(I just think that if I live to be my mums age, I have nearly another 40 years service ahead of me, what a sobering thought).
A lot of changes are ahead of us in the mission of Light in Africa, the first one being that my daughter Laura - otherwise known as mama gemma - and her children are leaving the mission after 6 years of service, to start a new life in our home town.
It is Laura's ideal to open up and make available for school children, or children with 'special needs' or other's with teenage problems to come over to Light in Africa and have the 'real' experience of helping other's with different projects.
We have already had a great response from a school in Kent who came over and tented and made a wonderful difference with our baby unit by building a fence around our outdoor area of the nursery, and painted some parts of our gallery. For some students it was their first time to hold a baby, or play with a toddler. They finished their working holiday with a safari tour to see all our wonderful wildlife, already some of the students are returning at Christmas.....
Laura has decided to call this new venture Nations Together which aptly sums up what we are....
My oldest grandchild Gemma has gained a place in a local University and is going to train as a teacher, Sophie is coming over to complete her education as is Jarrod. But I think it is not going to be without its problems, as anyone who knows them will understand, as they always speak in Kiswhahili to each other, not in English.....they even dream in swahili... so a big change for them, but we have been so blessed with all the imput they have all put in over the years, and they will all be greatly missed.
After my last update, regarding the amazing blessing we had received with the food delivery, I went to meet the 4 chairmans of the respective villages. After the uproar had subsided with the news of the food being delivered we got down to business with how it was going to be distributed. We now have the premises which is at present being improved and we have the previous experience of feeding many children, but how many orphans did each village chairman have in their
village. The first chairman spoke on behalf of the others and wished for me to pass on their heartfelt thanks to the providers of the food, and then he shocked me by saying in his village alone their were over 400 orphans...... wow......
We had documented 511 at a dispensary that we had held, but 400 in the fist village alone. The numbers as each man spoke grew to a huge number. In the end the agreement is that each chairman would supply me with the names of 100 of the most needy, malnourished orphans in their village making a total of 400 orphans per day, 6 days per week to feed and that is the number where we would start the food kitchen with of which I am hoping to start sometime next month.....
We also welcome for the very first time this year the medical students from the University of Sheffield: Karibu !! We believe you will have a life-changing experience....
see you soon.
mama Lynn
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An Invitation was extended to me via the Hai District Commissioner -
Mrs Hasna - this week to take lunch with the Hon. Mirisho Kikwete, the
President of Tanzania and his Wife, the Hon. Salma Kikwete,on his
recent whistle stop visit to the Hai District Area. He had many stops
enroute to the Hai Club for lunch, which included, opening a new
district, the new market at Kwasadala, an orthopedic wing at Machame
Hospital, with visits to Same and Rombo, a hectic schedule.....I think
one of the most endearing features of the President is the warmth of
his smile and bonhomie that eminates through his presence. I'm sure a
very special gift that has been given to him.
Sometimes we are asked by God to step out in faith, and when we do He
has the ability to not only shock us but to make us gasp with the
awesomeness of what has been achieved.
From previous blog messages that I have written you will be aware
that I am working in a very deprived area where their are many
children without parents and without food.... I stepped out in faith
when I informed 4 village chairpersons that I would provide a daily
food kitchen for children upto 16 years of age. Discussions led to me
renting property to enable the food to be cooked and a place where the
children could eat. On Saturday, due to some amazing american
friends, 248,000 pre-packed meals where delivered to me for use at the
food kitchen...enough food for me not to worry for the next year where
I am going to get the food from. Praise God Hallelujah mama lynn
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today an update (dated Aug 3) and a new story (dated July 31) were added to the blog.
And please click here for a new story about the LIA Medical Assistance .
Happy Reading!
webmaster
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About Winter in Tanza, Volunteers, Maasai in Kenya, a baby-boy, snail mail and e-mail and a remarkable doctor Minja
Greetings everyone from Moshi as we are coming to the end of our winter period.Winter here is nothing like being in the cold and snow of winter in the UK and now I'm told about the devastating floods that are occuring....tragic. For winter over here in Tanza the most we have to contend with is putting on a sweater in the evening if the temperature drops....I love it..... I guess I really am a hot house flower or weed!
So what has been happening in LIA over the last few weeks??....
Well we are extremely busy with the medical students from the UK universities who are doing some amazing work from assisting on the building site where we have started to construct the first home for our children, to assisting Dr. Mushi and Sister Grace on the outreach dispensaries ( he saw 145 patients on Tuesday and ran out of drugs so he could not attend to anymore) this is where the volunteers get "hands on" with assisting the medical team. They are also very busy with seminars and workshops on HIV/AIDS and nutrition and helping out at the children's homes. (Two hours at a time folding nappies and clothes for the next day's use for the many babies and toddlers.)
We are also delighted that our first venture into Kenya is really being enjoyed by our volunteers.....For two years I was receiving elders from a Maasai village in Kenya who had heard about our work with the local Maasai in our district (the LIA chairman is a Maasai) and they wanted LIA to assist them too. After visiting the tribe and seeing their desperate needs, I relented and this year with the help of Jack our Project Manager, we have been given a coral where we have built two Maasai boma's and a toilet/shower block and a cook house. But how could we help this nomadic tribe who are very illiterate..... After sitting and speaking with the elders we made an agreement, and on my side they had to stop practicing Female Genital Mutalation, if they would agree to this, I would come up with a plan to help them..... or if I found the witchdoctors were still practicing this mutilation I would pull the plug and leave.
So this is the plan, which is proving very beneficial.
Everyone makes money out of the Maasai but not the Maasai themselves due to their lack of education, so we have to consider how can we empower them. Now that the structures have been built made by the Maasai mama's of branches and cow dung, each time a volunteer sleeps in a boma (round house) we give the committee 5 dollars, Jack is there to train the Maasai mama's on rotation, so they are being trained to wash the sheets and keep the environment clean and tidy, and also Jack is teaching them how to cook European food in the most safest and hygenic way. The men are now being tought the skills of book-keeping and administration which is empowering them. The agreement is that at the end of September we shall have a pow wow and discuss how best to use all the 5$ accumalated to the betterment of the community, whether part should go to education of payment of school fees, or a fund for medical use, or whether a building should be erected..... For the part of the volunteers they are enjoying a unique experience living within the confines of the Maasai camp, and helping out with education, health issues and dispensarys, something that few European are privvy too. What comes out tops by the volunteers is the 'tree walk' this is the elders walking them to the traditional trees which they use for medicines, like the quinine tree etc., very useful when your considering becoming a doctor!!!
A young heavily pregnant, disabled young girl sheepishly arrived at Mailisita three weeks ago. She had been thrown out her home by her brother who would not accept her pregnant state. She had nowhere to go and had not seen a doctor over the last 8 months.....We welcomed her into our home until our social workers could go and speak to the family. Today, she has given birth to a baby boy , and the family is still adamant that she is not to return home.
So what to do........???????
Helen Fergusson, here is a message for you..... we thank you for the parcel that we have received today which you posted on the 6th November, 2006!!!!! Gratefully received.
Can I just please mention that our wonderful friend and travel agent Shafiq at Emslies has changed his email address, it is now: emslies@emsliesglobal.com
And the last piece of today's news is this.....
At Christmas I placed some information on the blog that we had just opened up a children's home in a desperate - dangerous - mining area, and that as soon as we had opened the centre, cholera struck.
It was our honour to work with an amazing doctor called Dr. Minja who was on call at his dispensary from January to April until the last patient was cured. He lost only one child to this devastating disease. With over 200 being cured, due to his dedication!
He has not received any recognition for his services to this community where people would not go due to the high risks involved.
One day after a visit to see him and deliver some drugs, I heard that he was building his own dispensary out of mud bricks. I visited the site, and it was raining, and the newly laid bricks were disintegrateing.... I came home in the evening and spoke to the volunteers about this remarkable man... In the morning, some of our volunteers decided that they would help build a new dispensary for Dr. Minja - on one condition - that the dispensary was built of mortar bricks and not mud... The dispensary is now nearly built and on Dr. Minja's behalf, I would like to express my thanks to the wonderful volunteers who participated in this project. An amazing job, well done girls.
Abundant blessings to you all, Mama Lynn
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This story is about the commitment and courage that one 12 year old boy showed towards the survival of his two younger siblings, (his name has been changed)
Peter had received very little education. Both his parents were severe alcholics, spending any money that they earnt on drink. His two younger siblings often went without food, and their home was a shack built onto the end of a house. In order for him to find food to feed himself and these children, he did what most other unwanted street kids do, find a way......
One night his parents went out on yet another drinking binge, and on their way home a fight ensued. The father beat his wife, left her on the ground and then went home. In the morning, he went out to look for her, and found her dead. He pulled her all the way to the house, closed the door with the children in and refused to let them out, with their mother decomposing, until a neighbour three days later, smelt a dreadful smell, and found the body and the children in the house.
The mother was quickly buried, relatives took the younger children to live with them, but nobody wanted Peter, because he was 'street' wise.
There was no prosecution against the father.
Light in Africa was asked to take care of this young teenager.
And so started a program of care and counceling.
Two years later, Peter can now read and write, and he is the most wonderful, thoughtful child that anyone could wish to meet, we love him to bits, and what a prayer. When he looks towards heaven to pray, you can see a real connection. Something very special is happening to this young man's life. It will be interesting to see where his future lies.
mama Lynn
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Karibu Sana!
During the past several months we have received regular requests about the donations page on the Light in Africa website. We are happy to inform that the original page is fully functioning again incl. the Paypal donation button.
Asante Sana!
LIA Webmaster
Paul
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Exciting times ahead...... 11 acres of prime land purchased to build Light in Africa's very own Tudor Children's Village. Yipeeeee!!!
To all of our wonderful friends, supporters and sponsors of our children.Light in Africa has been blessed with a donation from the USA to purchase eleven acres of prime land alongside the river Sanya, where we are intending to build 27 individual bungalows, (to accomodate no more than 10 children with carer in each home), a disability unit so we can care for even more disabled children, an administration block with accomodation on the first floor for our many volunteers who visit us from around the world, cow sheds for a dairy herd and a fish pond to grow talipia fish, alongside an orchard and gardens to grow our own food so we can try to be self-sufficient as much as possible.
The purchase of this land means that we shall have all our facilities together instead of spread out and costing more overheads as we now have to double up on everything at each home
Praise God - Hallelujah.
Our homes will consist of a special care baby unit through to accomodation for the elderly, a true village with wisdom and cultural stories being handed down by the aged.
A portion of the land has been set aside and made secure (their are many monkeys which come down to the river to drink at sunset - if we encouraged them, no work would get done because they are just so cute), toilet and shower facilities - store rooms and a kitchen
area have now been erected and some of our volunteers have already moved onto the site and are living in tents.
Two volunteers named Johnathan and Silvan from Holland and Switzerland have been amazing hardworking young men. Our first problem on the site was how to access the water from the river, to place in a large container to enable them to have water to mix the cement and sand with to make the bricks for the houses.
After the chain gang theory did'nt quite work and was labour intensive, Johnathan had a plan.........he fitted a bicycle wheel onto an overhanging tree, threw over a long rope with a bucket on the end, and hey presto, water hauled up from the river....
Meanwhile, another better idea has now been adopted: a volunteer has paid for the repair of our generator and now a pump is bringing the water up......step by step the vision will come to fruition.
We have already been blessed with some funding coming into build our first house. One of them will be named the Shiller home from a donation made by a German school in Cologne.
Materials have also been purchased by a group from Camelot in the UK, it is just so exciting.
This is the project that our many medical students and individual parties will be involved in over the next few years.
As you are proberbly aware, Light in Africa does not solicit any funding from any foundations or charities or wealthy individuals and we do not send out proposals. It is totaly dependant on hearts being touched and inspired to help the orphans and our many community projects. Although we employ 60 local people, and require $1,200 each Monday for stores, we can proclaim that we have no debt, and even though our site plans may take some time to achieve - we believe when the tudor village is complete it will be a great achievement of hands across the world: teamwork - committment - endeveour - hard
work and for years to come - a place where our children will grow up with a sense of belonging - family committment and become worthy citizens of Tanzania with character traits which will enhance this beautiful impoverished country.
abundant blessing to you all
mama Lynn
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For sometime now we have been working in a remote maasai village which has enourmous water problems.... To access clean water, the maasai mama's have to walk for at least 1 hour, fill their buckets with water, and walk back for another hour. As you can imagine when you have the children to care for and the cows to milk, two hours out of your day can seem quite unnessary, especially when you have a well in your village?
The problem is that the well contains water that is high in flouride, and consequently, the children we are seeing have sever deformity in their legs. On out-reach, our medical staff give out calcium tablets to the children, as research has shown, this will make a difference... but that leaves all the children who are in the village severly deformed.
I enclose photo's of two amazing young children who have gone through so much pain and rehabilitation just to be able to walk up-right.....
Jalway had each leg broken in eight places and then spent six months in Munduli rehabilitation center ......
Before
and after the operation
The young man, Arishia, pictured here below is now back in his village, attending school.....
and walking easily and painfree
We sincerely thank the volunteers who paid for these operations, and gave these children a chance to be normal children again.
(mama lynn)
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On the 17th May the children and staff of Light in Africa where blessed with a visit from the President of Tanzania wife - First Lady - Mama Salma Kikwete.
She arrived on the invitation of the District Commissioner - Mrs. Hasna and the Member of Parliament for Hai District - Kilimanjaro Region Mr Fuya Kimbita.
All the children from the homes, gathered at Mailisita to await her arrival, they could hardly contain their excitement when the entourage of white landcruisers arrived carrying the First Lady.
After receiving bouquets from two of our children she continued to the nursery unit and asked many questions on how the children came into the facility and the background of some of the children.
Explaining in detail about LIA operations, Anthony Kimaro led the party into Tumaini Gallery, where she met with Eliaza, a 22 yr old disabled man who is being self-supported by making baskets from local reed materials, and selling them through the gallery to visitors.
Mama Salma was familiar with basket making and was able to give Eliaza advice on strengthening the handles of the baskets.
Next she moved to where one of our volunteers Becky Garcia, has been teaching our children the art of patchwork quilting. They had made a 'first attempt' hanging wall quilt, which was later presented to Mama Kikwete as a gift from the children of Light in Africa.
The party then moved to the table to sign the visitors book, and further gifts where offered to her of a pair of african made pictures.
Mama Salma (second from the left) is presented a gift of two pictures
The District Commissioner was presented with a box of new school books for the Secondary School that is being built in Hai District, and she was asked to present to the Regional Commissioner, who was not present a box of items which are sold within the gallery.
The children sang a song as she departed to another venue to hear the children from Light in Africa and St. Francis School, sing a song to her representing "Family Day". Our children sang expressing words which said "please don't forget about us". Some of the guests present started to cry.
Mama Kikwete then spoke to the guests present about caring for the family unit. The DC and MP followed with futher statements.
A gift was offered to Light in AFrica of 400 kilos of rice and 200 kilos of sugar and cooking oil which was gratefully received. The First Lady then departed for lunch........
A wonderful - exciting day for everyone concerned for the recognition of the work of Light in Africa.
Mama Lynn
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"Have you heard the story of how mama lynn went to meet a large group
of volunteers from a medical university in the UK, only for them to
walk straight passed her, get in taxi's and be at the White House
accomodation, whilst she is still waiting until the airport closed for
the night, believing KLM had lost her volunteers. "How does she do it"?
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