I left for Tanzania NYE with a ton of large storage boxes full of supplies and SO ready to see my African family, Neema + Erasto and all the kiddos ◡̈
We hosted our very first GWP camp in our village at our local public school. We are in a predominantly Muslim village and it is a secular public school, but still, we had a 3 day christian camp and about 150 kids showed up! We talked about Jesus, His love for us and that we can dream for our lives because we were made on purpose.
I found out that the kids are in school from about 8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday- without any food. It would cost us about $30 a day to feed about 400 children. We could commit to one day a week if we wanted it to be long term and sustainable for us. After a few weeks, the teachers were telling the parents how much better that the kids were doing on the days they got food. The village chief really challenged the parents to show up with whatever small amount that they could contribute- a cup of rice or a cub of beans- and they would make a protein rich porridge for the children. Within no time at all- we no longer had to pay for the children to eat once a week- the parents were feeding their kids every single day. Praise God! Having them take ownership not only reduces our financial burden, it instills a sense of “I can do this” for every parent in this village. That they can feed their own children without foreign help. Its a confidence builder and a motivator- I know that this is only the beginning for our village! Praise Jesus!
3 women in the village even volunteered to gather and prepare the porridge for the kids 5x a week- for free!! This is huge! Especially when they themselves don’t have excess, it was incredible to see such generosity. (We have since started paying them a humble amount, but we wanted to do what we could do pour into them and thank them for their selfless work for their communities children).
We took our kiddos to our partnering church in Moshi. It’s Neema’s mom + dad’s church! And then we took the girls to swim at a hotel pool not far from our home.
By God’s grace we rescued two sweet girls from harrowing circumstances. We are so thankful for the resources that we have to help these precious children who have had to go through so much.
