Reflections 1

The Art of Being Positive
Keep looking up; remember there is only mud under your feet.
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An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.--Sir Winston Churchill
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Ella Wheeler Wilcox gives us some wise counsel in her poem "Optimism":
Talk happiness.
The world is sad enough
Without your woes. No path is wholly rough;
Look for the places that are smooth and clear,
And speak of those, to rest the weary ear
Of those so hurt by continuous strain
Of human discontent and grief and pain.
Talk faith.
The world is better off without
Your uttered ignorance and morbid doubt.
If you have faith in God, or Man, or self,
Say so. If not, push back upon the shelf
Of silence all your thoughts, till faith shall come;
No one will grieve because your lips are dumb.
Talk health.
The dreary, never-changing tale
Of mortal maladies is worn and stale.
You cannot charm, or interest, or please
By harping on that minor chord--disease.
Say you are well, or all is well with you,
And God shall hear your words and make them true.

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Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.--Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Cheerfulness is what greases the axles of the world.
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I was brought up to be very honest. It bothers me to be hypocritical or lie or deceive or cover up. So knowing I should act happy when I feel sad posed a problem for me. I wondered, "How can I put on a smile and look happy when I don't really feel that way?" But the Lord helped me to resolve this question to my satisfaction. The answer is:
You have to realise that when Jesus is in your heart, it's not you, it's His happiness that you're showing in your joyful countenance and happy smile. It is not being hypocritical to put on a happy face when you're sad, and you are not pretending, because it's the Lord's happiness that's showing.
So you are not being hypocritical to show joy on your face when you don't feel happy inside. To the contrary, you are being a wonderful example of Jesus shining through you.--"Not I, but Christ Who lives within me" (Galatians 2:20). You are showing His face, the beauty of Jesus being seen in you!--Maria David
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God has two dwellings: one in Heaven and the other in a thankful heart.--Izaak Walton (1593-1683)

Henna

This is a picture of henna drawings. Women decorate their hands and feet in a variety of ways like this for weddings, functions and other special occasions.

The henna comes from a plant and is used to color hair, nails, and hands. They say that henna is healthy for your hair and it gives your hair a reddish color.

The henna is applied and left to sit for as long as you want it. The longer that you leave it, the darker it become.





They say the darker the red color is, the more your husband will love you!

The Beach!

A beautiful picture of the beach.

One of the perks to living here!

Iringa

Recently, Miguel and I were able to make a trip to Iringa, a small town about 8 hours away by bus.

Iringa is a town in Tanzania with a population of 112,900 (as of 2004). It is situated at a latitude of 7.77°S and longitude of 35.69°E. The name is derived from the Hehe word lilinga, meaning fort.

Iringa was built during the 1890s by the German Army as a defensive base to be used against the Hehe uprising lead by Chief Mkwawa. The fortress and headquarters of Chief Mkwawa was situated in the nearby village of Kalenga. The town stretches along a hilltop overlooking the Ruaha River to the south, and spreads along ridges and valleys to the north. The altitude for the town's environs is more than 1550 meters (5000 feet) above sea level. The months of June, July, and August can see low temperatures near freezing.

We were invited by some friends to come and visit and during our short time there were not only able to see Iringa town, but also schools and orphanages in the area. We visited one specific orphange that had been built two years ago. It is a beautiful project but the ones managing it are concerned as they now find themselves under a very heavy financial weight and are not sure how long they will be able to carry it.

One reason for the extra concern is that Iringa has now been filled with street children due to one orphanage losing support and being unable to take care of the children, thus sending them out to the street.

This orhanage wants to make sure that doesn't happen to them so they are eager to learn about the self-income generating projects that we have intiated at the Kurasini National Children's Homes, with cows, chickens, a shop and other projects to generate income.

They hope to start some of the same projects for the orphanage in Iringa so that the center will not be total donor dependent, but more self-sufficient.

Please pray that this works out and comes through for them.

Some of the various communities!

During our time here we have been able to get many involved in our work with the orphanage. One doctor from a certain Islamic community has been a great help to us, offering medical services to the children as well as introducing us to others in the community who are able to participate in this project.

His daughter had a birthday and we were able to help make it a special time for her and all the children who were there as well.

Bagamoyo

Bagamoyo is a town one hour a away from here on the coast where to main slave trade was held.

Slaves were marched from all parts of Africa to Bagamoyo, on the east coast and then shipped off to Zanzibar where they would be taken to other lands from there. Bagamoyo actually means “lay down your heart” as that is the last of their home land that they would see and after that they would have to leave it all behind.

David Livingstone and others created an awareness of what was going on here to get people to end the slave trade. Many missionaries would come to help put an end to it, but most died very young due to the malaria and sickness of which, at that time, there was no cure.

There is a graveyard next to the old church and if you look at the ages on the gravestones most are from 22 to 36 years old.

So many have gone on before me to pave the way, but all their efforts did pay off, as the slave trade was abolished!

So that is some of the history behind Bagamoyo.

Youth involvement!

Another thing we do regularly is youth involvement, a time when we go the University of Dar es Salaam to talk to the students and create an awareness towards the needs and the situations going on around them.

We do our best to encourage them as it is a difficult time to be growing up and entering the world with all the commericalism, corruption and explotation going on around them.

One method we like to use towards this is songs with a message, as well as personal conversations, listening to them, and doing our best to fill the need of every heart with God's love and care.

About where I live!

I live on the coast in a city called Dar es Salaam, which is the commercial capital of Tanzania. The political capital is Dodoma which is farther inland, and even though the region of Dodoma is quite big the city is small.


Facts about Tanzania:
The population of Tanzania is about 33 million. It is difficult to know the exact number, as out in the villages is almost impossible to keep track of all the deaths and births, and presently the database for these records is not electronic but on paper.

The language of Tanzania is Swahili an although each of the approxemate127 tribes of Tanzania have their own language, the first president, Julius Nyrere, focused on uniting the tribes, and one way he did this was through the use of one common language.

Tanzania was originally called Tanganyika, the land between the four great lakes; Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika. The name changed in 1964 when Zanzibar became part of Tanganyika, producing the name Tanzania.
This area was originally a German Colony, before the British took over and then finally received it’s independence in 1961.

The road to our home!

Home is not an easy place to get to where we live as it is 8km of rough road, that is once you get out of the never ending traffic in town!

Everyday you feel that you are on safari and it takes a lot of patience and grace to stay calm throughout the bumps and scraps. Inspite of the jostle it is fun and it wouldn't be "Africa" and exciting if it wasn't this way. Please pray for those roads to get fixed though as our cars don't last long with all of this.

At one point, before the bridge was built we would go in, through the river, and come out on the other side. At times even large, 4 wheel drives got stuck in the river during the rainy season.

I remember once when we drove through the river, we came out the other side without our licence plate as the river current had swept it off.

Thankfully, with the bridge built, that doesn't happen any more, but with roads like this you never know what you're in for next! -- Ha!

How, why and when I moved to TZ!

I was first introduced to the projects in Tanzania through my older sister, who now resides in Lebanon, as she did volunteer work in Nairobi, Kenya, for 8 years (1995 – 2003).

I have lived in Tanzania for the past four years arriving at the age of 17, in 2003, where I began working at a school with nursery age children for a year and a half. As some of you know, my family has been involved in this sort of work for all of my life, so venturing out like this is not unusual in my family.

After my time in Arusha I was invited to Dar es Salaam, to assist in a project with orphan children and since then focused my main efforts towards ‘Kurasini National Children’s Home’. This has been a dream come true because at this orphanage I am able to head up new projects and initiatives and put all my energy and talents into making a difference.

Through these records of my time here I pray that you will be able to experience the struggles and joys of Tanzania along with me.

THE PROBLEMS AND NEEDS:
One of the many problems that Tanzania has to face, is the increasing number of orphans and abandoned children, directly linked to the HIV/AIDS problem in the country. Many of the families directly related to such children, having been literally decimated by the disease, are not able to care for them, and are forced to place them in the care of Institutions. Very often though, many of these Institutions, are not able themselves to face the many demanding needs involved in the proper care of the children.
The Kurasini National Children’s Home is a Government Institution, which shelters over 100 orphans and abandoned children from various parts of Tanzania.
When we were introduced to the needs of the Childcare Center, it was evident that a concrete and significant plan of action was needed, seeing that many of the basic needs were lacking, such as sufficient food and regular medical care. The buildings were also very run down and needed to be restructured. After having stipulated a memorandum of understanding and partnership with the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, in this particular care with the Social Welfare Department, we began our work in the Kurasini National Children’s Home.

HOW THIS HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED
Everything that we have been about to accomplish in these last seven years has been thanks to the help that we have received from local companies and private donors, which as played a fundamental role in the development of the Kurasini National Children’s Home.
Part of our work has been getting the local community and local businesses involved, creating greater awareness, and through this many have come forward to help and make these changes possible.


WHAT SOME OF THE CHANGES ARE
The first project was the construction of the 540mt. wall, to fence the whole property at the Kurasini National Children’s Home, to increase the security of the children as well as of the future projects to be conducted at the Center. After the completion other organizations and various individual sponsors came forward and thanks to their help the restructuring of the building we complete.
Through the years we have been able to establish 1.5 tons of monthly food supplies, local companies donate flour, maize flour, sugar, oil and soap. We also assist in finding sponsors for the yearly school fees as all of our school age children attend public schools, ranging from primary schools all the way up to university.
Presently we are focusing on establishing self-income generating projects, which will be run and managed by residents of this orphanage creating a steady flow income. Our goal is to bring them to a level of self-sufficiency and move them away from donor dependency. I will explain more about these projects later.