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!

Our Etsy shop is open! Order you WIL today!

I have officially opened up our Etsy shop. Please visit Walk in Love, Made in Love to purchase your quilts fast and easy! I will be adding jewelry and scarves soon! If you would prefer to just send me a message to order quilts or any other items that is always an option! Thank you for you  support! Please follow the link below to check out some of our beautiful handmade quilts! Jewelry and scarves are coming soon!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/WalkinLoveMadeinLove?ref=search_shop_redirect

For more pictures of our quilts,jewelry and scarves please follow me or add me as a friend on Facebook: WalkinloveTanzania (Aubree Packard)

Building chicken coups

Thank you to all of our wonderful sponsors who made this possible!

 I was so happy when 8 of the women in our first group chose to raise chickens. Chicken eggs are a great source of income and nutrition for the women and their families. Most of the women already had a place for the chickens to stay but there were three families that needed us to come in an build chicken coups. My family was visiting for the month of October but instead of holding off on the building they wanted to help out! I was very lucky to have so much help because building a chicken coup, a good chicken coup, is a lot of work. 

We not only built the families chicken coups but delivered food, supplies and gifts for the children. This is happy with her new baby doll. 

We had 12 people in the Land Rover up the mountain to Ndombo. It was an exciting ride!

 My husband, father and father in law building the first chicken coup in Ndombo. We will only deliver 5 chickens to the family but we made the coup big enough for 20. We are hoping they will be able to fill it very soon!

Building Mama Mary and her six daughters chicken coup. Mama Mary is a very hard working women and spends most of her days running back and forth from the river carrying 50 lbs of water on her head for her neighbors. After a full days work of this she will make only $1. With her new business of selling eggs and chickens she can be making 5-6 times that much in the next couple of months.

"I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again"
- Mahatma Gandhi

The builders all wearing their Walk IN Love t-shirts with Mama Mary and her completed chicken coup.

Building Esta and her six children's new chicken coup.

We bought 50 chickens at the market. We were not sure how to get them all home but the men at the market just tied them all to the roof of the truck! We were a little worried but they all made it back to our home alive, a little thirsty, but alive. We will keep them at our house for one week to make sure they all get vaccinations and are treated for a respiratory disease that several are already showing symptoms of. We want to make sure they are nice and healthy when they are delivered to their new homes! We are also taking 50lbs of the best chicken feed to each of the women.

My father and father in law building the temporary chicken coup in our back yard.

         

This is only the first step in assisting the women in starting a new chicken/ egg business. We will deliver the chickens and feed next week. We will also be visiting in one month to deliver more feed and if we have the funds we would like to deliver at least one more chicken to every women. We will also provide the proper vaccinations for the chickens for the first year. 

For $150 you can sponsor a women to start her own chicken/egg business.

Thank you for your support!

5K, where are your donations going?

My parents and inlaws have now been in town for 2 weeks! We have been very buys with different projects in the villages. I have been so lucky to have their help and support. My parents brought over all the donations collected at the 5K as well as the money collected. Last week we bought and delivered food to two very needy families in Ndombo. We also brought cookies for all the kids in the village! We spend the entire day with a family of 8! Both parents and 6 children all under the age of 10. We built them a very large chicken coup, large enough for 20 chickens! We then bought them 5 chickens but we hope they can fill the coup very soon! Once the chickens start laying the Baba can sell the eggs for twice as much as regular eggs because we bought him the highest quality chicken in the area! We will continue delivering food to the family for the next 2 months and then after that the family should be able to support themselves. We are also looking for sponsorship for two of the boys, Baraka and Praygod. It only cost $75 per year but the family has so far been unable to come up with the money.

Next on the agenda was buying Naomi a sewing machine. At the 5K Rachelle and her parents sold enough flowers to buy a brand new sewing machine. Thank you Rachelle, her parents and everyone who bought a flower! We will be delivering the sewing machine and meeting up with Naomi later today.

Chicken coups have been a something my father, father in law and husband have been constantly working on and thanking about! They drew up some blue prints and bought all the supplies. They did the main assembly of the coups in our back yard but later today we will be fully assembling them at Mama Mary's and Esta's homes.

Tomorrow we will be buying 42 chickens and delivering them to their new homes!!

Thank you to everyone who came to the 5K and those who were unable to come. We are changing these families lives and we could not do it without support from you!

Thank you!

Pictures coming soon!

Update Mama Zulfa: A message from Zulfa

A (very quiet and shy) message from Zulfa:

"My name is Zulfa. Thank you for sending my mommy to school. I love you. Zulfa"

Mama Zulfa is so happy and enthusiastic about attending her tailoring classes. She has been spending her days in class and at the market where she can now buy enough food for herself and Zulfa. I am really encouraging her to eat plenty so she can gain some weight and be as healthy as possible. They were both a little sick last week but have since been to the doctors and are feeling much better.

Thank you so much to everyone who has come together to sponsor Mama Zulfa for the next year! This year of training and eating healthy will forever change their lives! When I first met Zulfa her future did not look very promising. I first heard of the little girl when a volunteer was wondering what would happen to her when her mother died because she has no family. Now that is not even a question in our minds because Mama Zulfa has found her fight. She is taking her medicines, eating properly and looking forward to a future where she can support her daughter and hold her head up high!

Thank you all for your support! We could not do what we do without you.

"I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."   Mahatma Gandhi