June 29th, 2023
And just like that June, 2023 is tucked away in the filing cabinet.
Three new babies came to us this month and eight babies have flown the nest at Neema Village.
Last year a newborn baby girl had been abandoned at the local hospital and was brought to Neema Village. She was so tiny it must have scared the mother, and she just walked out of the hospital and never came back.
From a rough start baby Selah has had a few challenges but this week her forever family was finally able to take her home. We are so happy for you baby girl.
One month old Grace came in after dark from a remote Maasai village. Her mommy died during her birth. Mom was 22 years old, having her first baby and she just bled to death. This is so beyond sad. Baby Grace born May 19, 2023, will never know her mom but she will know Love at Neema Village. We pray she can be reunited with her family soon.
Little cutie pie Michael is one of our MAP mom’s babies. Mom is struggling with alcohol addiction and we have enrolled her in Pippi House for a year. Baby Michael will stay at Neema until mom is clean and sober.
We love our mountain as she stands watch over the babies at Neema Village and occasionally lifts her cloudy skirts to give us a peek of the grandeur that is Africa.
People from all over the world fly into Arusha to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and this summer the Burkhalter family came to test their skill and stamina on an eight-day charity climb for Neema Village. Only a tiny portion of people on the planet would attempt or accomplish this grueling feat and we watched in a bit of awe as they strapped everything they would need to survive for eight days on their backs and headed off to begin the climb.
They said they froze, they slid in dust and rock for hours, they pulled themselves up by their will, they collapsed at night too exhausted and cold to get up for a potty trip, plodding ever up and up, Poli Poli (slowly, slowly) with the top of the African world always just above the clouds. All this while their guides and porters seemed to skip up the mountain with the food, tents, water, potties, pots and pans, sleeping gear all on their heads to be waiting with a full camp set up and dinner on the fire when they finally trudged into camp.
They each had chosen a baby to climb for and when they began to wonder why in the world they were doing this, they would pull out the picture of their baby and remember what this baby has been through and then they knew they could make it. One of them had chosen little Max who was dropped in an open pit latrine and the bacteria had ruined his eye.
Mckenna, who has her pilots license had said I can’t wait to be above the clouds again. At 15,000 feet the clouds had slipped away and she was finally above the clouds.
Early Sunday morning our view of Kili from Neema Village with the sun just peaking out over the mountain was golden. I can only imagine how it must feel to see the world as God sees it from the top of this enormous continent of Africa.
And after eight impossible days, with only one sprained knee, they made it! John, Mckenna, Aden and Nicole Burkhalter and friend Jacob Sparks, we are so proud of you and so grateful for the donations you raised from your friends and church family in Rusk, Texas. You are our Super Heroes!
A few hours before the Burkhalters were to fly home a new baby was brought to Neema Village. The baby had been abandoned in a field and we were thinking of a name for her when Mckenna walked by the isolation room and I knew then what the baby’s name would be. Angela, their mother, John’s wife had not gotten to come on the trip to climb Kili so I called the family into the isolation room and laid the baby in their arms. “Meet new baby Angela,” I said. When a grown man cries, everyone cries. It was a sweet moment.
May your day be filled with sweet moments and may you always see the world as God sees it.
“Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God. But only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.” ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning