The month of April was another busy one here in Mufindi with
Foxes’ NGO. April is always highlighted by Easter festivities, and it marks an
anniversary of the founding of the NGO. Our Tanzanian organization turned 9
years old last month, and along the way there have been some fantastic
supporters from the UK (wildorphans.org)Canada (africanbookbox.org) and the US (mufindiorphans.org) and we have
made new friends from various countries around the world. It seems the successful
projects here, and the people of Mufindi have an affect on people whenever our
stories are introduced.
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| Yohana taking an afternoon nap at house number 2, aptly nicknamed 'the baby house' |
Recently, we welcomed Yohana into the family. He becomes the
12th child under 2 years of age at the Children’s Village. Our ‘campus’ has 6
children’s homes, and house #2 is home to all the babies. At the age of two or
three, children ‘graduate’ to other houses if or when a new infant arrives.
Each case is different, but most of the younger children come from extremely
impoverished backgrounds, and their families either need to get healthier
through treatment and time, or re-build their lives to create a safer
environment for their children. All children enter into the Children’s Village
under the official guidance of the District Social Welfare Office, the village
leaders in the area, and trusted community members. Only the most extreme cases
are entered into the Children’s Village, as every effort is made to help the
family raise the child in the village.
Yohana is one of the many young children brightening everyone’s day at
the Children’s Village. He is well-loved, and is a real crowd pleaser at the baby house! He actually arrived the day he was born as his mother had
complications during childbirth and had passed away. He was brought to the
Children’s Village by his uncle and aunt who contribute what they can to his
upbringing, but are hoping to prepare a stable environment for Yohanna’s childhood once he
reaches the age of 3 or 4. Yohana is now 2 months old, from the village of Isipi.
Upon returning to his family in the village, he will hopefully be able to
enroll in a nursery school program as the Nursery/Kindergarten program as we
hope to expand the program to each village in the area.
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| Kamilia Kihongole helps a student at Igoda Children's Village Kindergarten |
The integrated early childhood education program for nursery
school and kindergarten has continued successfully even as the organization
continues to search for support for this program. 30 teachers have been trained
in Montessori teaching methods that will bring creativity and self-directed
learning to young children. 11 schools now have some form of pre-school
education where before there was none, and students were forced to enter grade
one- often times having never held a pencil, or any education preparing them
for reading and writing. This program will change the lives of so many children
in the area, and will no doubt have a vast impact on the future of this
community. The foundation of early education is of utmost importance to this
community, and many villages have banded together to support their schools’
program. Our organization plans to work side-by-side with these communities, as
we will offer seminars, help with support the school with basic materials, and
assist with monitoring and evaluating to ensure the schools get the most out of
their schools. The program seeks to tap in to the desire for education that the
entire community has, and we look forward to these partnerships coming together
to facilitate foundational education for all young children.
For Easter this year, all the children were invited to play
water balloon tag, and go on a scavenger hunt with guests at the nearby Fox
Farm Lodge. At the end of the day a group picture was taken with most of the
NGO ‘family.’ We are so proud of all of them, and the contributions they are
making to their community.
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| One of the now annual traditions- the family Easter photo (2013) |
April is a particularly difficult month for weather in
Mufindi. The hard, heavy rains seemed to continue non-stop this month! We were
blessed to be given an Ambulance through the hard work of Bob and Elaine Prior,
and all of the supporters that helped with their campaign! We were further
blessed to make it through the rainy season with no problems as the heavy duty
Ambulance/Land Rover was able to pass through any obstacle the muddy roads
presented.
This month also saw the graduation of Akida Mdalingwa, and
Florian Mtilega from A-level schooling. Both of these young men grew up in
Ikaning’ombe village, and overcame many challenges to score exceptional marks
in their schooling, and became leaders at schools that are well-renowned
throughout all of Tanzania! They each received support through sponsorships
from supporters of the NGO. Florian won leadership awards at his graduation,
and Akida was the student selected to give his class speech to the honored
guest at graduation ceremony. We are very proud of both of them, and we can
only hope we find future sponsorships to enable more exceptional children from
this area to create a brighter future for themselves and Tanzania!
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| The NGO family made sure Florian Mtilega had the biggest contingency at Ruaha Secondary School's Form 6 festivities this year! |
