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…

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 1

What a great day. Nathanael and I have finally arrived. We are here again in Tabora. Elias Shija was there to meet us at the sloping dirt airport in the center of Tanzania.



We traveled to our volunteer center where we are greeted by Bill Shaw and Rick Bennett. After getting a few minutes to get cleaned up, we headed out to see the Gateway House that is almost ready. It looks absolutely fantastic and what a great location.

It will be fun to meet Juma, Haruna and the children later in the week at the house.

Check back tomorrow and the rest of this week for more blogs and pictures.


- David