Tanzania, East Africa
The AnnaSally
Our Safe House
Neema + Erasto
Mom + Dad
Our Beautiful Family
God’s little ones rescued & brought into family
All About Our Pups!
I realized that there was a lot of fear in our village and safe house around dogs- but we have so many to protect our safe house, farm and soon our medical center. Two of our dogs had puppies recently meaning that we have 15 dogs currently at our safe house. I spent the mornings taking four of our puppies on daily walks through the village, socializing them and working on recall. We hired one of the men from our men’s team to come over daily to walk all of the dogs, make sure their homes are cleaned, the dogs are fed high protein diets and are bathed 1-2x per week.
Building a School!
Our girls (and one boy!) go to 3 different public schools that are desperate for funding and repair. We initially wanted to fix our local primary school- it is a five minute walk from our safe house, all of our littles go there, and it is where we host camps for the village regularly. However, we do not agree with the way that it is conducted. Government schools require the children to go to school from about 7 am until about 5 or 6 pm. The children return home to wash their clothes by hand, do their chores, help with making dinner, do their homework and then sleep. They have very little time if any to rest and play- with school being 6 days a week, resting on Sundays. The teachers are also allowed to cane the children, which we do not condone whatsoever. All of this has led us to wanting to start our own school and we have been walking curiously toward that endeavor, checking in with God all along the way.
Mother’s Day Party!
We had SO much fun putting on a Mother’s Day for the women in our village. The village chief and other male leaders, including one from out men’s team, got up to speak to tell the women how important they are. Our village chief said that this is the first time in his life that he had seen a party celebrating mothers and that he hopes that we do it again. We played games, served dinner and Patricia gave hair treatments to any of the women that wanted it. I got to do face masks on the women and girls at our house before hand. It was honestly such a beautiful day with so much fun and laughter.
Our Ever Expanding Farm!
We have an ever expanding farm to fit the needs of our growing family, including our animals. The Tanzanian diet can be very starch heavy due to it’s ability to be purchased for so cheap as well as being so filling. While we can’t fix this for everyone, we can control how much protein, vegetables and fruits that the girls get in their diets. We want to create farm houses for our animals that will last generations and create humane living conditions and practices for our animals, thankful for all that they give us.
Our Medical Center!
Our medical center has taken longer than expected to be finished due to the rainy season- but thankfully we have been making some huge head way recently and it will ideally be done in a month. Unfortunately, one of our neighbors died a few weeks ago. She was in her sixties and struggled with HIV and diabetes. She kept telling Neema how excited she was that the medical center was opening soon. We live far back in the bush with the closest hospital a 2 hour walk away. We are so sad about the sudden loss of our friend and neighbor, but we are so thankful that the medical center is almost finished and our community can have access to healthcare easily. Praise Jesus.
Our Men’s Soccer Team!
They got their new soccer jerseys in- it says “protectors of women and children” on the back. It was their idea- I’m so proud to have men like this in our village!
They shared with us that they want to share with the other teams how to treat women and children better before or after they have a match in other villages, hoping that what’s happening in our village will spread. To say that it is an honor to support them and watch their ministry grow is an understatement.
Our Congo Family: Refugees
While we were waiting for our Congo family to receive papers for each of our rescued children, I reached out to an old friend, Patricia. We were so close when I lived in Congo ten years ago and she came across my heart so I checked in on her as the war in Goma was raging. It turns out that while her and her husband and baby had escaped to Burundi, her aunt had been shot (and survived) but it had deeply affected Patricia. They spent nearly all of their money to get to Burundi and rent a hotel for a month.
They had no idea what they were going to do next, but Patricia recalls that the Lord had spoken to her “Tanzania” even before the war erupted. She didn’t know why or when or what the Lord was doing, but when the war broke out, they escaped and they I checked in on her- inviting her to come to our safe house in Tanzania and to stay as long as they needed, she realized that God had prepared her for this, showing us over and over that He is in control.
After some time at the safe house they were really looking forward to settling into their own place, feeling more grounded, like they could really focus on a fresh start. Neema’s brother got them set up in little house in Moshi and they were connected with a church right away. They are always, always welcome at the safe house whenever they want- they have become family with Neema and Erasto and the girls.
As I was leaving Tanzania, Annette told me they finally got approved with the kids papers. I took a long time, but I am thankful that they are so rigorous as many children are trafficked out of the country. Annette, Lea + Grace are praying and fasting on which direction to go in- to the safe house in Tanzania, back to their own safe house in Goma, or to another area. It is an incredibly heavy decision with a lot of nuances- please pray that God gives us all wisdom and guidance and direction, but He would give it to them most of all.
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