[We want you to know that NO SPONSORSHIP FUNDS are used for construction. Our beautiful new baby home and all other construction is being paid for by contributions designated for that purpose only.]
Back Home at Neema
Michael and I have been back at Neema House Arusha for a week now and just cannot tell you how exciting it is to see this home being completed for the fifty beautiful abandoned, orphaned and at risk babies and our forty one Tanzanian staff members whom God is allowing us to love and care for in this place.
Since the land is on a hill there is much retaining wall work (pictured above) being done all around the property.
The builders are cutting the stones for the retaining walls on the property. They are also making the paving stones right here on the Neema property for the walk ways and for some sections of the road.
Mr. Chandu, our contractor, and Matt Erdman, are the two men out there at the land every day making this happen. On any given day there are aroiund 50 men working on this project. Thanks guys!
The rooms for the babies are painted in soft yellows and blues and the big hall down the middle of the home is also yellow. Hopefully one day there will be pictures of animals, giraffe, zebra, elephant, etc. painted on the walls down low enough for the children to see as they run and play in this big hallway.
We also hope to have large pictures on the walls, framed of the twenty one babies, so far, who have been adopted from Neema.
The kitchen has an island in the middle of the room and big burners on the counter for boiling the 30 litres of milk a day we need to feed these hungry babies. We estimate around a hundred bottles of milk are made at Neema a day! We will also be feeding our staff and volunteers out of this kitchen every day.
Ahhh, the front porch which overlooks the fifth talest mountain in Africa, Mt. Meru, is our favorite place. It is where the rocking chairs will be and where we hope that Neema “community” will happen as visitors and volunteers come to hold the babies and get to know each other.
Mr. Chandu created the blue prints for the front steps leading up to the porch after Michael had emailed his hand drawn ideas for the steps before we got here last week. It will be beautiful with flower gardens to the sides of the rounded steps. I think the bottom step down is going to be a doosy though!
You might be interested to know that the workers eat at Neema village every day. Two women cook for them, usually rice and beans or like today, Ugali and a dipping sauce of meat and potatoes. They pour the Ugali (pictured to the right) out on big platters and all eat from the same plate with their fingers, just like we used to in the old days of Africa. It was quite delicious and the smoky kitchen just added to the flavor.
Below are seven precious reasons why all this work is going on. That is Sharon, Pascal, Angel, Jackson, Nuriath, Joeli and Gabriella, just some of our big babies.
I have to tell you it feels like a Blessed Place to me. For those of you who have made this happen with your prayers and resources may God richly bless you, your family, your home, your work and your life!
II Corinthians 9:8 “God is able to make all Grace (Neema) abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need you will abound in every good work.”
The builders are cutting the stones for the retaining walls on the property. They are also making the paving stones right here on the Neema property for the walk ways and for some sections of the road.
Mr. Chandu, our contractor, and Matt Erdman, are the two men out there at the land every day making this happen. On any given day there are aroiund 50 men working on this project. Thanks guys!
The rooms for the babies are painted in soft yellows and blues and the big hall down the middle of the home is also yellow. Hopefully one day there will be pictures of animals, giraffe, zebra, elephant, etc. painted on the walls down low enough for the children to see as they run and play in this big hallway.
The kitchen has an island in the middle of the room and big burners on the counter for boiling the 30 litres of milk a day we need to feed these hungry babies. We estimate around a hundred bottles of milk are made at Neema a day! We will also be feeding our staff and volunteers out of this kitchen every day.
Mr. Chandu created the blue prints for the front steps leading up to the porch after Michael had emailed his hand drawn ideas for the steps before we got here last week. It will be beautiful with flower gardens to the sides of the rounded steps. I think the bottom step down is going to be a doosy though!
You might be interested to know that the workers eat at Neema village every day. Two women cook for them, usually rice and beans or like today, Ugali and a dipping sauce of meat and potatoes. They pour the Ugali (pictured to the right) out on big platters and all eat from the same plate with their fingers, just like we used to in the old days of Africa. It was quite delicious and the smoky kitchen just added to the flavor.