Saturday, September 11, 2010

Jambo!! Hi!!
Greetings from Toronto...we are WAITING!!...waiting to hear...
Every day calling Charles..in Tanzania....what is happening???
Jamie from Warren...packed and ready to go....but we have to wait!

Mto Wa Mbu..Tanzania....POSSIBILITY!!!
40 more children needing homes....and if this happens...we are ready to take them in!

Two weeks ago. I am on the phone to Charles...he is about to take off to Wales for his Masters in Public Health in a few weeks..he tells me bout these kids...without a home...
I call Matt...
Matt McKissock from Warren, Pennsylvania, President, Warren/Majengo Foundation, told me 2 sumemrs ago at our cottage that this was the most important work he has ever done...that his dream is to expand our Majengo Orphanage from the 40 kids we started out with March '08, to 1,000 kids in 5 years!! He blew my mind.

And now this!!

Matt is a huge thinker, a visionary....
He shocks me with his exhuberence..with his immense drive, with his commitment..it goes way beyond any dream i could have ever conceived.

Well, last March..we added another 15 kids into our Orphanage...15 of our kids had reached the age of 7 and were heading off to Primary school...some still lived in with us, some lived out with relatives or guardians, but at this stage, they were finished with Pre School at Majengo, We made a decision, to pay the schooling expenses (uniforms,, shoes, books, school fees) for the kids who had left us but were living out, a decision to carry them all the way through Primary school till they reached age 14, and then what? Well, there is secondary school for those who make the grades..costly, about $650. US a year, for four years..and for the others, maybe technical training...electrician, plumber..but that is down the road...

And at a meeting with the Village Elders last March...in speaking of our dream to expand our assistance in any way we can, Matt said: "...if any opportunity comes up, we will do it!!"

Possibly now..the time has come.

We are still waiting..to get the final word from the people in charge of those kids....I am calling Charles everyday.



As Matt said to me on the phone that day:
"How can we NOT do it!!"
So Charles..we are waiting..you are on your way to school..God help us in putting the logistics of this together while you are away. But ICA has wonderful people...and Jamie from Warren is ready to go. I plan to get over there late October.
There are houses to rent: beds to build, sheets, towels, kitchen things to buy. Staff to put in place. it is huge..but we have done it before we can do it again!

AND MOST OF ALL..WE NEED HELP...
THESE NEW SPACES WILL COST AGAIN, ANOTHER $30,000 TO PUT TOGETHER AND RUN ANNUALLY...
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!
Please contact me: lynnconnell@sympatico.ca
or google the Warren Magengo Foundation, in Warren Pennsylvania.

be a part of it all!
We are totally non profit. We all work totally as volunteers.
WE pay our own way. Every cent raised goes straight to the Orphanage, to the children.

Keep in touch!!
LynnConnell..Toronto Canada....
www.lynnconnellart.com
416-951-6528
MAJENGO UPDATE!!!!

Bits and pieces, from Peter: (mostly in his own words…)
(Peter is our communication liaison between Majengo Orphanage, ICA Tanzania, and to us, the donors in Canada and the US>

June through Aug 30, 2010 …
Again, problems with internet access..you take the bus all the way up the hill for an hour to Kiratu, spend another hour writing ‘huge stories’, and the electricity goes..I know it well! But here we go!

Now that i'm home, i'd love to upload images to you..but blogspot is having a problem, wouldn't you know!!

Refers Majengo…
Staff: the team work is so fantastic: all workers are well committed, last week Kilo and I we were blocking the toilet which was filled with dust and waste and dirt water - the water system blocked and we managed to unblock and took us 8 hours.

In the cleanness areas Witness and Matilda are doing great work cleaning the house 3 times a day, bathing the kids two times a day, washing clothes everyday - its big job but they are managing it with good team work from Glory and Martha.

Kids!!
Greyson is amazing in class - all kids love him so much for his concern to them - he has 3 classes a day from 8 am to 12pm pre-school kids; from 3pm to 4:30 pm, he teaches primary one kids and does revision with them of what they have been taught at school, and from 5pm to 6:30 pm he teaches the primary 2 kids to make them stable in their subjects.

Yesterday, Greyson and I have taken all the kids for the salon to cut off their hairs they are all looking so smart……

Kids of primary, they have started their holidays and the have been given one month of holidays so they will be resting until early July. I am so happy to see that our kids are still performing better in school and down are the details on how they performed;
STAR STUDDED!!
Primary one; (age 7)
1. Amina Ayubu,
2. Muazi Self,
3. Barick,
4 Sharimira Adidas,
5. Ramla Masunga and
6. Alex.
So our kids took position 1 to 6 in primary one.

Primary two as follow: (age 8)
1. Amina Bakari as usual
2.Mariam Yakobo.
3.Neema Raymond
4. Sebastian
5. Godlizen your best swimmer.
7. Jenifer.
10. Hawa Ibrahim
13. Raheri
15. Philippo
This is the position of our kids who did the best work out of 112 kids in their class.

We have also an English teacher who teaches the staffs and the primary two kids she is very good teacher..they learn a lot of new words.

I have got time to sit with the elder kids and interviewed them of what they like in future…
Amina said she loves being a doctor and single in future and helping the orphans around the world.
Philipo said he want to become a president of Tanzania..
Hawa said she want to become a pilot…
Godlizen, he want to become a army commander…..
Miriam wants to be \nurse…
Sebastian wants to be teacher……
Neema wants to be a teacher….
Jenifer wants to be a business person, and work with white people I think as a tourist….

The new 15 kids (which were added into Majengo in March ’10 as pre school, living out), they are doing well and catching up with the environment - they are lovely to each other..

The new kids are all okay but two of them needs a lot of caring.. Hawa Rashidi, she has stomach problem and she might need operation time to come I talked with her mother she said that she took her to the doctor in Monduli hospital and the doctor told her that she needs operation so we have to confirm if that will help her,... another one is called Rebecca she has nose bleeding most of the time during the day so Glory and Matrida always very close to her to ensure she is getting medication on time, but also we are going to take her to Karatu for check up by the special doctor...

Otherwise all kids are fine and this Saturday, Sabina and I are going to have HIV AIDS testing for all new kids.. I will let you know when we are done..

And more…
Martha the treasurer had malaria last week but now she is well……..
Hadija the Cook she has gone home in moshi for 5 days one of her relative passed away so she will be back on Saturday … so Martha and Glory helping Nuana in the kitchen………

Hadija and Nuruana are all back..

Nuruana's husband Vicent is now okay and Hadija's daughter she is also fine..
The staffs are doing great Job as always... yesterday Martha, Kilo and I we were arranging the store rearrange all the packages to be in order and made fumigation for insect and mosquitoes so that to reduce the causes of malaria for our kids..
The security guide he is very good and committed; he stays outside all night long protecting the orphanage now Glory has no fear any more...

Last Monday, kids were taken for malaria check up and only two of them had malaria that’s Pendo and Loveness.....we are now looking for assistant cleaner because soon Matilda will be leaving to school.......last month Witness and Hadija went for one month holidays and they are all back in place working so hard.


We have got two Germans volunteers who are students at I.C.A to do their field work. Charles has sent them to Majengo to work with us…. Their names are Mendi and Christine. They loves kids and teach them English grammars and speaking experience. They are helping Witness to clean up the house and helping Glory to look after the kids. And sometimes we have them in class helping Greyson - it is very much lovely to see everyone is committed with our work……..