ABUBAKARI:
Abu is one of the original Islamic boys that came to the orphanage at the recommendation of his street chairman. He was under the care of a poor aunt and grandmother after his parents died of unknown causes. He has no known siblings. He is active and athletic and always ready for a game of football.
We know very little about his background and his prior family. But we do know that he is one of the favorites among all of the children. He has a quiet and kind way of being that the other children respond to. When I first had to care for one of the sick children at my house shortly after I moved to Moshi years ago, Abu was the companion chosen by that child to attend him while ill. He is a hard worker as well and has done well in school readily adapting to the more difficult venue for studying offered by St Louis, the English Medium school that our children use. As he ages it is apparent that he is a born leader and he has the respect of his peers both at and away from the orphanage. Whenever a team is formed, everyone wants Abu on theirs. I have high expectations as I watch this eleven year old boy grow into his teenage years on his way to adulthood.
2.AGNESS:
We have our own "Cinderella Story" at the orphanage. Agnes came to use during her final year in grade school. She had been raised by an aunt who never liked her and who did her best to make her life difficult. The aunt did not want Agnes to go to school and actively worked to discourage her from doing so. Her "life plan" was for Agnes to be her permanent servant in her house.
We first learned of this situation when three girls from the local school approached us to ask if we could help them find the money to sit for their national qualifying exams for high school. One of them was Agnes. We met with her and her teacher and asked if she would be interested in joining our orphanage as we were looking for older children to act as big brothers and sisters to our thirty younger children. With no hesitation she said yes. When she arrived at our place two days later she had only the clothes she was wearing and her school books - and we subsequently learned that these things were borrowed. Agnes passed her national exams that year and went on to high school.
3.ALFONSE:
He was identified as an orphan in need by one of the street chairman in March of 2009 and subsequently came to the orphanage shortly thereafter. Both of his parents are dead from presumptive HIV. He and his younger brother and sister were living with their aunt who lives about 2 kilometers from our place. She was unable to care for all three of them with her meager salary derived from selling food to local workers.
I have not quite gotten used to the "new and improved" Alfonse now that he has his adult teeth coming in and his smile has taken on that "million dollar" look. But he has always been a superstar. His high pitched yet enthusiastic voice when he introduces himself to guests has always drawn smiles. He has been with us from the start of the orphanage and that makes him one of the old pros although he is only 8 years old. When his sister joined us several years ago I can still remember his angst when she refused to listen to him to learn from his vast collection of orphanage experiences. Now he has moved on to Grade Two and is doing very well in the English Medium milieu offered by St Louis. But his sister Maria still does not listen to him!
4.AZIZA:
Aziza came to us in a very indirect way two and one half years ago. She was "found" by our medical student, Christopher, at the university. She had a congenital heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot that made it impossible for her to walk more than twenty steps or climb five stairs without becoming desperately short of breath.
At age 11 she had already beaten significant odds since eighty per cent of these children die by then with this condition untreated. Her entire life had been spent with a grandmother in a small village on the slopes of Kilimanjaro. We moved her to the orphanage and eventually took her to India where she had corrective surgery at the Asian Heart Institute. She is now a completely normal teenager and serves as one of our dorm captains. And she has been "catching up" in school and is one of our more studious students at St Louis. She is a good big sister to little Fatuma who we just took for heart surgery to India this summer.
5.BENSON:
Benson came to us as part of a "package deal". The aunt caring for him arrived at our orphanage and wanted to leave both his sister an him with us as she could no longer manage to care for them. This situation has arisen for us several times. On this occasion we found that with some help, the aunt could continue to participate in the care of these two children from her dead sister.
Benson immediately moved in with us while we added his sister to our Day Care program so that she still went home with the aunt for some time. Both however are firmly present as long term residents of our site. The transition was difficult for Benson as he is a thoughtful little guy who takes things and life very seriously. Now, several years later, Benson is a well adjusted and happy boy of eight years doing well in his first year of English Medium school at St Louis. Academically he was among the top students in their first grade class this year.
6.BRIGHT:
Manka (Bright) came to us from a village on the slopes of Kilimanjaro over a year ago. We found her and her two siblings in the village of the lady who changes money for us in Moshi. This lady had helped orphans before and when she learned that we had an orphanage, she asked if we might be able to help her old village. We traveled there with her and interviewed a number of children before settling on the family of three that included Brighty.
She was the youngest and was also the sickest. She had contracted HIV from her mother and was not doing well with the disease. The elderly women who cared for her did the best they could, but they had trouble feeding the children a good diet and in getting Brighty to her doctor's visits. All of that changed when she came to be with us. Now she is a picture of health and is the orphanage's resident princess. Her life is about to change again when we start her in school in January, but I anticipate that she will do very well. She is that type of child.
7.DENIS:
e were looking for some younger children last year to join our orphanage so that we can continue having the older children connected to that responsibility. Because of this we almost did not take Denis. We visited a village that had a list of orphaned children and one family of three had two girls under age five. Their brother, Denis, was in Grade Two. We loved his two younger sisters (Maureen and Manka), but were unsure about taking another child in the age range where we now have so many.
We needn't have been concerned! When we met Denis at his school and learned what a polite and charming young man he was, he stole all of our hearts. His school days at St Louis started roughly as he became the first child that we ever "lost". He had wandered off after his entrance exam and gave us quite a scare. But now he is one of the "veterans" and got to show his sister, Maureen, the "ropes" this year. He is one of the favorites with the other children at the orphanage because of his kind and winning ways. 
8.EDWARD:
Edward has been shadowing me ever since I first came to the orphanage. He used to star as the doctor in a song/skit that the kids would do for guests where they sing about a person who gets ill and needs a doctor. When he introduces himself to guests he always calls himself Doctor Edward. He is one of the few children who have gotten to travel outside the country with me. He came to Kenya once with Tyson when we visited the Masai village where Daniel was raised. When the children all started school Edward was initially the top boy. St Louis has been more of a challenge for him, but he still does very well. Over the past several years I have come to think of Edward as a doctor and now I realize that it is well within his range for this to be so. We hope to have many of the children grow up to take on important roles in the future of Tanzania. Edward will surely be one of those who will do so.
You can watch a video about Edward by visitng the link below
9.ESTER:
Ester joined the orphanage around the time when our first group of younger children were finishing 1st grade in public school. She was their age and found it frustrating that she was relegated to being a "year behind" when she started school the next year. She has never been happy with that role since from her arrival she has been one of the "movers and shakers" in organizing the kids at the orphanage when they play games or help with work.
Her early school efforts were not so good, but I knew that it was only a matter of time until I would see the "take charge" person that I know at the orphanage begin to excell in school. Now at St Louis she has steadily improved in all of her academics. She is now 11 years old and she will never catch up to those kids who are a grade or two above her, but she has become comfortable with her role of being the not so little "little sister".
10.EVA:
If you ever wanted to see a picture of a child who communicates unbounded joy in living - that would be Eva. She is not yet "completely" ours, but her mother has HIV and has not been doing well so I consider Eva already one of the family. Her mother actually tried to "give" Eva and her younger sister to us since she was having trouble caring for them. We have been working with her as much as possible so that the girls will have some memory of their mother who will not see them grow up. Eva is a non stop playing machine.
She was instantly at home at the orphanage since she had access to toys and food - two things that were not common for her before she came. She has a permanent smile painted across her face and is always "bubbling along" playing and interacting with whoever is available. At three years of age she is a bit younger than most children we adopt. But she and her younger sister have captured the affection of everybody so we all pretend they are "old for their ages". Given their road to reach us, that is not too far off the mark.
11.FATUMA:
Not to be confused with little Fatuma who went to India for heart surgery, our Fatuma is much "older" at eight years of age. I think that she is destined to be a super star in school. When we took her for her entrance exam at St Louis, she scored the highest grade in the city of all of the children who took the exam on that day. Her excellent performance continued and she is among the top of her second grade class. She has always been outgoing and friendly and along with some of the other children has "worked" as an ambassador when we need to pick up guests at the airport. There is nothing more disarming than a young child who will walk up to and hug a stranger thankful that this person has come to visit and spend time at the orphanage. That is actually true of most of our children, but Fatuma is especially good at it. She is trusting and affectionate by nature and allows those qualities to be seen when given the chance. That makes her one of our best greeters for new visitors.
12.GIFT:
Gift is another one of our boys that came from the streets. He has been at the orphanage since the beginning. He has a little bit of the devil in him so early on we had to watch him quite closely. He also has a million dollar smile which he has learned to use to his advantage. And he also has something of a selective memory. For the first months with us he attended church on Sundays since that seemed like a better deal to him than going to the mosque. But when things looked up for those children going to the mosque, he informed us that he had actually been in an Islamic family before he came to us. Now he attends the local mosque with our other Islamic children. He is not our best student although he is clever and can do quite well when he sets his mind to it. St Louis has been a very good fit for him and he is doing well there.
13.GLORY:
Glory tends to be everybodys favorite orphan. She has been with us for three years and joined us from a small village where she was being cared for by her disabled grandfather and grandmother although actually she was mostly taking care of them. But they wanted a better life for her than they could offer. This made her very worldly and emotionally strong when we met her although she was only 10 years old.
When we started taking some of the children to the farms, we discovered that Glory already knew more about farming than most of us. She worked hard at school and was the first child we tried at St Louis. When asked why she was doing so much better in school than she had done in her village she answered: "I think that my brain must have gotten bigger." And Glory is tough too. She is one of the first of the kids to learn to swim well. She made it to Gilmans Point on Kilimanjaro at age eleven and then completed the climb to Uhuru Peak this past summer. Next year along with three of our other children she will be taking the all important national exams in Grade 7. I anticipate that she will do well just as she has done in all of her "career" at the orphanage. To view a video about Glory, please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwQ_a_BoqTM
14.GOODLUCK:
This boy did not seem to match his name the first time I met him. He had taken a fall and had scraped his face so that he looked as if he had been mauled. And of course this was exactly at the time that we were taken profile pictures of all of the children! We took some new ones once he healed.
Goodluck is six years old and the forth of five brothers to come to us last year. Unlike his older brothers, the timing for coming to us was good for him as we were able to get him into school this year only a year behind where he should be. And we constructed a new dorm room just to house the sudden increase in boys that we experienced when all of these brothers came to us. He has adjusted well to the orphanage and this has helped some of his siblings settle in as well.
15.GRACE:
This child’s parents both died from HIV complications. She was under the care of one of her grandmothers who was very poor and she arrived at our orphanage fairly malnourished. Her circumstance was brought to our attention by the street chairman in her area and by his supervisor, the ward executive officer. She has no known siblings. Although her grandmother lives fairly close to us, she has not visited.
Sweet Grace has long been one of my secret weapons at the orphanage. Whenever we had guests coming that we had to meet at the airport, I tried to include Grace in that event. Her pixie like demeanor could charm the frost off a pumpkin. She is by nature quiet and affectionate and is the perfect good will ambassador. It is difficult to guage how such a child will do academically. We needn't have worried. Grace finished at the top of her class and we proudly attended her graduation ceremony when we were last in Moshi. As I watch Grace grow in stature and confidence it reminds me of the fleeting nature of the time we have here.
16.HELENA:
Ten year old Helena came to us with the first group of children that opened the orphanage. She is shy and quiet and tends to be overlooked among her more vigorous brothers and sisters. But if you look closely - what you find is an incredibly beautiful and affectionate child who just doesn't like to be in the spot light. Along with all of the other children her English speaking ability is progressing very rapidly.
Since coming to St Louis school she has gone from being an average student to one performing in the upper part of her class. She loves personal attention although it is not in her character to ask for it. The light in her eyes shows how important such things can be for her. I love to invite her along for trips to town just to see that little twinkle she shows when she is happy. We know nothing of her life circumstance before she came to us, but she is one of the children that make you happy to come to the orphanage.
17.INNOCENT:
This boy is the exact opposite of what his name implies. If there is any mischief underway at the orphanage, you can bet that he will be involved in some way. He never seems to get into trouble though. He has an angelic smile that completely disarms you. Shannon calls it his "never convicted" smile. This well earned reputation belies the fact that this boy is only four years old!
Innocent came to us last year along with his four brothers. Of the four he is the only one who contracted HIV from his deceased mother. His health was poor on his arrivel. Now it iss excellent since we got him started on ARV medicines along with our other two children with this problem. Next year will bring big changes for Inno as he will start Nursery School. We are hopeful that his tendency for mischief will not be carried with him in his school bag.
18.IZAAK:
Isaac has been with us since the orphanage opened. He came to us with his younger brother which has always been a challenge for Isaac as his younger brother is confident and outgoing while Isaac is shy and more retiring. It did not help his confidence that I always confused the two of them for my first year at the orphanage. Now that Isaac is in the 4th grade while his brother is in the 2nd, he is steadily gaining more self assurance. Shannon related the following story to me that I had missed. Before we left in September, Isaac was given a choice among three hats. He picked the less likely and more ugly yellow one that looked something like the yellow hat that I wore. Then whenever I was on the orphanage grounds he would proudly put on his yellow hat to match mine. I had noticed that he wore it, but I had failed to make that connection between my hat and his. Subtle events like these point to the quiet efforts that children will make to be connected in whatever ways they can create. Isaac has been doing very well at St Louis and he is one of the boys that has benefited the most from moving to that school.
19.JENIPHER 1:
Jenipher One has always been number one. She is among the first children that came to the orphanage. She has seen it as her role to lead and care for everyone else since the first day I met her. She works harder than anyone else and has always been our shining star in school. Before we sent the children to St Louis, she was the top student in the public school they all attended.
English Medium is a challenge though especially for kids coming from the public school system so Jeni did not start on top there. But every semester Jeni keeps moving up. Her most recent class ranking was in the top twenty. I think that it is only a matter of time before she takes back her number one ranking there. All of the children at the orphanage know that this is her spot among them - it is just taking the rest of the world a while longer to realize this as well. But I do believe that this is in her future
20.JENIPHER 2:
We have four children who share the name Jenipher. Jeni Two has always been happy with the number she has. Her best friend, Jeni One, is quite different from her. Jeni Two is content to shine in the light of her "more accomplished" best friend. Jeni Two likes being the wind beneath her friend's wings. She is very affectionate and concerned about the welfare of the other children.
She is no slouch academically herself. Before moving to St Louis, Jeni was (you guessed it!) number two in the public school behind her best friend. And Jeni has a special bearing about her that catches your attention. If I had to pick a work to describe it, I would say that she exhibits elegance. Whether she is skipping rope, cleaning her room or helping with chores, she does everything with something of a regal bearing. No one has taught her this. It is just the way she is.
21.JENIPHER 3:
It should be something of a handicap to have the name Jenipher in our orphanage since we have four of them. But the girls have turned this into a plus and they each take great pride in their names and in the numbers assigned to them. Jeni Japhet is Number 3 (And don’t you forget it!).
She is eleven years old and has been with us from the beginning of the orphanage. I know nothing of her life before she came to us and I have never met any visitors who have come to see her. That is their loss since she is growing into an elegant young lady. She is quieter and more retiring that our other Jenis, but she hides an acute intelligence behind those dark eyes. She was one of our top performers in preschool, but fell back some once she started in a larger school. This is now changing as she keeps scoring higher and higher on her exams at St Louis and has moved into the top third of her class.
22.JENIPHER 4:
Jenipher Mdogo (little one) has never complained about being our 4th child with that name. She eased her way into the orphanage along with her brother several years ago. He came to us directly while she remained in our Day Care program for over a year as the aunt who had raised them could not quite let both of them go. Now she is ours full time which we knew from the beginning would be her future. She had to adjust twice as it is different for a child that is with us part time than for one that is with us full time. She has a happy and ebullient spirit that makes her a favorite playmate for the kids around her age.
I was shocked to find that it was time for her to start preschool last year as the old age of six had crept up on her. She has done well there. Children like her always seem to do well - certainly better than those of us who care for them and somehow wish that we could freeze time so that they would remain at some magical age where they could just be children forever. But the young lady that Jeni has become puts those wishes where they belong - thoughts rattling around in your head while she gets on with the business of living and growing up.
23.JOSEPH:
Joseph has been with us since the beginning. He is one of the kindest and affectionate of the children. He has some uncles and aunts in our area so he is also one of the few of our children who has relatives visit. And he has gotten to spend time with them away from the orphanage when family events occur such as the death of one of his uncles this last spring. The first time that we sent him to stay with an uncle who is the family patriarch, we were told that he was not allowed to play with any of the old neighborhood boys. The uncle was so taken by the manners and politeness that he had learned while living with us that he did not want him to be "spoiled" by interacting with the local kids. He has always been a good student although his transition to St Louis and their English Medium format was difficult. He has been gradually improving however and I expect him to assume his previously high standings in classes as time goes on.
24.JULIUS:
Julius has been at the orphanage from the beginning. Both he and his older brother came in the original group of children that Teacher opened the orphanage with. His adjustment was easier than his brother, but his personality has much to do with that. He is very outgoing and friendly. However he still idolizes his big brother and finds ways to spend time with him away from school. Everything seems to come easily to Julius. He is doing quite well at St Louis. His ability to make friends and fit into new circumstances has made his transition to a private school relatively easy. He is a popular student and school and one of the most popular kids in the orphanage. Whenever guests visit our place, he is always among the first to meet and greet them. I wonder if this boy has the seeds of a future politician within him?
25.MARIA:
Maria is Alfonse’s sister. She had been under the care of an aunt who had originally planned to give up both children to the orphanage. When we accepted Alfonse as a resident and then took Maria in day care, this aunt was able to ephriti caring for her in the evenings and weekends along with her own son, Aly.
This aunt had increasing problems caring for her culminating in her being left with us for care while the aunt attended a distant funeral. Essentially the aunt never returned and Maria thus became a full time resident of our facility. Both parents are dead from HIV complications.
26.MARCEL:
Marcel, also known as Nicolaus, has suffered from being in the middle. He is the third of the five boys in the family that we took into the orphanage last year. His oldest and youngest siblings both standout with distinct personalities. And then the siblings on either side of him have character traits that are like variations of his own. And to add to this, he is quiet and shy. But beneath all of this boils a couldron of a soul that wants to be recognized and ackowledged in his own right.
Shannon reminded me of the first time we took him to town. He developed a terrible blister, but said nothing for fear that he might be sent home. We only discovered it because he was walking funny. He was determined to stay the course and not give up any of a day that seemed most important to him - a day when he got to be one of the special children who went to town. At nine, he is one of our oldest children in preschool, but he had no chances to go to school before he came to us. But this boy has a fire in him and I fully expect him to catch up and then excel.
27.NEEMA:
My introduction to Neema four years ago was a traumatic one. She had impetigo on her face and I tried to have it treated using oral antibiotics and daily cleansings. However the crusted lesions would not come off. So on Day Four of her treatment, I had her come to the office and I worked on removing the infectious material with assistance from the matrons. It was a battle royal! She fought vigorously and it took three of us to get the job done. We had soapy water and blood spattered all over the office. Afterwards while she was still crying, she crawled into my lap and then fell asleep there. From that day onwards she had been my shadow and will take every opportunity to join us whenever we are in the orphanage or going to town. She was one of the original orphans when we opened the door. She is so proud to have "graduated" to Grade One this year at St Louis.
28.SEVERA:
Miss Severa started with us at the orphanage as one of a number of very endearing and charming younger girls. As four years have passed since our beginning she seems to hold onto that quality more so than some of the other girls. But then she is now only 6 and 1/2 years old. It has been a challenge for each of them to be supplanted over time as the "youngest siblings", but they have all adapted well to being "big sisters" rather than only "little sisters". Going to school in the big bus has been a rite of passage for each of them. When I take the kids to meet the bus in the morning, it still seems so strange to see Severa among all of the children going off to "work". We always have to check to be sure each of them has all of their buttons done and their collars folded neatly. That is especially true for Severa since she is one of the youngest and insists on doing such things for herself. She does well with a little help.
29.DEO:
Late last year we encountered a family of five boys that were brought to our attention by the Social Welfare Department. They had been orphaned for some months and the welfare officers did not know what to do about finding them a place without splitting them up. The major reason they were all still together was Deo. As the eldest brother, he became the “man” of the family at age eleven when his parents died. He had the responsibility of seeing that his siblings were clothed, fed and cared for. This task was made more difficult given that his younger brother also had HIV. But Deo did it. He is one of those “quietly competent” individuals that tend to be overlooked.
We have come to appreciate his inner strength and courage. When we climbed Kilimanjaro this year, he hiked for two days without telling us about a hole in his foot that was infected. He rightly guessed that I might send him off the mountain had I known, and that was not in his game plan. Caring for his younger siblings meant that school was not an option for Deo. We placed him in Nursery School this year. After a month they moved him up to Second Grade. That is the kind of boy that he is. His younger brothers idolize him and rightly so.
30.GLORIAANA:
Miss Glorianna arrived at the orphanage in an unusual manner. Several of Teacher's porters were in Arusha and they found a young girl on the street who had run away from "home". She had run away from her small village home because she had been betrothed at the age of 11 to be married. This was the final straw for her. She was already greatly upset where she lived since she had not been allowed to attend school - something high on her life goal list.
Her mother had died in child birth and her father had left her with relatives in his small village and he had no contact with her since birth. We were never able to locate the place where she was raised. But that has been just fine with Glorianna. She got to continue being a child and got her wish to go to school. We started her first in the public school to do some catch up time and then moved her to St Louis last year. She is a good student and works hard. This year she will be a teenager and she is growing into a wonderful young lady.
31.MAUREEN:
Miss Maureen came to us with her older brother and younger sister early last year. She was just five at the time and the transition for her was very difficult. She was the only one of the three siblings who was closely attached to the two elderly grand aunts who were caring for them. Leaving the only home that she had ever known was emotionally devastating. But the aunts knew better as they prostrated themselves at our feet in gratitude for giving these children a chance at a life they could not offer. It took several months, but Maureen adapted to life with many other children.
Starting school this year was a giant step forward for her. She had gotten "missed" in the enrollment process as she is quiet and retiring so she started late when Shannon and I arrived in January and realized the error. Now she proudly packs her books and goes off with all of the other "big kids".
32.NOVATI:
Novati is the most studious member of his family. He came to us several years ago with his fraternal twin brother and his younger sister and older brother. He adapted quickly and fits in very well at the orphanage. He is a good athlete and is always at the soccer field when the kids go off to play. He easily made the summit of Kilimanjaro when we took the twelve children there this past summer. He is one of four kids at the orphanage who are in the 6th grade and who have been starting their preparation for next year's national Grade Seven exams. This exam will dictate their future in high school. Given his penchant for work and discipline, I anticipate that he will do well.
33.REGINALD:
Reginald is our "Mr. Hollywood". From his earliest years he realized that he had a wonderful smile and he has learned to use it to his advantage. He came to us with his fraternal twin brother, younger sister and older brother over two years ago when their father succumbed to complications from his HIV. He never had any problems fitting into our routine and the same has been true for his tenure at St Louis. On Kilimanjaro this summer he was the "man about camp" always checking out who was at the various tent sites. He found every child that was an early teenager like himself and he had running dialogues with them as we made our way up the mountain. The porters also noted his gregarious nature and he was on a first name basis with most of them. It was touching to watch them let him "help" put up the tents when it was apparent that the job could be done faster had they been alone.
34:RAMA 1:
Rama is one of our tough guys. He spent a lot of time living on the street before he came to us. Children with this background have to be watched carefully because they pick up bad habits that can be a problem when you are trying to raise many kids together. Mind you, I am talking about a seven year old when the orphanage started. He was one of the original children.
I took a chance on Rama when it came time to pick the first children to attend St Louis. He had traditionally not done well in school, but for the semester just before we chose those kids, he had markedly improved his grades and standing. On the basis of this I chose him to be in the first group to move to the better school. It became very clear that this choice was not lost on him. He became more serious and worked harder on his academics which do not come easily for him. Now he has grown to age eleven and he is one of the kids that I feel I can trust to work hard and do good things even when you are not looking. Sometimes all a child needs to grow is a chance to react to an act of faith that they can see and understand.
35.RAMA 11.
Rama Two is the only child that came to us from Tanga. Several years ago we were looking for some younger children because I wanted to keep the kids in the lower grades involved in the reality of having siblings younger than themselves that they had to mentor and care for. A watchman for a local restaurant in Moshi heard that we might want some smaller children and he approached us about Rama.
He was living on the coast with a relative of the man's and his circumstance was not good there. We met him at age five and he came to live with us then. He is a quiet and methodical boy and it was difficult to guage how he would do in school. We need not have worried. In his first year of preschool at St Louis last year he ended up as one of our top students there. And he has adjusted and flowed into the routine of the orphanage flawlessly. I anticipate that his future academic career will be very good.
36.RICHARD:
Richard is one of the original kids who has been at the orphanage since the beginning. Like several of the others, he came from the streets where he was surviving by his wiles and tenacity. He had some help from remote family members, but not much. He settled into the orphanage routine easily and benefitted from the availability of regular meals and a protected place to grow.
Starting school was not easy for him since it seemed so alien to sit in a class room each day and let perfectly good sunshine go unenjoyed. But gradually this routine became part of his life pattern. And then we "dsirupted" things again by sending all of the children to St Louis where the teachers actually take the schooling seriously! Now nearing age ten, Richard has drawn upon his large life experiences to adapt to this and he works hard to compete with all of the other children in grade three. St Louis is a far cry from the "mean streets" but the skills once learned there still apply.
37.RUTH:
Ruth is the youngest child at the orphanage. She is all of two years old although she thinks that she is closer to four! She and her sister, Eva, are the latest arrivals at our place. She is not yet an orphan, but her mother is very ill with HIV so we all realize that she will be growing up with us.
Her personality is quite different from her sister who loves to play and chatter. Ruthie would prefer to sit quietly on your lap or fall asleep on your shoulder while you carry her around. One would think that there would be friction between Ruthie and the children who used to be the "youngest", but she is so sweet and affectionate, this has never happened. She is quite happy to play the role of "dollie substitute" which all of the little girls love.
38.SHEDRACK:
If we were allowed to have favorites at the orphanage then Shedrack would be one of them. He came to us because his mother was unable to care for his severe medical problem. He has sickle cell anemia. He has been in and out of the hospital for much of his life. Since he joined us a year and a half ago, he has not had to return to the hospital for an admission. By improving his diet and giving him a more secure situation, he has been able to do well.
He is fiercely dedicated to school. Despite his illness, he managed to keep up with all of the national exams and is now in Form Two. He just took the next exam needed to continue his schooling, but we will not have the results for several months. Shedrack was not truly an orphan when he started lving with us, but then his mother suddenly died this past summer. At the same time his sickle cell disease was acting up. It was a hard time for him, but in his usual way, he quietly persevered and got through all of this. He has known so many trials in his short life that you always find yourself wishing that there was something that you could do to ease his journey a bit.
39.VIOLA:
Viola was among the very first children that arrived at the orphanage when it opened. She was a little older than most of those first children so she had to carry the role of “big sister” immediately. Perhaps this explains her continued interest in caring for the newer and smaller children. She has blossomed into a lovely preteen along with Glory and shares the “senior status” with her at St Louis school.
By tendency she is very shy, but as time goes on she has become more confident in a public setting. Climbing Kilimanjaro this year was a major achievement for her. Her summiting technique involved hiking as fast as you can until you collapse in a heap on the ground. Then when others catch up to you, you get up and do it again. Such toughness and tenacity are traits that will do her well as she prepares for her national high school exams next year.
40.VICENT:
Vicent is the second oldest of five brothers who came to us last year at the same time. They were being "cared for" by his older brother, Deo, who was 12 years old then. Growing up had to happen fast with the death of their mother. Although a year younger than Deo, he had many responsibilities in helping with their three younger siblings. There was no time for such foolishness as school.
We had to start him in Nursery class this year as he had no education before coming to us. But he went to work and "graduated" this year along with some of our younger children with whom he will now share Grade One. He is happy to be at the orphanage and in school. Finding himself in a place where meals can be predicted and things such as new clothing and shoes actually arrive when they are needed seems like a dream come true to him. His happiness has helped smooth the way for his younger brothers as well.
41.VICTOR:
Victor is one of our original orphans. Even when he first came to us we noticed his tendency to be a "Mr. Gadget". He can make the most interesting toys out of discarded pieces of electronic devices and discarded things. When he started school in 2009 with the rest of our seven year olds , he quickly showed that he was the quickest and the brightest of all of the boys. This actually has worked to his disadvantage at St. Louis because he sees answers so quickly that he makes mistakes by not looking twice. He has been working on his ability to slow down a little to avoid this problem. But it is hard for him to slow down.
He has a very high energy level and can work and play all day and then some. He always joins the orphanage soccer games and tries to get on the crews that we form to work on the farm. I have come to have high expectations for him academically since he does not seem to fear the math and sciences the way some of the children do. Perhaps he will be in line to be the first of our children to go off to medical school. It would be a treat for me to see him coming along to make me finally retire!
42.WINIFREDA:
Winnie has always been her own person. She came to us with the original children at the orphanage. From the beginning she has always done things her own way. She is intensely competitive in school and regularly competes for the top position. Given her tendency for individuality she forms shifting bonds with different children at the orphanage rather than having one firm group of friends with whom she spends all of her time. And she has unbounded confidence. Whenever the children are facing a big test at school, she will always inform me that she expects to do very well and to earn the top score. Since she has some pretty serious competition with some of the other girls, this is not always what happens. But she takes these setbacks in stride and simply prepares for the next challenge.
43.ZAINABU:
This young lady may be the kindest and most empathetic of all of our children. She seems to be everyones friend inserting herself quietly and gently into different groups of children at different times at the orphanage. It took me some time to notice how efficiently she did this. Now I have come to take it for granted. Initially Zainabu was not the best of students, but as her time has progressed at St Louis she has become stronger and stronger as a student. At the age of ten is impossible to determine what her future might be, but I could see Zainabu as a wonderful nurse. Eventually we will need to begin such discussions, but for now we will just observe and dream. And meanwhile Zainabu will go about her business of being the best friend to all of our children.
44.MESHAK:
By all rights, Meshak should not be alive. He was diagnosed with brittle insulin dependent diabetes mellitus two year ago. In East Africa this is often a death sentence. Families generally are not able to keep up with the insulin treatments and diet needs to keep these children alive. This was the problem initally with Meshak as well since his aunt initially refused to allow him to come to the orphanage. She wanted to try to care for him at home despite not knowing how to do injections, not having refrigeration and not understanding his dietary needs. Following a proper diabetic diet alone is a daunting task in Tanzania. After multiple hospital admissions for his diabetic problems, his uncles intervened and he came to us at the orphanage. We have kept him out of the hospital for nearly two years. It has been a challenge given that we go through periods of time when electricity is spotty. Of the children that started at the Diabetic Clinic at the university hospital several years ago - he is the only one left alive. If we can get him through another year or so, we hope to have him take on doing his own sugar checks, diet management and insulin treatments. He is only seven years old now so this is still a bit too much for him. We plan to start him in preschool this year to see how this will go for him. Presently this should be possible since he only uses his insulin twice a day. As much as possible we want to maintain some level of normalcy in his life.
45.RAYMOND
Raymond is our oldest boy. He came to us with three of his siblings almost three years ago. He did not get a chance to really focus on school in his grade school years since he had to concentrate on caring for his dying father and his younger brothers and sister. He attended high school for two years with us in a public school and gave it his best try. It was not a surprise when he did not pass the national Form Two exams. By this time he was eighteen years old and did not want to continue on that pathway.
We found a boarding school for him that is teaching him practical skills in electrical work, plumbing and automotive mechanics. He is quite happy there and this has been a good fit for him. We realize that not all of our children will go on to higher education so it is good to be able to explore these options with some of our older kids. We have already been able to put Raymond to work to help with wiring the new building on the land in Mabugini. I see a future where our older children will be able to stay connected to the orphanage and using the new skills that he has learned to help us in this way is part of that plan.
46.Delphina:
came to us along with her three older brothers several years ago. Their father had died slowly in the house that he had built for the family. Delphina's oldest brother, Raymond, did his best to keep the family together. Their situation was brought to our attention by several of our volunteers (Max and Caroline). We secured the title to the house in the children's name, left it under the care of a much older sibling and then moved the family to the orphanage. Delphina's health was a real problem.
She had a condition called Nephrotic Syndrome and she had not been adequately treated before she joined us. In consultation with an American doctor at the local university we place her on high dose steroid medicines for a prolonged period of time in hopes of finally clearing this illness. She patiently suffered all of the side effects of this treatment and we believe that she is now clinically healed. She usually stays with Teacher's family since we needed her medicines closely supervised. She has become the "second daughter" in that home, but attends St Louis with all of the other children. Now she is ten years old and is growing to be a healthy young lady:
47.HUSSEIN:
Huseini came to us two years ago. He joined us at the same time that we took in five brothers so he was lost a bit at first in the turmoil surrounding that event. His story was compelling. He had been "couch surfing" with friends for three years since the loss of his family. This enabled him to stay in school which is his driving passion. The Department of Social Welfare was aware of him and they brought his circumstance to our attention. Upon interviewing him we were struck by his seriousness and his dedication to working hard on his education. Being older (18), he was a perfect fit for us since we needed a new dorm superviser with all of the new boys that we had just taken in. He stepped into that role seemlessly and has done a wonderful job supervising and helping with the younger boys. He became another "statistic" (along with over 90% of all Form 4 students) last year when he did not pass his national exam. He is now enrolled in a boarding school with plans to resit these exams next year. If he can get over this hurdle, I am certain that he can do well in college
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