Thursday, April 3, 2014


The generosity of our WIL supporters has amazed me. My last blog finished with a fundraiser plea for children’s wellies and raincoats as well as umbrellas for the nannies and tailors. When it rains here…boy does it rain. A few days after that plea we hit our target, so tomorrow Reuben and I are heading into town. How we are going to carry 18 pairs of wellies, 17 raincoats and 11 umbrellas on the dalla dalla I am yet to work out…

Unfortunately, last week meant saying our goodbyes to Lucy C as she headed off back to the UK. She spent 3 months at the centre and achieved so much. Lucy was on the ground making sure everything ran smoothly, sourcing new sponsors and was the catalyst for enabling Eneza’s education. She never failed to make the children laugh and we all miss her! Thank you for introducing me to Tanzania and Walk In Love… we are at University together in England, and without her I would not be here now!

To say goodbye to Lucy and Happy Birthday to a few of the girls, we had a little party last Friday. This meant cake, popcorn and singing from the nannies and tailors, with Neema leading the harmonies. Their voices are very naturally beautiful and powerful. It was a really special afternoon and made me so happy to be here. 

I think I mentioned Emmy in my last post, our newest baby girl. She has suffered major trauma for such a short life, and the extent to which the death of her mother has affected her became clear last week. She was refusing to eat or drink and as result was dangerously dehydrated. Lucy rushed her to the clinic and we found out she was on the verge of needing a drip. We realised that there was only one possible solution to get her back to a healthy state fast. Emmy needed to be breast fed, and Juliana who is already nursing her baby Ema agreed to. I don’t believe this is an exaggeration- Juliana is saving Emmy’s life. So that was last week. This week, Emmy is still breast-feeding and is smiley and content. She has even been nibbling on a biscuit or two..Yay!

All that’s left for this post is to say Get Well Soon Adriana! Chicken pox sucks…
  
 


 Beautiful Emmy



Tuesday, April 1, 2014

WIL Quarterly Newsletter

What has been happening at Walk In Love?!
January -March 2014
Quarterly Newsletter


Welcome everyone to our first quarterly WIL newsletter. I have decided to start updating everyone through email quarterly but we will continue to update our blog on a regular basis. You can also follow us on our Facebook page, Walk In Love Tanzania FB page, this is the best way to keep up to date with what is going on with the center, projects and lots of pictures of the always adorable kiddos and babies!
Siblings Zye and Muhammad taking a break from class:)


    Speaking of babies and kiddos, I would like to introduce you to the a few of the new kids at the center. We have been so blessed to have so many amazing sponsors for our kids that we have been able to add on ten new kids this year. All of the stories are sad that lead them to WIL but we are very happy that they found us so we could help them keep their families together and get the education they deserve. 
Adrianna comforting one of our newest babies, Angel



Elisia and Emmy whose mother passed away 
      Of the ten new children, four of them are from homes where the mother has passed away or run away. Their fathers came to us desperate to keep their children with them. One of the babies was only 6 months when her mother passed away. We are so encouraged that their father came to us instead of immediately taking baby Emmy to an orphanage. The orphanages are all too willing to take in babies who have fathers, even fathers that are willing to take care of their babies. We are providing formula and breast milk for baby Emmy and 24 hours support for the father. We can keep families together if we can get the word out and continue to gain more child sponsorship and monthly sponsorship programs.

Eneza
      Three of the new children are living with elderly grandparents because the parents have run off or died and one was sold by her parents at the age of 10 to go work in the city as a maid. Eneza, 10, is now enrolled at Sheperds school and we are supporting her through extra tutoring, food and family support.








Neema comforting Emmy




Welcome Neema!
Walk In Love has been growing at such a fast rate that we decided we needed a qualified and experienced Social Worker and we found just that! Neema has a degree in social work and has worked in the district social welfare office. She is fitting in wonderfully with all the women and children. When she does not have office work or home visits to do she is always playing with the big kids of cuddling a baby. Since 


Volunteers and Interns
We are so lucky to have such amazing volunteers and interns on the ground in TZ. I introduced you to Dolly in November. She is still at the center and doing amazing things with the women and children. She is a registered nurse and one of the responsibilites she has taken over is weighing and measuring all the kids. She is also making sure any children that are under weight are getting extra food and being monitored closely. Dolly also takes the children to the hospital when needed, including our boy Nikas. 
Dolly also taught a first aid class to the women
Thank you Dolly!

Brianna has come to volunteer with WIL for one year! That is quite a commitment and we are very excited to have her. Brie has been teaching the English classes for the women and children and she has been leading tumbling classes for the kids. They love it!! When I return to the US with the donated laptops Bri will start teaching computer classes.
Thank you Brie!
Bri leading the tumbling classes


Lucy and Mary
Lucy is one of our wonderful interns. She will be with WIL for three months. She has been a vital part of getting WIL organized and transferring information on to the computer. She has also been a huge part of WIL making more items that people want and finding places to sell them. Selling our handmade products is a huge piece of funding and it is so important that the quality is good and that we are making products people want. Lucy has done a great job on conducting research and assisting our tailors how to make quality products. Lucy has also taken over our blogs and has done a fantastic job! This only to name a few of the important jobs Lucy has been working on while she is with WIL. 
Lucy, Dolly and Lucy selling WIL products at a local craft sale






Lucy C. is another wonderful intern. Her time in Tanzania just came to an end after three months of very hard work. She has returned to England but will continue to assist WIL with our website, educational sponsorship, volunteers and fundraising. Lucy was an amazing hands on worker and was very active working with Neema with all of our families. She is a truly compassionate person and made a bond with the women and children that will last a lifetime! I hope she will come back to visit us but I know we will never be far from her thoughts! Thank you Lucy for your amazing work!
Lucy with Helena, an outreach child
If you are interested in volunteering with WIL please email Lucy and Cassie at believeinme.abc@gmail.com for more information.


Our Big Boys go to School!!!

When a child gets sponsored to attend our center they are also being sponsored to go to school for the next 18 years! We believe that the best way to serve these children and families to is follow through. This is a very unique concept because most sponsorship programs end when that child is no longer a part of the day to day activities of an organization. We are not in the business of keeping the children, we are in the business of empowering them and giving them the best opportunity and that is why your sponsorship follows the child even when they attend a different school. Three of our boys are currently attending a local private school, Sheperds. This is the school all our children will one day attend. 
We are currently looking for sponsors for 5 of our children. Our sponsorship program is called A Better Chance because that is exactly what you are giving child. A better chance to grow into a happy, healthy, successful adult. Without you, the chances of these children having an education is slim, eating 3 meals a day is unheard of. You can make a difference for $40 per month. If you are interested in sponsoring a child please email Lucy and Cassies at believeinme.abc@gmail.com for more information.


Current Needs
We are finally to a point where we will need a vehicle. We have three children in school that have to take the local transportation to and from school. This involves taking two mini buses and walking about 3/4 of a mile. This takes up to an hour one way. With so many of our children starting school next year we are hoping to have a mini bus to transport the children to and from school. A vehicle is also needed for our outreach families. If you are interested in donating toward a vehicle please contact me at walkinlovetanzania@gmail.com and we can discuss donation options. We are a 501c3 registered NGO in the United States and Tanzania.

Donate!
If you are interested in donating you can use our paypal button, write a check payable to Walk In Love International, or contact me, walkinlovetanzania@gmail.com, for our bank information. Every dollar goes into our empowerment programs and community center. Our founder and on site director, Aubree, does not receive a salary or any kind of compensation for her work and neither do volunteers or interns.
Please mail your checks to
12802 S Arapaho Dr
Olathe, KS 66062