“All creatures great and small”. Ludmila was asked this month to make a shirt for a customer. As you can see, she ,Agnes and the children had some fun fitting into it before it arrived with its owner. “The Lord God made us ALL!”
In last month’s blog, some of you may have read the sad news about a prospective Volunteer, Royston, who tragically died. We were in touch via Hilary with Royston’s parents and prayed for them as a family here. On the official opening day of Royston house, we were gathered in front of the new house singing and praying for the family and Hilary sent a few pictures to his parents.
I want to take this opportunity to ask all friends of Karibu Nyumbani to pray for Royston’s Mother and sistser as Royston’s Father passed away that same night. We pray for all of the family, that they will receive comfort during this time of grief.
We’ve had a special 3 weeks with Mama Hilary and Mama Clare from England. They will be blogging themselves so I won’t say too much, only that we miss them loads.
Hilary’s 3rd time and Clare’s 2nd. They feel very much part of us and it is hard for the children to understand why they have to go!
Hilary for the last 2 years has sent presents for every child on their birthday so it was lovely that they could both be present with us for our once a year Birthday Celebration in July
When I was in England I had the joy of buying birthday presents for all the children on behalf of all the Mamas. It was more fun to see them opening them up with great speed and see each one fully absorbed in their new toy. After chicken and chips, we had cake and soda which was kindly given us by Bonita a friend from our parish. We love celebrations!!
While Ludmila and I were away, our first Cow- Hannah gave birth to a very large calf and became very weak, dying after about 5 days. It was terrible news, as she was such a lovely cow and gave us the most milk. She alone was almost paying through Yoghurt and Fresh milk for all our other animals. We have already replaced her with a one year cow in calf expecting to give birth within the month. Please pray for Sarai, our new cow, that all will be well.
Just wanted to give you a little look through our classroom window into the wonderful things going on.
Please pray for teacher Agnes that she will have no problem with renewing her residence permit!!
We were sorry to be saying good- bye to Julian and David who were with us for 10 months. They both became very much part of our family here. Julian wrote in the April blog and here’s a short excert of David’s report.
……My ten months in Tanzania have changed me surely a lot. But how profound and long-lasting these changes will be, will be shown only by time. But I am sure, that I will go with a more positive attitude, self-confident in my future, and that the time in Tanzania will always stay with me as a jewel in my memory. If I could decide again tomorrow to break up for my voluntary service in Tanzania, I would not wait and answer with a loud “Yes”.
We would have you back any time!!
In fact we are having a visit from Tabea and Lina (our last years Caritas Volunteers) and Lina’s mum, for 3 weeks
It feels like I left England for Africa years ago, yet I can't believe my time at Karibu Nyumbani is over already, so maybe it has only been three months and I just wish it could be years. I arrived in the evening, so was greeted with dinner which is always followed by family time, involving lively worship songs, shared prayer and a Bible reading. I was touched by the hospitality of the Tanzanians and their very apparent love of God; gladly these two things have been consistent throughout my stay.
Learning to count to 100 in Swahili before coming proved useful. Drawing with the children created good opportunities for shared learning too as I could speak English to them and they would teach me the Swahili. I hoped to pick up more through conversation, but it doesn't matter that I did not because I am going home with something far more valuable than knowledge and a reminder of the greatest lesson.
The lesson is that love is the key to life. When we love God and we love others as ourselves we receive the fullness of life. Sometimes we clearly see that the things we believe are true because we experience them and I have experienced these truths in my stay.
I could feel pity or despair visiting such a poor area surrounded by children whose circumstances have led them to reside in an orphanage but it would be inappropriate. These children are filled with the Holy Spirit- they are loving, kind, obedient, funny, they listen, they are patient and they enjoy their lives. They have the fullness of life!
I really believe the hard-working and faithful Mamas and Aunties who run the orphanage are providing these children with a better life than many rich children in Europe. I also believe that the key to their success is the fact that the foundation of their own lives, and of Karibu Nyumbani, is faith in Jesus Christ.
The kindness of the people here and their thankfulness to the God who they acknowledge as blessing every part of their lives inspires me and gives the simple home life here an irresistable magnetism.
What will I miss most? Patrick's amazing drawing skills, Gertrude's eccentric giggling fits, Sabina and Shangwe's cheeky laughter, Samweli's JOY-filled smile, Queenie's gentle curiosity, Adventi and Onesimo's insistent efforts to (successfully) make me jump on my way to and from my room, Isaya's comical mini-performances at dinner, during football, in my stolen shoes or anywhere else he happens to be.
In short I will miss time spent with the lovely people who live here. I love everybody here and I feel loved by them.
Whilst on holiday in Pembrokeshire Ludmila and I met some of Jane’s friends- Viv and Gareth, who told many of their friends to gather together cloths and shoes for the children. They came all the way to Worcestershire to HOD Community to give us all they had collected. We were happy to be able to bring a big percentage back with us. God bless you all for your love.
I am standing in a queue in the bank in our near town- Kibaha. It’s the seventh time I’ve returned to Tanzania from England. You would think I’d be used to it by now. If you were to stand with me here you would know why there is a smile on my face right now.
The dust, humidity, bumpy road, cars driving the wrong way, people jumping in front of you, are always a shock after landing. After a 2 hour drive our gates opened to 30 smiling faces. It was so much better than the dreams I’d been having for the past 3 weeks thinking about my return. Ludmila and I were holding 2 or 3 children at a time, lots of hugs and kisses. I expected them to all be inches taller, my 2 months in England had seemed so long, but they were the same beautiful children. Florian only, our youngest had grown taller and filled out, and it seemed at first that he had forgotten all his English but maybe not.
Since starting to writing I’m sure you’d be interested to know that my queue hasn’t moved at all! - Best just to keep smiling, everyone else is. It’s a wonderful gift the people of Tanzania have.
We’ve partied with chicken, chips and soda!!
The children have received shoes and clothes from friends in England and Czech.
Exchanging stories late into the night!
Being amazed at the wonderful new house- almost finished – ready for our 8 visitors over the summer-
We’ve sang songs and prayed together- giving thanks for our reunion.
I’ve just had a long conversation with someone in the queue! He’s been in the bank since 9 am nearly 3 hours. It’s a good job Ester, Ludmila and I split up to do the different chores in town or we would be here all day. I’m strangely happy for this time just to stand still, and what a joy to have time to share with the young man my testimony of the loving, faithful heart of our Heavenly Father.
It’s good to be home- thank you all for your hospitality and love to all I met while I was in England. For me it was my best return to England in all the seven years and its looking like best return home too.
God bless you all.
I’ve reached the counter!
This year, my holiday was different. I travelled with Fiona to England to visit the Community HOD (The House of the Open-Door Community) who I haven’t seen for a long time. I want to thank all of them for their support and prayers.
Then we went to visit Jane our good friend who invited us to come and spend time in her new house in Pembrokeshire, we spent 6 days together there and really enjoyed very much this time.
After this heavenly time, I started my journeying in Czech for 6 weeks.
I give thanks to God for all the people I met, because they really blessed me and our children in our home in Tanzania. I was travelling a lot and giving my testimony. Thanks to God and all of you who caught the vision to help us, because without your support we cannot do anything. I wish you all well and God bless you all, you are in our prayers also.
I thank God for Fi and Ludmila who have come back safely. During the last few months there was many things going on. Building as well as looking after the family here.
The rains were heavy- roads were blocked, at the same time as delivering things for the building it was hard. Normally the rains finish at the beginning of May, but this year it went up to the end of the month.
According to our road it was a big problem to take the children to school. Sometimes I was stopping them to don’t go to school.
I missed Fi and Ludmila, but I thank God for my sister Harness who came to help me, and all the Aunties, Uncles and volunteers who were working together and praying together.
The builders didn’t give me a hard time, they were humble and helped me so much. They also joined us in our prayer times, and this really blessed us. I saw us like one family.
Now we are all together again- Thank you God
I had a lovely 12 day in Cornwall and am now working my way up country. This weekend I am with Jan and Patrick, they have been busy again and had Open Garden for all their neighbours and friends. A good friend of mine came all the way from New Zealand to help too!! The cream cake and coffee was accompanied by the "Grandchildren" on Violin.
Including a group who have been praying and supporting us for some time- the Monday group.
Ludmila also sold some of her Tanzanian tops and bags!!
Helen, our volunteer from England only has a few more days with us! We will miss her gentle, friendly, loving, faithfulness. A few weeks ago, I couldn’t sit by her to translate, so she had to sit through a service not understanding a word. She however was very happy to tell me later that she understood one sentence; - “Subiri Kidogo” which means “Wait a little!”. I however, had heard and understood almost everything but when she said those 2 words, they went straight to my heart. So often we need to “wait a little”- it is part of life. Our Heavenly Father also asks us to “WAIT with TRUST”.
We are only a few weeks away from Easter, and we pray that all you are waiting for you can trust to your Heavenly Father to answer as he wills. He is a God who can turn every situation, heals our wounds, raises the dead. He wants us to see HIM in everything and be filled with Resurrection Joy. Thank you all for your prayers too as we “Wait a little” for the promises of our Heavenly Father.
vehicle. For some time, our HiAce bus has been too small to carry the whole family and our little
Cami Toyota has got very tired. The Cami will retire but will probably carry the grass for the cows!!
And do other heavy loads nearby!! You have brought us great joy- Thank you
Even with a big language barrier and being surprisingly incapable of simple household tasks I really feel like I belong in this family. And it truly is a family, a rather large one at that. It is a place overflowing with love and laughter that has completely brought out the inner child in me.
It is also truly inspiring to see someone's love-centred vision become a reality for so many and to see first hand the impact that it has. The fact that the vision is constantly expanding and they're tirelessly seeking more for the children, reinforces the selfless nature of the people in this organisation. It's so refreshing and heart warming to see/be a small part of.
Being here has given me some invaluable experiences and taught me so much from how to milk a cow, Gertrude's wavy dance moves and even giving me a acute sense of rhythm! We're still working on washing clothes, basic Swahili and kanga tying but we'll get there!
I don't say this lightly but the embrace I've received at Karibu Nyumbani, by the adults and children alike, is one that I will always cherish and I hope that I can bring this warmth and love I have felt to people I encounter in my life. I feel that a part of me will always be here and I hope and pray I have the opportunity to return. I couldn't be more thankful.