September 28, 2024

It started out like any other weekend at Neema Village, watching the neighborhood soccer boys and girls (yes we have a girls team now) play in front of the baby home and then have their rice pilaf lunch and a bible study but by Sunday night you won’t believe what all had happened!

We are excited about our girls soccer team!

“Studies show that African girls who play soccer are less likely to drop out of school, get pregnant or be abused.” But back to the weekend story…

Kim had gotten a call Saturday from the Minister of Labor in Dar es Salaam that she wanted to bring twin baby boys to Neema Village. Dar is out of our Arusha district so phone calls were fast and furious that the babies could not come to Neema and then they could and then they couldn’t. The minister was determined to bring them to Neema and ended up getting them on a plane and flying the mother, the twins, a social worker and herself to Arusha and brought them all out to Neema Village.

Kim listened to the sad story of the young mom as they sat on the couch at Neema. The mom is 15 years old and has had a hard life. She is a Muslim and came to Neerma in full, from head to toe, black burka. Her father was abusing her and she decided to run away from her life in Zanzibar. She was living on the streets in Dar es Salaam when she met a boy who said he would help her but he took advantage of her instead. She became pregnant and when it was time she went to the hospital to have the babies. After having the babies by c-section she was desperate with no place to go with the babies. The Minister of Labor heard about this young girl and felt she had to help her.

The mom has never been to school. She was shaking, scared and crying but Kim took both her hands and told her, “You are going to be Ok here.” She is a scared 15 year old girl, who has just had her stomach cut open, has no home, has taken her first plane ride, has been left in a stranger’s house where she knows no one, has two babies she has no idea how to take care of, but she also has no idea that her life has just made a full turn around. She has met the Jesus People!

While this was going on one of the nannies in the small baby room noticed that baby Damian, about 8 months old, was not breathing. The nannies panicked but Dr. Sarun was on duty and began breathing for the baby. He was giving first aid and trying to calm the nannies while they raced through the building to the car. They took a pretty scary ride to the hospital while Dr. Sarun breathed for the baby and used the bronchial inhalers.

This incredible young doctor from Chimala Mission Hospital saved a life today. Thank God and thank you to the young woman from Fort Worth, Texas who is sponsoring this dedicated, caring doctor to work at Neema Village!

That morning Dr. Sarun was also checking on another new baby, Nosim # 2 who had come in from a Maasai village in the middle of the night. Nosim’s mom had died in childbirth. The baby is mal-nourished but will soon be fat and happy and loved at Neema.

When Kim returned to the office, to her surprise, the young mom of the twins was still sitting in the welcome center by herself. The lady and social worker had left to return to Dar. Kim had not realized they were leaving the young girl at Neema too. She had brought nothing with her so Kim sent her up to the Mothering Center where they found her some clothes and she met our other MAP moms. They are all pretty much in the same boat of abandonment and abuse so they will take good care of her.

Dr Sarun will be taking care of her incision from the c-section. He always has a baby on his lap. He not only checks the babies every day, but checks on the babies of the MAP moms and our nannies who get sick. He will even treat the poor sick “Wazungu” who volunteer at Neema.

Baby Damian is fine and back at Neema with Ritha, the nanny who saw he was not breathing and Ester our nurse with Dr. Sarun. Good Work Ritha!

The next day a baby girl was abandoned in a food market. A lady found her and called the police who called Neema Village to come pick up the baby. Little Merritt Foster has grabbed our hearts. We have been waiting to name a baby after Rob and Hayley’s little one who skipped this life and went straight into the arms of Jesus. After a few tears we are pretty much in love with this little one. Please love her until we can get there, Tammy Burns!

So with four new babies, one new mom and one baby saved, Kim said it made for a pretty exciting weekend at Neema Village.

If you need a little excitement in your life come out to the Neema Village banquet on Oct 15 at 6pm at the Hilton Garden Inn in Temple Texas. Lots of exciting auction items including a 5 to 6 day stay in Hawaii!!

You can still get banquet tickets at www.neeavillage.org

If you can’t come to Temple but would like to be a part of the banquet and bid on the auction items you can get a virtual ticket.

But we would love to See You There!!

Michael and Dorris