We knew it would be a long day so we left early on Wednesday for a visit to Neema baby Maria’s remote Maasai village.

Maria was born in March in the big government hospital in Arusha two years ago. Unfortunately, her mother died shortly after her birth and her father died a few months after that.   We were in the hospital after the birth where we met the grandmother who had agreed to stay and care for the baby. She was the tiniest baby I had ever seen, about 8 or 10 inches long from tiny toes to head.  Curled up, I thought she was about the size of a hamster. We were not sure her little body would ever grow to meet her big eyes!

There was probably no way this little one would survive. Only about one in ten babies from these remote villages who lose their mothers will survive. Our daughter, Bekah, was taking formula to the hospital and checking on the baby. When we returned to Neema on our next trip to Africa we found after three months in the hospital not only had the tiny baby survived she had been transferred to Neema.

Wednesday we went out to meet Maria’s family. We traveled through some of the most beautiful African countryside we had ever seen. With all the rains this year the white moon flowers had covered the plains like snow and the zebra, wildebeest and impala grazed alongside the cows in the fields.

Some of the volunteers just had to get out of the car and take pictures of the flowers.

After three fairly tortuous hours of pot holes and rocks we left the main dirt road and drove over footpaths to the entrance of the village.

There were twelve of us on the trip with six volunteers, Hayley, Abby, Lexi, Alex, Morgan and Bailey.  Our volunteers work hard while at Neema, we expect 30 hours a week of work from them, so we are happy to give them a day off to see the beauty of Africa.

As we drove into the village I immediately thought how very clean and swept every yard was. Red ocher mud walls and neatly thatched grass roofed houses scattered around the village and lots of newborn goats scampering here and there, all added to the charm of the village.

The women and children poured out of the houses and greeted us in their colorful reds and yellow wraps. They each wanted to hold and kiss Maria.

Surrounded by chattering and giggling women with children and baby goats under feet we were escorted to the brush fenced arbor where the village elders awaited our arrival.

It was quite a ceremony.  Maria had been the last baby of the eighth wife of one of the leaders of the village so she has a big family and each one of them wanted to tell Bekah how grateful they were for her love and care for Maria over the last two years.

After the greeting speeches and the welcomes they presented Bekah with a beautiful hand made purple dress and jewelry and then had her stand in the middle of the group while they dressed her up in all the finery.

Amid lots of clapping and ohhs and ahhs they then presented each one of our group gifts of jewelry and a beautiful beaded belt for Michael.

They served us goat, chicken, rice and liver, some of which was quite delicious. We gave out candy and whistles to the children and 50 lbs of rice, beans, ugali meal, and a bag of tea and sugar.

Finally Maria who had had enough of all the hugs was ready to leave. We loaded everyone back into the cars and waved goodbye as we headed out of the village. It had been quite a day.

They have asked Bekah to raise Maria but it remains to be seen what the future holds for this precocious, funny, prissy little baby girl who sang almost the whole way home entertaining us with her antics. Click on the link below to see a cute video of Maria’s performance in the car on the way home. It will make your day!

https://www.facebook.com/dorris.fortson/videos/1669724166375503/

We believe God has good plans for each of our Neema babies and pray that you will continue to follow the exciting tales of Neema Village in Tanzania.

Michael and Dorris, Founders and Executive Directors of Neema.