Blog 6: The Gateway House!

It was really special to take the orphans who will live in the Gateway House to see their new place. It’s now almost done. They should be able to move there in less than two weeks.

They were crying, especially Consolata. They were laughing. They were singing songs of celebration. We were all very moved when we saw their tears. We realized how much their world had changed since we first saw them. They lived in such horrible surroundings that it is incomprehensible for us to truly understand…how can anyone live like it?


But now they have a new home. It is so big that every room in the house is twice the size of what they lived in together before. And now they will have electricity, running water and even sewage. They looked in unbelief as we showed them the two showers and the bathroom stalls.

I asked all the orphans what they want to do when they grow up. They had many different dreams. One wanted to be a driver…another a doctor. Then one wanted to be a preacher. Everyone had their own dream. Juma made me laugh because his dream was to work in my office. I gave him a real big high five, because last time he wanted to be the President of Tanzania. I’m so glad he has become more ambitious.

Work is now beginning on another house right next to it. The foundation has to be laid before the rainy season will make it impossible to continue.

Thanks for helping empower orphans!!! Thanks for giving!!! Thanks for volunteering!!! You can empower orphans so they can change Africa…

Pictures from Blog 5

Blog 5

What a day. It started when we met quite a large number of orphans to give them all mosquito nets. They were so happy.

One of the care givers had been told we could not come to her village for the distribution, so she walked three hours to get there for 7 am. Rick, who went to visit her orphans, told me about their utter poverty. They had no clothes, and so I directed our Child Sponsorship staff to travel to the village in the beginning of the week with food, clothes, mosquito nets and blankets.

After we met orphans, we went to visit the orphans that had been given food, blankets, mosquito nets and school supplies from their sponsors. It was awesome to see their response. The children were stunned and overjoyed. Everybody in the neighborhood came to see.

Tomorrow I will blog about taking the orphans to the Gateway House.

Pictures

More Pictures from Blog 4

Blog 4

Another day and we are off to Salama to walk the grounds. Its massive, but Bill Shaw and the committee has done a superb job in preparing the plans.

I'm glad we have such capable people who are working with us. I could never imagine all that is required to make Salama a reality. But its so wonderful to see what has been done. All the local government agencies are behind us.



We also went to visit Juma and Haruna and their siblings. They were so excited to see us. We had a lot of kids surround our vehicle, and they
just jumped right in the back seat. We all had so much fun, and then we went into the little shack where they stay. Its unbelievable how people can live like this. But in two weeks they are moving and in tomorrow's blog you will see when we take them to the house.

Blog 3

Another day and Rick is visiting orphans all day. Here is what he has to say:

"On our last stop of the day I met a young girl who lost both parents and now lives with her “bibi” (grandmother). The grandmother is not that old, I would guess in her late 60’s and she is taking care of 5 or 6 kids from 2 of her children. Like any place there are a number of communities with differing levels of income, this area is likely near the bottom. On Tuesday when we were in this area, I saw a number of piles of stone stacked all over the place. It turns out this is used for construction. It is granite and it is broken in small gravel sized pieces using a hammer. The big pieces are broken off a boulder that was unburied from a side hill near the house. Other family members carry the big rocks to one spot and broken into smaller pieces, these smaller ones are then carried to another spot where their sister was sitting on the ground. She had the head of a sledge hammer with a stick for a handle that stuck out too far beyond the head. She was smashing the rocks with the hammer on another rock then sorting out the pieces according to size. She was using rags that were rolled together and tied with rope into a donut shape to stop the rocks from flying all around. Once she had a pile built she would take it near the street to “her” pile, then in a few days a truck will come along and shovel the rocks into a truck. This is their primary source of income!! Truly a family business."

Blog 2

The second day is a long day of discussion with the Salama committee.

Bill Shawn, who is a Planner from Alberta Canada and the Salama planner, is leading the meeting and he presents the various site options for Salama: A Village of Hope that will feature 125 homes for 1000 AIDS orphans, primary and secondary schools, a hospital, vocational school, technology training center, leadership academy and so much more. It will also have staff housing and guest houses for our volunteers - for you too. More than 1700 will live in the Village of Hope. All together it will be constructed on more than 400 acres of land. It is truly an extraordinary plan that will empower orphans to change Africa. Its awesome!!!

While four of us spent the day on Salama, Nathanael, Rick and Sam spent the day visiting some of our orphans. Rick was really touched when he got to meet his little orphan, who is much cuter in person.