Walk in Love International: August 2013

Believe in Me: A Life off the Streets

Meet our boys

I told you all in last months newsletter that we would be starting a new program Believe in Me: A Life off the streets. Now it is my great pleasure to introduce you to the boys that we met and we could not forget.

But first, I want to introduce you to a new WIL Team member, Thomas Loy.

Tomas was on of the first people that my husband and I met when we came to Tanzania. One of the first people we could trust and one of the first we called our friend. Tomas was a street boy himself and was sponsored by an American at the age of 8 to go to school. He slept where these boys slept and he went to the same drop center to get food. Tomas is now 24 years old and in college. He has really beaten all the odds and he wants to give back and help children living on the streets the same way that he was helped. He knows that without sponsorship he never would have gone back to school and he would not have the opportunities that he has now. He will be the director over this program and a mentor to the boys. We could not do this without him and his dedication to helping boys that are still on the streets.

Meet Robinson

Robinson's smiles just kills me! Every time he smiles he puts his teeth over his lower lips and he loses any kind of "toughness" he has gotten from being on the streets. Boys have to get tough fast in order to survive but I never forget that they are just boys.

Robinson has been on the streets since last December, when we first met him. His father passed away and his mother could no longer afford to send him to school or feed him. He was forced to leave his mother and try to find work on the streets. He is 12 years old and finished standard 6 before his father passed away. We met with Robinsons mother and let her know that we met Robinson living in the streets and that we wanted to help him get off the streets and make a better future. She was very happy and thankful that we have met Robinson and so are we. Tom tells me that Robinson is quite the soccer player! I can't wait to go to his games and cheer him on!

Meet Nicolas

Nicolas is the littlest of our boys and the youngest we met on the streets. He is 10 years old and has been on the streets since he was 8. We did not get a very full story from him but we know his parents both passed away when he was very young and his grandparents could not take care of him. At 8 years old he had to start sleeping on the streets of Arusha. He must have been so frightened and he is still very shy and I think a little scared of us. I am sure he has been traumatized by his life on the streets and I can't imagine what he is going through, but Tom can, and they have already formed a special bond. We will be visiting the boys often to help them adjust to their new lives.

Meet Colin!

Colin was a bit shy when we first met him but soon he opened up and let us see what a funny and fun kid he really was! Colin is 11 years old and has been on the streets for one year. His mother is a prostitute and his father is unknown. His mother started having mental health problems around 1 year ago and was unable to care for Colin so he left for a life on the streets.

We met with Colin's mother and she is happy that Colin will have a chance to go to school and she has worried about him living on the streets but is just not able to care for him.There is a sadness about Colin's mother and I truly believe that if she could have taken care of Colin she would have. Mental illness is a problem in Tanzania because most of the time it is treated with street drugs and alcohol that just make the problems worse.

We hope that Colin's mom can get the help that she needs so that they can have a close relationship like Colin says they once had.

A huge thank you to our sponsors for giving these boys a chance for a better life, a life off the streets.

Thank you all for your support!

If you are interested in sponsoring a child living on the streets please contact me at walkinlovetanzania@gmail.com. We met a young girl, age 12, named Karen that could really use someone to believe in her. Are you that person?

Welcome Friends and Family to July's Walk In Love Newsletter!

Its been another busy month at the center but if we aren't busy it means we aren't working hard enough to reach more women and children!

Introducing a new program:

Believe in Me: A Life Off the Streets

I know you are all very anxious to hear more about our plan to help out the street boys that we met Christmas Eve of Last year. This is a status update that I wrote on December 25th, 2012

On our way home from an amazing Christmas Eve night with Tanzania friends and family we decided to stop a local place for some food at 1 am. When we pulled up we saw a small fire and 4 young figures huddled around it. Immediately I looked at Jason and said we are buying food for those boys. We invited them to our table and bought the 3 boys, age 8-12, a meal. All I could do was think about when I was 8 years old tucked away in my nice, safe bed on Christmas Eve just waiting to see what Santa brought. These boys were on the side of the road, not knowing where there next meal would come from. They had only each other, no family to love them. I fought back my tears and lost my appetite. Jason and I both ended up giving half our meals to the boys and they ate it fast. We are going back tomorrow to give them more food but I just can't stop there. We are going to try to get the boys that are willing into boarding school in January. I have seen and been through a lot in my time in Africa but tonight will live with me forever. In America our children are waiting for Santa but here the children are just waiting for their next meal and someone who cares.

I have met these boys several times since then. We always buy them a meal and chat about a better future. I am so happy and thankful to let everyone know that our prayers and your prayers have been answered, a sponsor has come forward that is going to fully sponsor these 3 boys to go to a very good boarding school in the area. The sponsors have also agreed to cover all the costs for anything the boys need including mattresses, sheets, towels, new clothing, new shoes, extra tutoring for the boys, a savings account for further education, presents for birthday and Christmas. They want to be a part of the boys lives and write them letters and possibly even visit one day. I truly believe that everything happens for reason and the reason these amazing people were brought into our lives was so that we could connect them with these boys who so desperately need someone to believe in them.

Our goal is to have them off the streets and living at the boarding school by next week. We will keep everyone updated including pictures and proper introductions to these sweet boys who have captured all of our hearts!

Thank you to the couple who have come forward to sponsor them, you are truly changing lives and giving these boys a chance at a very bright future!

Giving the women and children a bright and happy place to work and play!

Painting the WIL Community Center

Jodie from Katz and some of her wonderful volunteers that helped paint

Thank you so much to our friends at Katz Volunteer Adventure for donating the paint and labor! We had a great week full of colorful paint and people. All the inside and outside rooms have been completed but I didn't want to reveal them until we can get a bit of furniture and some decorations up. So here are a few pictures of the crew adding color to our center.

Reuben, Nick and Jodie taking a break with the girls

Kelsey in the Orange room

Reubens long arms and legs certainly came in handy:)

Rehema putting the emulsion over the concrete getting it ready for color!

Saying goodbye to Kelsey, Tanzanian style! Food and fun!

Kelsey's last day at the center was on Tuesday. Its been a great month and we have gotten a lot accomplished with her help. We love to have a reason for a party at the center so we turned this sad day into a great one! We ate, we laughter, we danced! We laughed again! Here are a few pictures of Kelseys last day. Enjoy! We certainly did.

This is one of my favorite pictures. Such a happy moment caught between Kelsey and Mama Zulfa.

Kelsey is catching on to Mayassa's style!

Mayassa's signature "thumbs up"

There is nothing better than Mayassa Love!

Mama Zulfa looking beautiful

Kelsey and I being goofy:)

I make really good cupcakes stuffed with Nutella

And being silly with Rehema:)

July's goals and accomplishments

Thank you to everyone who has purchased a quilt for our current fundraiser. Those orders combined with donations from Vacation Bible School in Knob Noster, Mo lead by Peggy Miller, a donation from Elizabeth Wilson, a donation for the full amount of a crib from Karalin McKain, we were able to put in an order for 3 toddler bunk beds and 2 baby cribs! Thank you all for your support! The carpenter is having some issues filling out order because of the lack of dry wood in Arusha at the moment. It is our winter time and the wood get damp and we do not want to build anything with damp wood because of the risk of warping. We should have at least one toddler bunk bed done by next week, or so I have been promised. I will put pictures up as soon as we get them!

If you would like to help us purchase mattresses or more cribs please check out our fundraiser that will continue until September 1st.

Quilt Drive for mattresses and cribs!

Outside play equipment

Karalin McKain has set up an additional fundraiser to help us raise money to build some outdoor play equipment at the center for our very energetic kids! Here is a picture of what we are wanting to build. We need $500 dollars to purchase this equipment and I believe we are about half way there. If you are interested in helping us reach this goal please check out the Tastefully Simple Fundraiser that Karalin has set up. If you would like to make a donation towards our playground equipment fund please use the donate button located on the bottom of the page.

A New Sewing Machine!

Thank you to everyone who purchased a WIL Scarf last month. We were able to purchase another sewing machine!! We are just one step closer to being able to train and hire another women for our tailoring program. Keep up the orders and we can make this happen sooner than later! We are so close to being able to help another young mother provide food, shelter and a good education for her children. Please check out our Etsy Shop and make your orders today!

Library and Workshop

We were able to finish the outside rooms as well as lay a floor in each room and paint this month. We are hoping to move our tailors into their new room as well as prepare for our upcoming Child Development course that will be held at our center.

A huge thank you to one of our most active board members and donors, Janet McClelland, for raising and donating $900 to go towards the library. We will be building shelves, pillows, purchasing text books, etc this month to help get our library up and running!

August Goals

We are are very excited about our upcoming Childhood Development two week course that will be taught by Nicola Fortune in early September. We will be preparing all month for her arrival as well as finding 25 women that will be taking the course. WIL along with Nicola Forturne and Felicity Wales believe that it is very important to teach about Childhood development in Tanzania because it is something that most people do not really understand here. We hope to educate as many women as possible from different orphanages, daycares, preschools so that they can better understand the best ways to work with children and hopefully pass it on to their co-workers and families.

Along with the Childhood Development Course WIL will be offering a 6 week intensive English class and a 1 week cooking class. These classes will be offered to those women that are not employed and want to work as a nanny in a home or at another business or organization that those skills would be desirable to potential employers. We will also be introducing a database of qualified nannies that have attended the course to the Arusha community. We will serve as a reference for the women and help to connect them with potential employers.

All the nannies that work at the center will attend this course.

Getting the word out about upcoming and current fundraisers!

I will be coming back to the US for 3 weeks from September 18th-October 8th. WIL will have 2 large fundraisers during this time. I will also be doing some speaking engagements to raise awareness about WIL. I do still have open dates available for speaking engagements. If you would liked me to come speak to a group, class, etc please email me at walkinlovetanzania@gmail.com.

Help us to buy mattresses and another crib and get a beautiful one of a kind handmade quilt!

Quilt Drive!

Come out for a night of fun with WIL!

We will be auctioning off some great stuff from Tanzania!

Hamburger Mary's Bingo Night

Come out and run, jog, walk or stroll for our WIL 5K Day! We will have bouncy castles and face painting for the kids and WIL handmade items for everyone else! Come have a day of fun with WIL!

WIL 5K Day!

Monthly Sponsorship

I want to give a special thank you to all our monthly sponsors: Mark and Linda McClelland, Jan and Ted Packard, Janet McClelland and Amerian Hearing Aid, Kimberly Ferro and Leah Rogers. Without you none of this would be possible.

We are so blessed to have such amazing monthly sponsors and we could not do half the work we do without them but if we are going to expand and grow and reach more women and children than we must gain more monthly sponsors. Please read about our Monthly Sponsorship Program and consider joining our amazing team!