A Successful Summer for TST!

The #SmallThingsSummer campaign has now officially come to an end, raising a mighty $23, 260 USD (£14,150)! That's $3000 USD or £1800 OVER our original goal of $20,000 USD (~£12000). It has been a fantastic and successful fundraiser which has shown how small and simple acts can collectively create huge impact. 

All the money raised will be funding the Orphanage Reform Project, to make the existing orphanage a safer, cleaner, and more structured environment to foster optimal growth and development for our kids.

Our board member Marie has been in Tanzania with her family and our team this summer helping to get things started. One of the biggest developments has been creating the separate baby room for babies under 1 years old, producing a safe space for newborns to play where they aren't bothered by the boisterous fun of the older kids.

A great addition are the soft foam mats in the baby room, allowing the babies to move and play around freely, without being concerned with the previous hardwood flooring of the previous play area.

The clothes room is now split so that half of it is just for the babies to play - clearer pictures soon!

We also have new toy storage areas, hugely improved storage for the children's clothes, some more comfortable places to sit, and are moving forward with colour-coordinated uniforms for the orphanage mamas, which the mamas are absolutely thrilled about. The plumbing and lighting have been improved and some of the rooms reshuffled to improve the use of space. The baby room is looking particularly splendid, all ready to be messed up by happy kids.

Baby beds all in a row.

The cots with their lovely animal mobiles hanging above, with those clothes hanging up neatly in the background.

None of this would have been possible without #SmallThingsSummer and the generosity of our supporters. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who took part, whether it was through running a fundraiser or making a donation. You have helped to prove that small actions can make big changes for people who need them.



Thank you!

- The Small Things Team

Project Riziki: Helping Hope

As you may have recently read, baby Hope has been suffering from an unexplained illness for quite some months now. Hope benefited from our 'Five Baby Challenge' last summer upon her arrival at the orphanage which, with your help and support, enabled us to fund one-to-one care for her to ensure she gained weight and strength to get her off to the best start during a very vulnerable stage in her life. However, there have been ongoing problems with her health, which we still cannot definitively explain or begin to fix. You may remember that young, beautiful Hope was fighting for her life. After several weeks in the Lutheran referral hospital in Arusha, she was believed to be on the mend. However, after just a few days back at the orphanage, she had to be rushed to a larger hospital in Moshi with a high fever.

Precious little Hope last year, not too long after her arrival at Nkoaranga Orphanage

Over the past few years, The Small Things and our partners have been able to vastly improve the living conditions, daily care, and survival chances of the beautiful kids at Nkoaranga Orphanage, thanks to your support. Hope's health problems are still a mystery unsolved. Therefore, we would like to ask for your help again in raising money for Project Riziki. 

The current situation:

Last week, Hope was admitted into hospital again with a fever, with the source still unknown. Nobody in Tanzania, so far, seems to be able to figure out exactly what is going on with poor Hope. She is now out of the hospital and back at the orphanage and doing well with Mama Fanueli; but this is almost certainly not the last of her problems. We want to do everything we can to ensure Hope is in full health and not having to suffer from these continuous fevers and chest infections any longer. 

We have recently found out about a clinic in Hai which can perform some tests that we thought would require travel to Kenya, which is thrilling!

Why we need your help:

In order to bring Hope to the center, we would need to ask Mama Fanueli to accompany us so that we can get Hope back to Nkoaranga the same day. If the consultation for Hope in Hai is unsuccessful in finding out the source of these ongoing problems, we will need to take her to Nairobi, Kenya as soon as possible. That would mean getting an emergency travel document through immigration to bring her to Kenya, which is a very complicated and costly prospect.

Hope, still tiny but growing.

With the memory of the losses of our little boy, Riziki in 2011 and our little girl, Rehema in 2012 in mind, we now ask for your help and support in our attempt to give our kids the best possible medical care they can receive here in Tanzania when circumstances require. We don't want to remain in the position of having to scramble for funds each time medical needs occur, as we have in the past. We have instead sought to create a standing fund - 'Project Riziki' - for hospital bills as well as any necessary transport, food, and overtime for Mamas accompanying the child, in memory of our little angels Riziki and Rehema, so that money will not be an obstacle to a child receiving the best care available.

Therefore, any donations that you are able to make towards Project Riziki would be extremely helpful. Not knowing what exactly Hope is suffering from means that we do not know what the future holds for her. We absolutely do not want to lose her, and that is why we plan to do everything we can. Just a few months ago she was still so weak and small. She has continued to put up a strong fight, and has now gained weight and is active, but we cannot predict the future without knowing the full picture. 

Thank you for anything you are able to give. Whether it is $1, $10 or £10, every dollar or pound will go a long way and will contribute to potentially saving the life of our little girl Hope. 

Please click here to donate towards Project Riziki

Thank you.

Guest Blog: Emily Butler - 6 Months Alcohol Free for the Nkoaranga Children

As you heard about on Facebook, the incredible Emily Butler has been undertaking a lengthy fundraising project for us - six months, in fact! Returning from her third time volunteering at Nkoaranga Orphanage in September, she decided to really go the extra mile (or month!) in raising money for the children she cares about so much in a very inventive way - she decided to give up alcohol for six months, with all donations going towards us!

When Hope became ill, she decided to dedicate the money raised towards her care, with any extra money raised going to the care and support of any future children who need it.  She is so close now to completing her goal and half a year of dedicated fundraising has really paid off - she has raised £471!  With just 10 days to go, please consider donating to this very worthy cause and support Emily in supporting Hope.

Click here to sponsor Emily - thank you!

Emily Butler with baby Hope in the summer of 2013

"One question that I keep being asked by everyone is, ‘Why alcohol?’ So here’s my answer:

I just want to start by saying that I am not addicted to alcohol. I’m a student, and drinking alcohol kind of comes with the title. Before I did this fundraiser, I was about to go into my final year of university so I knew I needed to focus. I spent my summer in Nkoaranga, introducing my family to those beautiful children and having the most amazing time. When I came home I felt, as I always do when I come back from NK, a little lost. Being in Nkoaranga can be like stepping into another world. Everything is so different and yet you feel right at home. The children mean so much to me and I couldn’t bear having to say goodbye to them yet again. So, when I came back to England, I decided I wanted to raise some money for them, as a way of me helping them from all the way over here; a sort of connection.

  

The amazing children of Nkoaranga Orphanage; the motivation for Emily to give up alcohol for 6 months

So, as I said, student = alcohol, final year = need to focus! And what better way to raise money for those beautiful children and to stop myself from procrastinating in the pub than to give up alcohol?

The second question I keep being asked is, ‘Why 6 months?’

The simple answer is that 1 month didn’t feel like enough of a challenge and a year just seemed crazy! So I went for the middle ground. I knew that by giving up alcohol for 6 months, I would be taking part in final year freshers, Halloween, bonfire night, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and end of exams all completely soberly. And boy, what a challenge it has been.

Christmas was my biggest worry. I don’t know about you, but our Christmas tends to be surrounded by the consumption of various types of alcohol: Mulled wine, gin and tonic, bailey’s, a nice bit of cheeky cava. I knew that the Christmas festivities were going to be my biggest obstacle and there were times, in particular when I was pouring out a glass of Baileys for my Grandma, when all I wanted to do was sneak into the kitchen and start swigging from the bottle. Pathetic or what? But, I stood strong. I even had to be careful about food; it’s amazing the amount of Christmas food that’s filled with alcohol. The amount of chocolate truffles I had to turn down because they were filled with rum. And that really is my idea of heaven: chocolate plus alcohol. Don’t get me wrong though, I still had an incredible Christmas. I was able to explore a range of soft drinks: Shloer, cloudy lemonade, lime and soda water. And all without the hangover! I did feel rather smug whilst my family moaned about their ‘slight’ hangovers on Boxing Day and I was sat there fresh as a daisy. Then it hit the evening and they cracked open the alcohol, again. I didn’t feel quite so high and mighty at that point.

Emily reading a story to some very eager children!

Needless to say, Christmas was a bit of a struggle. But this has been nowhere near as hard as I thought it would. I think I’ve just kind of gotten used to it now. Though, having said that, there really are times, in particular that past few frustratingly hard weeks of dissertation writing at university, when I’ve just wanted to be able to sink into the sofa with a nice glass of white wine and a good book. I have to say, that is something that I am really looking forward to. No matter how tempted I have been though, I haven’t touched a drop. I just think of the wonderful children and Mamas that I am raising this money for and the temptation for a nice cold cider is gone.

I have decided to donate the money I raise towards the hospital fees for Baby Hope. She has just come out of hospital, which I am so pleased to hear about, but is still under investigation, so the money you wonderful people have donated is going towards finding out what is making her so ill in the first place, and supporting her in keeping strong and gaining weight. Baby Hope has been through so much in her short life so far. She has had health problems from the start due to her being so premature. We were so pleased to see her improving and gaining weight, so it really came as a shock when she went into hospital at the end of 2013. But, that little girl is a fighter and is getting stronger every day. The Mamas have been incredible, as they always are, and Hope will be getting extra special care from Mama Fanuelli now that she is back home.

Mama Fanuelli taking excellent care of Hope

I want to say a special thank you to all of the wonderful people who have sponsored me in my 6 months  alcohol free fundraiser. You are incredible and your constant support and generosity warms my heart. 

Thank you so much for anything you can give! There is just one week to go; I can practically taste that glass of white wine waiting for me!"

Success for The Small Things and the "Spread the Love Auction" 2014!

We have said it many times already, but we shall say it again. THANK YOU SO MUCH! We are overwhelmed by the support of everyone who contributed towards our first ever online auction, "Spread the Love 2014". Whether you donated items, services, money, made a bid, invited friends and family, or simply took the time to have a look at our auction, it has all made a BIG difference.

We raised over a whopping $14,000!

That certainly is something to smile about. Right, Lulu?

And as we mentioned in our Facebook post on Tuesday, we have some exciting news to announce.....

We are extremely proud, thrilled and delighted to announce that having found the perfect area, we have been able to finalize the purchase of our land for the construction of the Children's Village for orphaned children in Tanzania!

This is a MASSIVE step forward for the future of The Small Things. This land is the first step and, perhaps the most vital, that will lead to the benefit of so many children and families in Tanzania. We cannot wait to keep you updated with photos and news from the ground with the progress and the next steps following the purchase of this land.

To start you off, take a look at the photos! It will require your imagination to envisage a Children's Village on what currently looks like some very lush but plain land, but this is just the very start of our very big project!

Also from the generosity of our supporters, The Small Things have already been able to buy a brand new bicycle from the "Fund-a-Need" section in the auction. Here is Pray enjoying it!

Pray recently lost his first tooth but certainly has not lost any energy! 

And as you may have already seen in last week's blog, thanks to all those who made the Nkoaranga children their Valentine through the auction, we were able to send them all on an exciting field trip to a big play park last week!

Miriam, Fanuelli, Shujaa and Frankie enjoying the dinosaur at the play park.

With lots of love and gratitude,

The Small Things

Nkoaranga Valentine's Party Field Trip

The children and staff of Nkoaranga Orphanage and The Small Things would like to say a MASSIVE thank you to all those who made the Nkoaranga children their Valentine last week through the "Spread the Love Auction". Thanks to your generosity, we were able to send them all on an exciting field trip to a big play park on Tuesday! Every field trip is a big success, but this one in particular looked brilliant! So much so, that I found it extremely difficult to choose just a small batch of photos from the tons of amazing snaps that were taken from the day!

The night before the trip, Emma, one of our on-site interns, and two volunteers prepared 40+ peanut butter sandwiches in the office and cling-filmed them ready for the kids the next day. With an early start of 8.30am on Tuesday, our volunteers, The Small Things' staff and the Mamas all lent a hand and helped to get the children ready. 

Early morning excitement before the field trip!

Emma explains:
"We got all the kids in their best clothes and shoes and they all looked adorable! They were all chanting 'Sa-fa-ri, sa-fa-ri' (trip trip trip!) and getting really excited. After they'd got dressed, eaten and had their faces cleaned, we walked down to the cars. With 9 kids and 4+ adults in each car it was a squeeze! The kids loved just driving down the Nkoaranga road and all screamed every time we went over a bump. We sang nursery rhymes like Old MacDonald and our ABCs as well as some Swahili songs. Some of the kids were pointing at animals, people and transport outside the window and shouting the names in swahili (Pike Pike! Bicycle!)." 

Best friends Miriam and Maureen, during the chaotic period of getting all the children ready to go go go!

Everyone arrived at World Garden in Mishono where they have a 'Fun For All' kids' play park. There were slides, swings, tunnels, a bouncy castle slide, a trampoline, merry-go-rounds and various play ground equipment. All the kids loved it, especially the older ones like Baraka who were brave enough for the big slide.

Baraka LOVED the big slide! He did eventually start sliding down it, rather than running! But he showed no fear and had a great time experimenting and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

It's a nice playground, in that it's all enclosed and safe enough to let the children do their own thing without constant supervision, so each child could go off and play where they wanted. Even the grown-ups had fun on the playground equipment!

Helga, one of our volunteers, also enjoyed the playground!

At about 12:00pm, it was time for the peanut butter sandwiches! (Always a big hit with the kids). They all stayed another hour or so to play afterwards.

Civilised chats over a yummy lunch.

Shalom about to tuck into her sandwiches.

The whole day went really well. There were no big issues, no injuries or illnesses and the kids were very well behaved. Even the rain held off until we got to Nkoaranga. In one car on the way back, five out of nine children fell asleep and that night they all went to bed early at around 18:30 as they were so knackered from the day!

The great photos taken of the day can do the rest of the talking!

Franky getting a turn on the dinosaur.

Happy Miriam.

A smiley Vicky Mouse!

Miriam, Fanueli, Shujaa and Franky all manage to squeeze onto the dinosaur!

Shujaa chilling out on the trampoline.

A funny bouncy-castle moment where Peace just couldn't roll down properly!

 

Fanueli is loving the ride, Fillipo isn't so sure!

Deliberating. Who will go first?

Well done Brighton!

Well, he did try!

Again, a big thank you from all of us and we hope you can all feel the love from Tanzania! Here are some of the cards from the Pilot House children from this Valentine's Day. It's been a great celebration all round!

Holiday Sponsorship Drive

'Give to Receive'

Since it is now just over a month until Christmas, we are excited to begin our holiday sponsorship drive!  As many of you may remember, last year we ran 'Project Education' which raised money and found sponsors for 4 amazing children - David (below), Pendo, Abdulli and Andrea - to begin school!  The project was a huge success and they are all doing really well, so THANK YOU!

This year, our first priority is to continue the work of Project Education for our next 6 children (just below!) but, unlike in previous years, we're not done once the kids entering school have sponsors!

Our first priority...

...is to get the remainder of these 6 awesome kids sponsored to start school in January.  We are delighted to say that Loveness, Pray and Anna are already sponsored, but Queen, Isaak and Auntie still need your help.  If they can get sponsors, they will be starting at a fantastic local school called Amani (Peace) Academy, which has ranked highest in the region on national tests for the last several years, and in fact ranked within the top 25 schools in all of Tanzania.  Unlike in previous years, they will be attending as day-students and living in a family-style house which we have set up, rather than boarding.  We would love for you to read more about this aspect of the project as we are very excited to be able to provide them with a more family-style environment.

...following this, we want to try to find sponsors for all of the orphanage children to help fund their care in the orphanage.

What are the holidays truly about, if not about opening up the warmth of a family to a child without one? As each child gets a sponsor, we will add their ornament to the tree we can be seen on our holiday fundraising page, so you can see the progress we are making. Let's fill it up!  Here's a little sneak preview!

We also have an extra incentive for our wonderful supporters to donate over the holidays. From now to January 1st, any new sponsors will receive a special thank you! ALL new sponsors will receive a beautiful handmade African ornament as a token of our appreciation (check them out to the right of the tree), and full sponsors will also get one of our 2014 Calendars (also now available for purchase).  Of course, we realize that many people are unable to commit to a sponsorship but would still like to contribute and for this we are extremely grateful! For one time donations between now and January 1st, we would also like to offer several different gifts to express our thanks - find out more on the holiday fundraising page. Finally, calendars or donations in someone's name make a great gift, and recipients will get a beautiful card as well! Sponsor or donate now!


Donate

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Buy a Calendar (add $5 for shipping outside the US or UK)
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Whatever support you can give, whether it be spreading the word, buying a meaningful gift for someone special, or becoming a sponsor, it will make a difference and we are so grateful. 

Sharing the love!

Hello everyone, we hope you've all had a great week!  This week our blog features some birthdays, a guest post by three amazing girls telling you about their candy-gram fundraiser, and a little bit about some of The Small Things' committees who are looking for people to join them!

Birthdays!

Saimoni (5 years old)

Today is Saimoni's 5th Birthday!  He is such an amazing boy who has done so well to overcome the rickets he suffered from when he was younger (especially not easy when living in  an orphanage full of more mobile kids) to become the happy, laughing and extremely imaginative little boy that he is today!

Left to right: Faraja (8 years old), Baracka (4 years old) and Neema ndogo (1 year old)

It's been a busy week birthday-wise!  Last Friday, we celebrated two other Birthdays: Faraja - who was at Nkoaranga Orphanage until the age of 6, when she left to live at a nearby SOS children's village - turned 8, and it was also Baracka's 4th Birthday!  And last but definitely not least, just yesterday Neema ndogo turned 1!  We are so happy that they are all growing up safe and happy, although it is very scary how fast it is happening!!

PS. Just in case we are confusing you, 'ndogo' means 'little'!

Candy-grams

by Carly Charlebois, Amanda Roberts and Ashley Pollari

"We are students at Camosun College in Victoria, BC and our team consists of Carly Charlebois, Amanda Roberts and Ashley Pollari.  We are currently taking a Sociology course: Introduction to Africa Studies. One of the main components of our class is to come up with a service-learning project, which positively impacts an African country in a sustainable way.

"All three of us have been to Africa at some point in the past few years.  Carly and Ashley have been to Kenya and Amanda was in Burkina Faso.  Together we have developed a passion for this incredible continent and the amazing people who live there.  Having that personal connection and the experience of being to Africa are important and provide us with a strong basis for this project.  We all connected to The Small Things organization through Kristina Alexander; who we know either through the African Awareness Committee at school, or work.  Having Kristina here at Camosun has been a huge help in developing our project plan.  Since connecting with Kristina and learning more about what The Small Things is doing for the orphanage, we have taken a huge interest in their future projects.

"Two members of our group, Carly and Ashley, are preparing to start the nursing programs in the fall.  Therefore, we are quite interested in how we could create a sustainable project for medical development on the ground in Tanzania.  Our hope is for these funds from our service-learning project to help build the HIV health care facility for the new children’s village, as well as aid in the employment of a full-time nurse.  In addition, Ashley and Amanda plan to make it to Tanzania next year to see the impact of our efforts, which makes the connection much more real.

"Our first fundraiser for this project was a Valentine’s Day candy-gram service that raised awareness and funds for the Nkoaranga orphanage.  For three days, we sold handmade cards, and Fair Trade chocolates on campus for two dollars.  Then they were delivered on Valentine’s Day.   

"We had a positive and optimistic outlook from the beginning about our candy-gram fundraiser.  Despite it being a last minute decision to do this fundraiser, we feel as though we reached out to many people and fostered awareness about The Small Things and their mission.  In the end, we raised approximately $150.   

"In the coming weeks, we hope to build on this success through a penny drive and bottle drive.  As we learn more in our Sociology class, we will continue to work with Kristina and The Small Things to support Nkoaranga Orphanage.

"Our reward will come when can visit next year and meet the children that we have grown to love though photos and stories."

Committees

We are looking for passionate and dedicated people to join The Small Things's committees!  Below is an outline of the different committees and the sort of people who we'd love to join us working on them.

Stevie, Andrea and David drinking the
filtered water provided by Project Maji

Strategic planning

• What it involves: discussing in what direction to develop the charity for the future and considering factors which influence this; planning how to implement these decisions
• Looking for: Individuals who have experience starting or building a successful company or non-profit
• Commitment: 1hr per week + 1 meeting per month

'The Mosaic Ladies' - a beautiful
quilt made by Sandra to auction off to
raise money to rewire the orphanage

Fundraising

• What it involves: Working with volunteers to support their own fundraising projects, organising events to raise money and awareness and developing products such as calendars etc to sell
• Looking for: People who have experience organising events, connections to companies or experience with general fundraising
• Commitment: 1hr per week + 1 meeting per month

The kids looking delighted in beautiful
clothes donated by 'Fred's World'

Child welfare

• What it involves:Consideration of how best to support the mental and physical health of the children in our care, developing advice for volunteers in the form of manuals and development charts, coordinating in-kind donations such as vitamins and clothing
• Looking for: People with medical, psychological, or child development expertise
• Commitment: 1hr per week + 1 meeting per month

If you are interested in working on any of the above, please get in touch with us at info@thesmallthings.org - thank you!

Vicky (2 years old), loving her new nappy
donated by 'Baba and Boo'

Thanks for reading!