{African Adventure} Amani Children's Home

Amani Children's Home is a center for street children in the town of Moshi, Tanzania, at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. The work that Amani (meaning "peace" in Swahili) does is amazing! Over the past decade, Amani has been able to rescue over 700 children from the streets of Moshi and Arusha and has given each a better future.

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David volunteered at Amani back in 2007 and has fund raised back home ever since. We were also able to raise $2,000 this past December through the generous donations of the Texarkana Wilbur Smith Rotary Club, friends and family, which will be used as a part of Amani's education fund to support one child through four years of secondary school.

David has dreamed of going back to Amani and I was so excited to finally see this place that he has told me so about.  When we arrived, we met Salma, our host for the week, and she gave us a tour around Amani including some new additions since David last visited, such as a full kitchen, laundry area, wood shop, playground and a chicken coop. After our orientation, we played all afternoon shooting hoops and learning a few new jump rope tricks from the kids!

That afternoon, as we were leaving, David found his friend, Babu. Babu was at Amani when David visited last time and I had heard so much about this little boy! It was so nice to finally meet him!

On our second day, we taught the kids a little about where we come from in Texas. We showed pictures of different sports, landscapes, and big cities and even taught the kids some Texas vocabulary such as "y'all", "howdy" and "yee-haw".

After our Texas lesson, we went outside for our very own rodeo! We attempted to corral the 'cows' (balloons) while riding our 'horses' (brooms) but soon the cows popped and we moved on to horse races. It was so cute to hear "yee-haw, yee-haw" as the kids raced up and down the soccer field! We then had a sack race competition; the kids had a blast and everyone had a few good laughs!

While at Amani, we also had the chance to help the cooks prepare lunch for the kids and learned just how hard of a job that really is. These ladies cook four nutritious (and delicious) meals daily for the 80+ children at the center. We "chopped chopped" vegetables, sliced fruit and even tried our hand at cooking a little "ugali", a thick maize porridge. The cooks make it look so easy but stirring a large pot of ugali requires some serious muscle. 

On Thursday, we taught the kids about God with a few crafts and fun games sent over to us from the Genesis Class from Christ United Methodist Church . Our first lesson was "Mungu Ananipenda" or "God Loves Me". We wanted the kids to know that there was nothing they could do that could make God love them less. The kids colored a heart with 'Mungu Ananipenda' at the top and created a frame with craft sticks and beads.

Our second lesson was "God Knows You" - although the world looks at the outside of a person, it is what is on the inside that really matters to God.  We had a balloon race to illustrate this- however, each balloon was filled with different objects making some light and easy to race while others were heavier and didn't move as fast.  

Our third and final lesson was "God is With You". We created glow-in-the-dark necklaces and bracelets to show that even when it is dark and you feel alone, God will always be with you. The kids loved the necklaces and we even made a couple for the cooks!

Later in the week we got a sneak peek at an amazing project Amani has in the works for some of the older kids who have been with Amani. These transitional homes will house 27 teenage kids where they can live semi-independent while learning important life skills until they can stand on their own two feet.

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We had such a wonderful week with the kids and staff at Amani and look forward to staying involved now and in the future.

If you are interesting in helping with the amazing work that Amani is doing for the children of Tanzania, please visit their website to find out how you can get involved! Asante Sana! (Thank you very much!)

Nonceba Comfort Dolls

One of the first Rotary projects that we were introduced to in South Africa was Nonceba Family Counseling Centre in the Khayelitsha township in Cape Town. Nonceba (meaning "concern" in Xhosa) aims to help children who have been sexually abused or raped, provide support for their families and work with the community to change the conditions that leads to such abuse.

The Nonceba Family Counselling Centre was established in 1998 by local resident, Nocawe Mankayi, in her home as a desperate attempt to fight what has become South Africa 's second largest epidemic after AIDS – Rape. In Khayelitsha, 1 in every 3 girls is raped by the time they are 21 years old. With the help of Rotary and other local and international support, Nonceba is now a landmark building and a beacon of hope in this largely impoverished community.

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As a part of the initial counseling process, children are given comfort dolls. Each child is given the opportunity to choose the doll that they feel will aid them in the healing process. 

After hearing of this unique and creative way to give to Nonceba, I forwarded the doll pattern on to my grandmother back home and asked if she could make a couple for me to deliver to the center sometime this year. She and a few ladies from Christ United Methodist Church created twelve dolls and shipped them here to South Africa.

We visited Nonceba earlier this month to deliver the dolls and had the opportunity to meet the founder, Nocawe Mankayi, affectionately referred to as "Mama" by many at Nonceba. It was a joy to hear her passion for the work this organization is doing and her dreams for the future work of Nonceba.

David and I have enjoyed getting to know the staff at Nonceba and the work they are doing in the community. We hope to support Nonceba and their mission in the years to come.

Thank you to Laura Wormington, Nancy Wall, Linda Crawford and all the ladies at Christ United Methodist Church who helped make the adorable dolls that will bring smiles to many sweet children in here South Africa.

Kayamandi Fire and Kuyasa Kids

On the morning of March 15, a devastating fire swept through Kayamandi, the informal settlement outside Stellenbosch. Fanned by strong winds, the fire spread through the tightly packed shacks destroying 1,357 homes and left over 4,500 people homeless.

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Within just a couple of days, the residents effected by the fires had started rebuilding their homes with materials salvaged from the fire and kits of materials provided by the municipality. But even with a place to call home again, many families were still in need of basic things to get life back to normal.

David and I wanted to help, but didn't know where to start. That Sunday at church, we spoke with our friends, Daniel & Kendra, who are also from Texas. Daniel works at Kuyasa in Kayamandi as a soccer coach and said he had kids in the soccer program who lost everything in the fire. One of their biggest needs were school uniforms, books, school supplies, etc.

David and I teamed up with the Helderberg Sunrise Rotary Club to raise money and purchase some of the uniforms and supplies these kids needed. We purchased shoes, socks, pants, skirts, shirts and a package of school supplies for 18 children and had the chance to deliver it to the kids last week.

We also had a few extra pens and pencils that we handed out to some of the other children at the center. We didn't realize just how big of a hit they would be!

Thank you Helderberg Sunrise Rotary Club for helping us help these kids in need.

Brak En Jan Crèche

This past week, David and I visited the Brak En Jan Crèche in Raithby. Our friends, Robert and Liz, are very involved in this crèche and took us to visit one afternoon. 

The crèche is a pre-primary school for underprivileged children who live in the townships or wine farms in the area. There are around 80 kids at the crèche, ages 2-6, and by the time they leave and start primary school, they will be able to read, write and speak both English and Afrikaans. Without the help of the crèche, these children may have fallen behind in primary school because they potentially would not have learned to read and write at home. 

All the children were very sweet. We enjoyed playing ball, climbing in the tree house, and playing ring-around-the-rosie. They had the most fun though posing and playing while asking me to take their pictures. They loved to pose and then see themselves on the screen and luckily I had enough memory left to keep snapping away! 

We had a great time at the crèche and hope to go back again soon to read stories and play with the children.