A Sewing Machine for Naomi

This is a very old post that never got published! I just noticed it but I am happy to be able to share this amazing new with everyone even if it is a little late.

We are very excited to announce the purchase of a second sewing machine that will be for Naomi! We could not have done this without the amazing work from Rachelle and her family. Rachelle made and sold enough fabric flowers to purchase a brand new sewing machine.
Rachelle read the story about Naomi and her family and wanted to make a difference and she did! With this new sewing machine not only can Naomi have her own tailoring business but when things get slow she can make items for WIL. Jackline will be working with Naomi on the different patterns and techniques that she used to make out beautiful quilts. We hope that between Naomi's new business and Nuru's business they can afford to rent a new house. They are currently living in a one room mud hut with 6 people!

Thank you so much to Rachelle, her family and everyone that purchased a flower, you truly made the difference in a families life! I will keep you all updated on Naomi and Nuru progress.

Christmas time with WIL! Handing out 190 backpacks and passing out clothing to street kids

This holiday season we teamed up with Lucy and Cassie and made a goal of 180 backpacks to buy for children at a local school. We have such amazing supporters that not only did we hit that goal we exceeded it! We ended up purchasing 190 backpacks full of supplies, Christmas dinner for 12 of our neediest families, and thanks to The Golden Triangle Girls we also had 30 pillow case dresses to hand out! We could not have had a better holiday season here in TZ. Thank you to all our donors who make our work possible and for putting a smile on all the children's faces! 
Please click here  to see the pictures of the very happy children with their new backpacks!

We were also invited out his holiday season to pass out clothing to some children that are living on the streets. We teamed up with Katz Adventure Volunteers and handed out some clothing after Katz provided an amazing Christmas dinner. Please click here to view pictures of the street kids clothing hand out.

Thank you to everyone who made this holiday season special one for 190 kids at a local school and 30 boys living on the streets. We could not do the work we do without supporters like you!!

I will be making a WIL Year in Review slide very soon. I hope you all get a chance to view it!

Baraka, Happiness and Praygod ALL get sponsors to attend school in January!

Baraka, Happiness and Praygod will ALL go to school in January!
Please follow the link above to see some adorable pictures of Baraka, Happiness and Praygod. They are first children sponsored through WIL to go to school.
We are so grateful to our amazing sponsors for making this a reality for our kids!
A big thank you to Jolie Dobosz, who instead of asking for birthday presents asked everyone to donate money, for sponsoring Happiness. The Court-Wright family for sponsoring Praygod and the Morlok family for sponsoring Baraka.
There is not doubt in my mind that these children would never have had the opportunity to go to school or get an education if it were not for their sponsors. Education is key to helping these families and the next generations to pull themselves out of the poverty they are living in now. We are excited to see what the future holds of Happiness, Baraka and Praygod!
We will be adding a sponsorship program called Believe in Me: A better chance in January 2013. Please contact me for details if you are interested in changing a child's life through educational sponsorship. You can view profiles of the children that will join our WIL educational sponsorship on this page click here for children profiles
Thank you to all our supporters for making out work possible!

Happiness very much living up to her name!

Praygod and Baraka with one of his very rare smiles. I'm hoping those rare smile won't be so rare anymore.

Walk in Love, Made in Love (our official Etsy store) gift certificates now available!!!

It might be too later to purchase a one of a kind quilt and other beautiful Tanzania handmade items but we have just added gift certificates to the WIL website! You can purchase a gift certificate to our Walk in Love, Made in Love Etsy store for you loved one or ask for one for Christmas. Jewelry and Scarves will be back on the site before Christmas. Please follow this link to our easy gift certificate form and pay through our secure paypal account! Thank you for you support!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHQwY3lBbkl2eXJvaDhFLVZLRkJJTUE6MQ

We have reached our goal of 160 backpacks!!

WE'VE DONE IT!! In just 18 days we've reached and exceeded our goal of 160 backpacks. It's hard to describe how much this will mean to all the children, they'll be receiving the first Christmas present of their life. For everyone who donate

d, we can't thank you enough. We'll have photos and videos of the children receiving their present on Christmas Eve so stay posted! All extra donation money is being put towards buying small food packages for our most desperate families.
Thank you thank you thank you once again for your incredible support.

Twenty- two small businesses up and running! Twenty-two women able to provide for their families.

For the past three weeks Reuben, Rehema and myself have been buying and handing out all the essentials for our 22 women to start their small businesses. We have now finished passing out clothes, kitenge, conga, small fish, rice, beans, sugar, chickens, potatoes, cassava, etc. The women have all now officially started up their businesses and everyone is reporting back that they are doing very well.

We will be visiting each women's business once a month for the next year. We want to show our support as well as offer assistance if things are not going well. We are not only helping these women to start businesses but we are going to do everything we can to make sure her business succeeds. In two months  I hope that we can have enough donations to replenish the initial capital of the business and to start every women up with a savings account. That way if the women's business has a bad month she can still afford to feed her family, pay her rent and pay school tuitions.

 We helped 22 women start up businesses and those 22 women are now on their way to being able to support the 100 children and grandchildren they are raising. These 100 children will now be able to attend school and with an education they will then be able to get a good job or start their own business and send their children to school. We started with 22 women but we are hoping that helping these 22 women we can break the cycle of poverty in their families for generations to come.

We could not do any of this without or amazing donors! Thank you for making a difference in these women lives, in their children's lives and helping us to break the cycle!

Naomi (who has been working with Jackline on her brand new sewing machine) with her mothers kitenge for her small business

Naomi's sewing machine and the kitenge she is currently making quilts with.

Olva and her chickens

Stela's daughter with her chickens

Hadija receiving her kitenge

Leonia with her kitenge

At the market buying potatoes

Amina with her potatoes

Salma getting her potatoes

Agnes at the market

 Chicku and Mayassa have started up a small jewelry business. They sell their jewelry to tourists, volunteers and on our Etsy store.

 A chicken coup and chickens for Alfonsia

Chickens and chicken coup for Esta and her family

Stela with her bag of rice

Mama Mary introducing her rooster to her chickens:)

Hadija with her rooster

At the market

Amina with her fish

Mayassa getting her sugar

Hadija with  two of her grandchildren

The women picking out their clothing from all our wonderful clothing donations!

A special thank you from all the women in our Believe in Me Program. Thank you for believing in them, so they could believe in themselves.

Maria, Leonia, Hadija, Zianabu, Anna, Fatuma, Alfonsia, Olva, Nuru, Naomi, Anna Pescari, Stela, Esta, Mayassa, Chiku, Hadija Omari, Agnes, Halima, Amina, Fatuma Ibraheim, Amina Rashidu, Salma, and Halima Ramazani

Giving generously and the start of our Monthly sponsorship program!

Giving Generously!

A HUGE thank you goes out to my Uncle Mark and Aunt Linda McClelland for giving a very generous donation to WIL. There donation will cover our lawyer fees, which have added up! Mark and Linda have given WIL such an amazing gift. They have allowed us to give 100% of your donations to the people of Tanzania and not into lawyer fees. This is such amazing gift and has taken a lot of pressure off of us.

You might be asking yourself why would we pay a lawyer to register WIL in the first place? Being a registered NGO and having a tax-exempt status is necessary to protect you, the donors, and us. This insures you, the donor, that we are a REAL, legit charity. Your money will go where we say it will or the government will come after us. All charitable donations made to WIL will also be included on your taxes because we have gone through the proper channels and we have a tax-exempt status, thanks to our lawyers! If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me, Aubree Packard at walkinlovetanzania@gmail.com.

Starting up a monthly sponsorship program
My Uncle Mark and Aunt Linda have also pledged to donate to WIL every month for the year of 2013. They really believe that the success of this program will rely heavily on consistent monthly donations and I could not agree more! We have big plans for next year and we will need donations coming in regularly so that we can continue doing our very important work here in TZ. The plans have not been finalized but I will give you a little inside information on what the plans are next year, but only if you promise not to tell:)

Our main goals for next year will be:

 1.Open up a community center that serves as a vocational school for adults and a daycare/preschool for young children. This will also be the place where people will apply for micro finance loans and where all out educational classes will be held. Everyone will receive tea/breakfast in the morning and lunch in the afternoon. The babies will receive formula if needed. We will also have a breast pumping program. We will supply every women with a breast pump and a thermos and encourage here to breast pump when she drops the child off and then come back in the afternoon to feed the baby and pump again. This will keep formula cost low and keep baby as healthy as possible with breast milk. We will also be encouraging women who have an over abundance of milk to donate to children whose mothers have died or cannot produce enough milk. This is a very important program because it allows the women to go out and work while knowing her child is in a safe place. So many times very young children are left by themselves in a home and tragedy strikes. This is just another situation that has no positive outcome. If the women does not work to earn money she does not eat, the baby does not eat and the baby passes away. She leaves the baby at home so she can earn money and the baby passes away. I want to provide a safe place for these babies and support these mamas.
We will have after school programs and tutoring for the older children as well. This is not the complete plan but just a taste of what is to come!!

2. Start our community garden and farming project. We are in discussions with a very large land owner in the area that has shown interest in donating a large portion of land to us! This could be very exciting and we could have a far larger project than earlier thought. With this land we would have enough land to plant, a lot!, raise chickens, goats, cows, donkeys, ducks and have a a tilapia pond!

3. WIL will be teaming up with some amazing women, Lucy and Cassie, that started a school sponsorship program up last year in TZ. Because Lucy and Cassie do not currently live in TZ and do not have a registered NGO we have decided to add the program that they started to WIL.

We have big goals for next year! The monthly sponsorship program will be launching in one week for the year 2013 and when you decide to become a monthly donor we will send you a free WIL Calendar full of the families and children pictures that we have already helped this year.

Thank you for you support and if you have any questions, concerns or what to become a monthly donor please contact me at walkinlovetanzania@gmail.com

Thanks again to my wonderful, supportive Uncle Mark and Aunt Linda!!

Purchase and see Photos of WIL Quilts HERE!

The quilts below have all been made to order for our very happy supporters! When you order your WIL quilt you choose the colors you like and the let us know the ones you don't. You can also tell us if you prefer bright colors or more natural/neutral colors. Let us know if you would prefer a warmer quilt with a velour backing or we can pick our a beautiful kitenge back to make the quilt double sided! Please enjoy the photos and follow the link following the pictures to make your orders! 

Thank you for supporting WIL women!

Please follow this link to our Walk In Love, Made in Love Etsy store! Thank you for your orders!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/WalkinLoveMadeinLove?ref=search_shop_redirect

Christmas backpacks for 100 Tanzania children!

Hi everyone, 
As most of you know I have been working with some great volunteers from Golgothat Primary named Lucy and Cassie. We have decided to team up to make this Christmas a special one for the kids at Golgotha. We are not only trying to buy and fill 100 backpacks for the boys but if we receive enough donations we would also like to invite Santa Claus to pass them out and maybe even a host a Christmas dinner for the families. Below are the details about the Christmas Backpacks written by Lucy. Please r

ead about how you can give a child a backpack and supplies for Christmas. Thank you for your support!

That time of the year is just around the corner again… CHRISTMAS!! Here’s the question, what do you want for Christmas?!

Shoes? iPhone5? Skiing holiday? Camera? Clothes? Make up? Football season ticket?

But wait… out of all these presents, what do you actually need?

… Anything?

Do you know what the young boys of Golgotha Primary need?

A backpack.

100 boys receive an education at Golgotha Primary, fantastic. But here’s the thing, they have to provide their own school supplies. With their parents earning less than $1.50 a day, how are they expected to buy exercise books, pencils, erasers, rulers, pens? They can’t. It’s simple. How are they meant to practice their handwriting, learn how to read, draw pictures, participate in lessons? They can’t.

The average person in the Developed world spends around $700 on Christmas presents. Do you know how much it costs to provide a child at Golgotha with a stationary set and a backpack? $7. That’s it. $7 and you give this child a chance to learn; a chance to fulfil their educational potential. In the long term, you’re helping to give them a chance at life.

At Christmas, all of the Golgotha girls are receiving a hand-made dress from a women’s group in the UK. Lets give the boys something that they too can smile about on Christmas Day; something they can take pride in and call their own.

The challenge?
100 backpacks, filled and wrapped by 24th December.
Is it possible? YES! But only with your help!
You have until Monday 10th December to donate to this appeal.
Please, donate $7 today to help us reach this goal.

All donations are to be sent via paypa throughlwww.walkinlovetanzania.com to Aubree, founder of Walk In Love Tanzania. Aubree will have just 2 weeks to buy the backpacks, all stationary, pack them up and be ready to hand them out to 100 boys on Christmas Eve! (Thank you and good luck, Aubree!)

You can also use the paypal button this blog to make your donations!!!

Thank you for your support!

Believe in Me: Micro finanace Loan

I met the most wonderful family today! Peter, his wife Mary and their children Junior Jospeh(11 months) and Susan (4 years). Peter and his wife were barely scraping by when Mary's sister died and they were the only ones willing to take in h

er sisters children. Now Sherri (11 months, pictured) Grace (11 years, not pictured) and Stela (7 years, not pictured) are also living in the one room that Peter and his family rent. Peter and Mary both spoke very good English, they had been to school, but times has gotten to so difficult they were having to make the decision to put their nieces in orphanages. Peter goes out every day to find work so that this does not have to happened but still, he is unable to provide for his, now, big family. I met Peter after he spoke to my friend Claire about placing the children at Neema House. Claire contacted me and I went to do a home visit today. Peter is a very smart and educated man. He had run a bread business in the past but it was not earning enough to support the family. He made up a new business plan for his bread business and we spoke about why it failed in the first place and the ways he can make it successful this time around. He had some great ideas and I am very impressed with his business plan! I agreed to loan him $250 to start up his business. He will sign a contract on Friday that will lay out his repayment plan. We are all very optimistic and I think that this family, with a little help, can pull themselves from the poverty they live in now. If you are interested in contributing to our micro finance loan program please go to our websitewww.walkinlovetanzania.com and use the donate button. Every little bit helps and every little bit does change a person's life!! Thank you for your support!