I'm a little biased! As many of you know, I am currently in the early stages of the adoption process with this angel (and Simoni). As much as it's killing me to be away, I am proud to say this will be her last birthday as an orphan.

 Zawadi splashing at a trip to the hot springs in August

This is the end of our insane crush of birthdays, at least until the end of November when Vicky and Filipo turn two. It's also a "birthday" for me - I first arrived in Tanzania on October 14th, 2010, and my first trip to Nkoaranga was that very next week. We're coming up on two years that I've been part of these kids' lives, and vice versa - I can't remember what my life was like before them, and it also feels like it has gone by so incredibly fast. I am truly blessed. 

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!)

Teleport, please?

I have to start by apologizing for the long delay between posts - I've been in the US visiting my wonderful family, which has been great - but has required two overnight flights in the last weeks, neither of which I slept on, so my body has no idea when or where I am! I'm only now JUST about coherent enough to post. Which brings me to my next point - it's 2012. That sounds like the future, right? Where is my teleport? I could hop in, spend the weekends and all my spare time with the kids in Tanzania, then beam myself back in time for classes. I will continue to wait impatiently until my teleport arrives.

Maybe I lied a bit when I said I was coherent enough to post. Let's stick to the facts - a few brief announcements that will be expanded upon soon.

Ebeni Ndogo

• We have a new baby to welcome to the Nkoaranga family! Don't have any pictures of him yet, but I hear he's a real cutie, and healthy - a second Ebenezer, which will make our big guy Ebenezer Kubwa and this little guy Ebenezer Ndogo. What a blessing that our Ebeni is now the big one - he was so sick and small for so long! UPDATE: Here he is, one beautiful new baby Ebenezer, thanks to Steffi for the photo!
  

  

  Ebeni Kubwa







• On a sadder note, we had a little angel pass briefly through the orphanage, a girl named Rehema - unfortunately she was SO premature that she only lasted a few days with us. Again, I hope to have pictures so that we can properly memorialize her - but hold your munchkins close. 

Go Maureen go!

• Speaking of how fantastically Ebeni Kubwa is doing, he is now officially WALKING - as is Maureen Ndogo! Gracie is now super confident and strides around everywhere like she owns the place. Vicky is on the verge - can take  few steps but can't keep the balance up for long enough - and Frankie continues to be a lazybones. Filipo has been sick lately so he hasn't caught up to the crew yet, but I bet he'll be walking in no time. 
• The electrical rewiring of the orphanage is almost complete - all of the switches and outlets have been moved safely out of the kids' reach, the wiring has been gone over with a fine toothed comb and replaced in multiple places for safety, and the laundry room is now properly grounded, which should save a LOT of hard work by hand for the mamas when surges were disabling the machines before. At this stage they're just double checking that all the lights are properly hooked up and repainting all the walls they had to disrupt to get at the wires. I'm sure the kids have been fascinated by the process and will be sad to see them go - but hopefully they'll be back soon, once we've raised the rest of the money for Light Up the Night! 
• Speaking of which, we're all eagerly anticipating Kristina's gala fundraiser for Light Up the Night in Victoria, BC on April 29th - it really looks like it's going to be a blast! Anyone who hasn't RSVPed yet, do it now - it's going to be a fantastic evening. 
• We're also happy to introduce some new partners - Speranza Tanzania (meaning Hope Tanzania) is a new organization working with Nkoaranga hospital in much the same way we work with the orphanage, run by two fantastic med students out of Italy, Martina and Lorenzo. They're currently paying for a fantastic young medical officer from the hospital to go to medical school and become a full fledged doctor, and we're hoping to work together to get more of the hospital lit up in the future!  We'll even be overlapping for a few months this summer. Don't worry - the page is in Italian but Google will translate it for you. You'll be hearing more about our work together in the coming months! 

I'll leave you with my favorite video of all recent history - my beautiful Zawadi in a tutu brought in by some kind volunteers. Thanks Amy for the video! Note the awesome shoes - this is a child who has been so funny with shoes since she was a tiny girl. She used to wear them on all her hands and feet, and if she had to choose, would keep them on her hands! Some things never change, and I love that this is one of them.


Lots of love and happy Easter and Passover from all of us at The Small Things and the Nkoaranga kids! 

Going Personal - For Zi

For those of you who have been reading this blog since the beginning, you know that this was once just my private place to share my thoughts about my Tanzanian adventure, what I thought would be a fun four months, but has turned into a nonprofit that in less than a year has drilled a well, installed water filters, bought chickens, planted a garden, hired a mama, redone a playground, sent thirteen women to English classes, sent three amazing children to school, and within the next six months will have rewired the orphanage, installed solar panels and paid for Mama Pendo to attend an intensive management course. Phew! It's been a long ride.

I am, of course, profoundly grateful for how far we've come. But sometimes I miss having a space to just write how I feel, how this work in all its forms gets into my soul. So today I hope you'll forgive me for going personal.

I miss Zawadi. I miss all the kids, but nothing is as all consuming as this. My room is plastered with photos of her serious little face - I see her big smile every time I open my cell phone. I watch videos of her almost every night, except when it's too much to bear. I spent the last month exploring every option to see if there was any way to shorten the degree that I am working on - to switch to something less intensive, to work harder, to do ANYTHING to get back to her sooner. And I can't. My choice is to stay another year and finish the degree, which I will need to have a fighting chance at 95% of the jobs making a real difference in the developing world, the jobs I want to do. My other choice is to take a year or two off, and try to come back and finish the degree later.

Last week in her new dress
Thanks Amy!

If I was making the decision for myself alone, it would be easy. I crave her like water, I would happily accept having to work twice as hard to finish the degree with her by my side. I am terrified that her gorgeous baby lisp and her sweet taut belly are going to disappear before I get back to her, that I'll never know the joy of parenting baby Zi, toddler Zi. But that's the point, it's not about me anymore. It's about what's best for HER. And she's not traumatized, living at the orphanage now. She's in the only home she knows, with people she loves and who love her. And if I went through the adoption process and then yanked her back to the UK, then immediately had to let someone else care for her 10 hours a day in order to have a fraction of a chance of getting my work done... THAT would be traumatizing. THAT would be unfair, and selfish, and wrong. I can't let my fear of missing her childhood ruin her experience of it.

Her first day at the
orphanage ~ 3 mo?
Thanks Diane!

I will be back in three short months, and by her side for another three from there. And even then I have to defend her, not let her understand the true depth of my love for her, not let her get too attached. I have to put her down to bed and walk away, and steel myself against her cries and confusion and anger, and cry in my house a hundred yards away from the orphanage, missing her horribly and knowing I can't let myself cave.

I pour myself into poems and scrapbooks, now, to tell her all the things I can't let her know yet, to have something to show her when she's older - "I never stopped thinking about you. I never stopped loving you. Not for a second." Even when I had to protect her from that love.

I've been scared to call her my daughter, because the Tanzanian adoption process can be horrific, and unpredictable, and unfair. But it's become my only solace now - to know that she is and will be my daughter, and she doesn't know it yet, and she can't know it yet, but the day that I take her home, I will spend every day making sure she never forgets.

Pure sweetness...

"Calling" my mom...

And pure trouble.

Wish me strength.

On my way!

Publishing might be a bit sparse for the next week or so, but for excellent reason, as in just 10 hours I will be taking off to Tanzania, to be reunited with my beautiful babies! I've been counting down the days for months and the hours for days - I could not possibly be more excited to see their beautiful faces. So tonight, just something simple - a video from just after I left, of Zawadi's strange little habit of wearing shoes on her hands. I can't wait to see my girl, and what weird little quirks she's picked up since last time.

Thank you again for all the incredible donations - I have literally 2 pairs of pants and 5 t shirts, the rest of my two LARGE bags are filled with donations for the kids - it will make a huge difference in the lives of the children AND the mamas. Wish me luck! 

Meet Pendo

Pendo means love in Swahili, and she definitely needs it. Pendo has had quite a rough start in life. Zawadi, who is her sister, was born when Pendo was about two and a half. Shortly after Zi's birth, their mother passed away and father disappeared. There appears to have been domestic violence involved, but there was never a formal investigation, so it is unclear. Since Pendo was old that she didn't need formula, she was taken in by her mother's mother, while Zawadi came to Nkoaranga orphanage. For the next two years, Pendo lived with her grandmother in severe poverty. Mama Pendo, who runs the orphanage, keeps in contact with all of the children's families where possible. In January of last year, she heard that Pendo's grandmother was having trouble caring for her, that her own health was flagging, and that Pendo was suffering as a result. 

Mama Pendo (center) holding Zawadi, with their
grandmother (left), Pendo, and great uncle in front of
the grandmother's house.

In April, Mama Pendo, my own mother, Zawadi and I got into a car and drove the several hours to find her family and talk to them about her future. Once we arrived, it took us over an hour of going to different relatives' houses to find the grandmother. It turns out that she had run away and hidden because she was afraid that we were bringing Zawadi back to her, and, heartbreakingly, she knew she was incapable of caring for her. When we explained that we just wanted her to see how well Zi was doing, she was thrilled to hold her granddaughter and let us get to know Pendo. 

Pendo was in fairly good physical shape, but she was undernourished and hadn't been vaccinated. The grandmother stated that she had a lot of trouble taking care of her, and asked for her to also come to the orphanage. As with all of the children, it is understood that should there be family members willing and able to care for the children, they are always welcome - and they are highly encouraged to keep in touch.

When we got back into the orphanage and got her washed, it became clear that Pendo has had a rough time of it. Her entire body is covered in small burns, and while it's theoretically possible that they are accidental kerosene burns, their regularity and number suggests that they are the result of some type of abuse. She had some trouble adjusting to life at the orphanage - for her first few months she was often violent with the other children and had trouble bonding with the mamas. She spent days barely speaking to anyone. 

Pendo (left) with Farajah and David

That girl is gone. Pendo today is a gorgeous, happy child - cuddling with mamas, volunteers, and the other kids, fully integrated into the Nkoaranga family. She's LOUD - confident and excited to share every thought. She's incredibly smart - despite having no exposure to English and limited exposure to Swahili in her early life (her family spoke primarily the dominant tribal language Ki-Meru), she is thriving in kindergarten and will be ready to go to school next year with Abdulli, David, and Andrea (and the help of The Foundation For Tomorrow). We are so proud of how far she's come. 

To start school next year, Pendo will need a sponsor - someone who can commit to being part of her life for the next ten years. An excellent education, room, board, clothes, extracurriculars, medical care, and care over vacations all cost just $1,100 per year through our partnership with TFFT. We are still looking for sponsors for all four of next year's kids. We hope that someone reading this will end up being part of the family we're creating for Pendo - whether through a full, half, or quarter sponsorship. She's been through more in her five years than any child deserves - but we are determined to give her the happy, healthy childhood she, and all of our children, deserve.

UPDATE: Three sponsors have stepped forward for Pendo's year to year tuition (one committing $550 and two to $225), and the wonderful Claire Wyatt has raised a significant portion of the money it will take for her two years's tuition year up-front payment ($2,200 total). Thank you so much! 

If you are interested in sponsoring Pendo or any of next year's children, please get in touch with us!