After a wonderful time back home in CT, I was excited to get back to TZ.
Here are some updates since I've been back.
Getting back to Dar was great, even though it is CRAZY hot! I was happy to be home and to go back to work to see my kiddos. One student even blessed me with a huge dead bug one day. He was so excited and proud of his gift to me. I was a little shocked at first but you know, it came from the heart. They had a really good few weeks back so thank you everyone for your prayers. I think they may have even grown up a little bit over break!
Kurisini
We went to Kurisini on Sunday! I was so excited to see all the kids. AHHH! They all came running to the car it was so amazing. I was missing three of the younger boys, Frankie, Cha Cha, and Ahimisi. There was an opening at Agape Children's Village, in Morogoro TZ so the three boys went there. I was so excited that they were able to go to Agape, it is a great place run by Christians and is well supported. As always, it was so fun spending time with the kids. Zawadi was still smiling and so full of energy and spunk. Love her :)
While I was home my third cousins were given money from their grandfather. They were allowed to keep half for themselves but the other half had to be donated to an organization. I had a chance to visit with my cousins Chris and Jeff while I was home. I had told them about Kurisini and the kids there. They decided to go shopping and buy some awesome stuff for the kids! I was blown away and so thankful that they decided to help the kids at Kurisini. They bought them so many goodies!! I am so proud of them!
Sadly, this past Tuesday there was fire in one of the buildings at Kurisini, where all the younger boys sleep. They think it was an electrical fire from wires that were sticking out of the wall. Very unsafe and definitely a problem. The place was burnt to a crisp. I was in shock when we walked through it. Thankfully no one was hurt but the kids lost all of their clothes, beds, and some school books. HOPAC is doing a clothing collection to try to help but the building has to be completely torn down, and rebuilt. Unfortunately, they are not sure how much money, if any, they will get from the government to rebuild. This fire really opened my eyes to a lot of underlying and bigger problems at Kurisini. I feel lost at how to help in some situations and I am just praying for wisdom on what to do next.
Morogoro
We had a day off because of a holiday so Ali, Winson, Aika and I decided to go visit Frankie, Cha Cha, and Ahimisi at Agape Children's Village in Morgoro, TZ. Agape was started by a Christian family from Germany. It is their mission field and they are privately supported. Agape was about a three and a half hour drive from Dar. It was nice to get out of Dar and drive where there was no traffic and beautiful mountains. We got to Agape and Frankie was standing at the fence and as soon as he saw Ali he came running. It was so beautiful. Ahimisi came running too when he saw us with a HUGE smile on his face. It made me sooo happy to see all the boys. The facilities at Agape are great. They have a beautiful backdrop of the mountains. I was impressed to see that the children were doing chores in the garden and washing the dogs. There are about 30 kids at Agape. They all have their own bunk and mosquito net. The facilities were clean. I loved seeing how the older kids helped the younger ones and really loved them. The Mama's watching over them gave them discipline and boundaries. This id different from Kurisini where the kids run around and deal with things on their own. I could see a positive change in the boys. All three were clean and in the right type of clothing, not girls clothing. They were very talkative and not falling asleep from malnutrition. The boys are given milk and vegetables, compared to mostly ugali and beans at Kurisini. THEY ARE DOING SO GREAT!!! I am so thankful that they are at Agape. The woman in charge of Agape now, Christina, is also looking into placing a few of the other kids at Kurisini in different orphanages. Paul, who is extremely intelligent and most likely has cerebral palsy, is not given the attention he needs at Kurisini. They think he is dumb because he is physically challenged. There is a high possibility he will be moved to an orphanage that accommodates children with his needs. Christina is also looking into a place for Imani, who is deaf. All super exciting news!!! The trip to Morogoro was so incredible on so many levels. It is great to see how God is loving these children through other individuals.
All in All the first three weeks back have been SUPER!
