tumaini

We're Taking a Little Break

Rachelle here. You may have noticed that we haven't been posting much lately. Don't worry - it's us, not you! With the kids home from school this month, we are finding our time to be quite filled up. We haven't been able to sit down and think through a blog post, let alone write it! But, we are still posting regular updates on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We've been posting lots of pictures too which is way better than a blog post - after all, a picture is worth a thousand words! So, feel free to friend me (Rachelle Miller) or Beth (Roark) on social media. Or, if you would prefer not to friend us, just search for our hashtag - #tchmwanza - on any of those social media platforms. 

 

Pictures from June, pt. 4

Beth here. One weekend while they were here, the BJ Team took a day trip to the Serengeti and arranged for a second car so that several of the Tumaini children could go with them. We've done these day trips and included the children for the last 4 years now. It's so much fun for the children and such a blessing that they get to spend more time with the team and see their own national treasures up close. 

                                

Picnic Day!

Beth here. On Friday, we had the opportunity to host the school picnic at Tumaini. The students arrived around 10 a.m. and we were able to set up and serve chai and maandazi to everyone. Afterwards, we played all kinds of games and had various competitions. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures from the time when everyone was at Tumaini but I did get some pictures from other parts of the day! We had a great time with all of the students and teachers. Around midday we went to a local beach resort - near us - in Luchelele to have sodas, play, dance, and ride on the swings. Afterwards, we returned to Tumaini to regroup, gather all of our belongings and then we headed into town to the School's Kindergarten campus. We were able to eat a late lunch there and then we went on to Tunza Beach - on the Lake - so the children could get a chance to swim. The whole day was full of fun and laughter!

                                             
         

Pictures from June, pt. 3

Beth here. Most of the days, we just had a good time hanging out together with the BJ Team and snapping silly pictures. One of the days, as a reward for good classroom behavior, one of the team took her class on a walk in Shadi. While they were out, one of our caregivers and a church member motioned them to come over and see the crocodile that had recently been killed. At first, the team member wasn't sure if the crocodile was actually dead or not and had some reservations about Ema (pictured) approaching it to touch the animal. Thankfully, the crocodile was indeed deceased and Ema was not eaten alive!

                                          

Kindergarten Picnic

Beth here. A few weeks ago our kindergarteners had a picnic for school. We kept our children home and did something else with them instead of sending them with their school. Thankfully, some friends in town were having a group of children over to their house for games and an art activity. They graciously invited us to bring our five little munchkins along for the fun. 

The boys dressed in their matching outfits and had a blast playing games with the parachute and then creating "rainbows" with all kinds of craft materials. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of their finished art projects!

                   

Graduation Party

Beth here. We enjoyed celebrating together at the children's school on Saturday for the Standard 7 graduation. But we learned from our experience last year, that it was quite difficult to have a full day of graduation ceremony and then try to have cake and soda for our 'little' family on the same day. This year we decided to have a party on Sunday afternoon so we could take our time and enjoy a nice celebration together. We decorated the living room of the big house and the graduates dressed again in their clothes from the day before. 

    
Then we assembled together with the children and staff who were able to attend. Speeches were made, gifts were handed out, greeting lines were formed to congratulate the graduates and LOTS of pictures were taken!

              
After all of the talking and greeting, we moved to the really important event of the day: eating cake and drinking soda!
              

Graduation Day for Standard 7

Beth here. We were excited this year to have another class of students graduating from primary school. Now that we had experienced our first graduation last year we felt a little more prepared for this year's event. Many of our younger children were involved in several class presentations in the program. It's fun to see the children participating and honing their talents. 

Aza, Agness, Joseph K and Sara (among others) singing a special song

    

Andrea, Masheshela & Rehema reciting a poem

    

Igonga and Joseph K. dancing

    

Michael explaining a solar eclipse during the Secondary School tour

    

Amani explaining some chemistry matters

And then for the main event! We had five students who graduated this year: Daudi - or David as he likes to be called now!, Joseph Richard, Winifrida, Jackie and Therezia (she doesn't like being called this - so usually it's Tedi). They looked so grown up and beautiful/handsome. We were all so proud of them!
                                      

School Tour

Beth here. In August, Ferdinand and I escorted 13 of our Standard 6 children on their school trip to Dar es Salaam. We had such a great time though the hours spent on the road were quite tiring. We started out early on Sunday morning and spent the whole day driving. We arrived at the school where we would be staying around 1 a.m. on Monday morning. We rested a bit on Monday and later in the day went to the National Museum in downtown Dar. 

                   

On Tuesday, we drove about an hour outside of Dar to see some religious sites in Bagamoyo.

                  

On Wednesday, we toured The Guardian newspaper and then afterwards went to Coco Beach. I loved going to the beach with the children since this was their first time to see the Indian Ocean.

    

On Thursday, we had a day to hang out with our host school and do some sports and academic competitions. In the afternoon, we went to Kunduchi water park. This day, by far, was the favorite day for all of our children. Swimming and playing in the water was so much fun!

Also, an important component of our trip were several rounds of Uno among the children. It's always a popular game among all the kids!

We had such a great time on this year's trip. So much fun, in fact, that most of our children didn't want to return home to Mwanza. 

The Good News is Back

Beth here. It's amazing what you can find out when you go in person and ask the right people the right questions! As my title suggests, the good news about the improvement in our child's condition is back. My contact at the hospital messaged me early Thursday morning and asked me to come to Bugando sometime today to talk face to face with the surgeon doing these procedures. I was able to meet with him around lunch time and confirm what happened on Tuesday. They were able to stimulate the sphincter muscle and found that it did have function. They were also able to see that the the previous surgery to create the anus had been done correctly so there was no need for any corrective surgery. So our caregiver was correct, they did not do any operation but it was because they didn't need to.

Now our biggest difficulty will be to teach our child how to use the sphincter muscle that he has. There is no physiotherapy (that I'm aware of) in Mwanza so the Belgian doctor said he would email us some materials on how we can teach our child ourselves. If over a period of time, the child is not able to properly use his sphincter muscle then there will be the option of another procedure that could be done at a later date to improve his quality of life.

Hooray! 

Pictures from June pt. 2

Beth here. These first few pictures are from one of the special sessions that we would have in the afternoon to prepare for the anniversary party. This group was working on drawing and creating special crafts - like cars, etc.