Tanzania News...

Tanzania - RAW Newsletter - December 2007

The latest newsletter from Rebecca and Wendy at RAW Missions has just arrived. 

Please click HERE, or on the image above to read, and or download to print.

PDF file (621kb)

Tanzania December 2007

The October RAW newsletter from Rebecca and Wendy at RAW Missions has been archived, but you can still read it. 

Please click HERE, or on the thumbnail to read, or download to print.

PDF file (575kb)

Tanzania Report - September 2007

As always, a busy month. It has been the month to concentrate on education (Some ending, some starting).

We have been wonderfully blessed by Michael, David and Andrew from New Life Church, Okehampton in Devon, who have spent a week building playground equipment for our children! Kanuti and Johnson worked with them, to get work experience as well as English practice! They have been learning how to use tools properly and build safe strong structures. 

Kanuti's first lesson was how to hold an electric drill steady (in the first few minutes he broke a drill bit)! The children were so excited to see the new equipment - they shouted for joy and ran straight to it. The longest slide in particular got good usage!

The Children's Progress...

• Birthdays celebrated during September: Rebecca (15), Careen (9), and Arnold (6)! We are holding a joint birthday celebration/play equipment opening on October 7th - see pictures below.
   

• On September 6th, Johnson and Kanuti graduated from primary school!! Johnson's school put on a big ceremony that most of our staff and children attended. Johnson received a certificate, and also was commended for being in the top 5 of his class. Wendy and I weren't able to attend as we had already arranged to be out of town conducting a seminar in a Maasai village way out of town. Both boys now have 3 months "holiday" and we are giving them work experiences at our compound.
   

• Kanuti returned home for 2 weeks to stay with his mother, and sort his house and land. His mother is living in the house he inherited from his dad. She has nothing, so Kanuti sold four trees on his property, and used the funds to buy a bed and other furniture for his mum. We are very proud of him and the good decisions he continues to make. His mum has encouraged him to make the most of his years with us, she understands that education is key to his future.
   

• Riziki started a new school this month - Fikiria Kwanza ("Think First"). She is being sponsored to attend private English-medium school! She is really enjoying it, though she was worried about being taught in English-only. She is a fast learner and we know she will benefit greatly from this opportunity. The school we have chosen is one of the top 10 in the Arusha area.
   

• Arnold and David's mum has had a baby boy, and has named him Laurence. Arnold and David have visited their new baby brother. Their mum, Lillian, had a caesarian (this is normal for HIV mothers), and we just found out that it was performed by a nurse rather than a qualified doctor, and she now has complications and has to return to hospital. She wants to put her baby into care for the next few months as she is not really able to care for him, so we have arranged for a good American-run baby-orphanage close to where we live to take Laurence. Lillian isn't able to provide breast milk, and we have told her many times she needs to give the baby goat milk, but she has been insisting on giving him cow's milk (formula is too expensive). He may do much better in care for the next few months rather than living with his mum.
   

• Arnold has really come out of his shell, and is much more outgoing than he was a month ago. He is becoming quite cheeky, and needs strict boundaries these days.
   

• Careen has been generally much happier this past month. She has had a recurrence of her urinary tract infection, and she has received medicine, but she needs to drink more water to really stop the problem…she is being a bit obstinate in this area…
   

• We have been looking at land for sale around the Arusha area with a view to purchasing to build a housing and community centre for our children's work. Watch this space!!
   

• Frida is officially pregnant! She is suffering from morning sickness, and was quite poorly at the beginning of the month, needing time off, but despite her husbands protests came back to work as soon as she could (she hates being away from the children).
   

• Alex and Goodluck continue to do well! Alex has a dove now as his "pet".
   

• Mahija is growing and becoming more confident - she used to be very sacred of the dogs in or compound. These days she pets them, and shows no fear. She is enjoying singing and dancing and is really developing her character.

Seeway Tanzania recently celebrated its first birthday as an officially recognised organisation in Tanzania!!

We have 12 children in our care in 2 homes (we have rented houses in the Arusha area). We have 4 full-time staff plus 2 auxiliary staff. We are taking on more staff, looking for our 3^rd home to rent, and looking for land to purchase so we can build homes to our specifications. We are ready to expand!!

• Seeway Tanzania is overseen by Rebecca Jackson and Wendy Kelley, from the UK and USA respectively, who live in Tanzania and manage Seeway Tanzania at an administrative level.
• Seeway Tanzania homes are run by Tanzanians who manage the houses and work with the children on a daily level.

Girls learning to make chapatis.

Statistics show that as of July 2007, 48% of Tanzanians are under the age of 15. Many of them are in extreme need and living in a state of hopelessness. WE EXIST TO GIVE HOPE TO A NEW GENERATION OF TANZANIANS.

• Vulnerable children (living in extreme poverty, living on the streets, abandoned…)
• Orphans (one or both parents)
• AIDS affected families (many mothers are HIV+ and unable to properly care for their children)

• We encourage individualism in our staff and children
• We encourage Christian values in our staff and children
• We encourage a family atmosphere and family values in our staff and children
• We encourage laughter in our staff and children
• We encourage our staff and children to aim high, and be all they can be
• We encourage "thinking out of the box" in our staff and our children
• We empower our staff to make decisions and manage problems
• We empower our children to take control of their lives and make decisions for their future

• Our children live in family style homes with a maximum of 8 children, and have consistent committed Christians as house-parents.
• All our children attend a good Christian church which teaches strong biblical values, has an emphasis on faith in God, and has an excellent children’s church.
• We employ young staff committed to seeing change in Tanzania, who help our children think in a new way, complemented by older staff who are parents in their own right, have parental and Christian wisdom, and provide the "grandparent" strong foundational factor.
• We provide weekly music lessons for the children, and they have daily access to keyboards, guitars, and drums.
• We provide plenty of creative activities to stimulate the children’s minds as well as physical activities to stimulate their bodies.
• We provide access to books and technology.
• We provide a healthy varied diet to the children and ensure they get the protein and fresh fruit and vegetables they need to grow mentally and physically.
• We ensure all our children learn the basic skills they need to exist successfully in a town/city setting, or in a village setting (i.e. they learn how to cook local food, and they wash their clothes by hand). Some of them will go on to professional careers, some will return to their villages – we teach them how to live in both situations.

• Our children are happy and healthy and know they are loved.
• All our children have made progress in school while they have been with us – some are in the top 5 places of their class and school (our children attend local government schools).
• Our children are selected to be school prefects and class monitors.
• Our children pray daily and worship God daily.
• Our children have good relationships with our staff.
• Our children have ambitions for their lives and know the steps they need to take to achieve them.
• We get praise from every visitor (Tanzanians and foreigners), especially if they have visited other children’s centres in the area – they are surprised how happy and healthy our children are!

A music lesson at Rebecca’s and Wendy’s house.

To run homes in the way we do costs a little more than the average African children’s centre. Having visited most of the other centres in our area, we know that what we are doing is a bit different and special, and we are seeing the results – the fruit of the seed we sow into our staff and our children is very evident.

We are seeing a new generation grow up, with excellent values, hope for a future, and the ability to think in a new way.

Will you be a part of this? Will you give hope to a new generation of Tanzanians?

If you feel you would like to help - please contact us, your donation will make the world of difference to a child.

For more information on any of our projects, please do not hesitate to contact us - thank you.
 

Archived Seeway News can be accessed from HERE