I’m Feeling 22, How About You?

It always blesses my heart to see how faithful God is every year and last year, with the world still in turmoil, it was no exception. As we wrap up the books on 2021 at Neema village, we thought we would share some news with you.

(Nothing like a Sunday Afternoon nap on the front porch, right Amy Miller? And Caroline the music teacher’s drum class, above, is always a hit with the babies and volunteers.)

They come to us from Social Welfare and sometimes through the Police like little Edison, above, whose mother tried to sell him in the market.

A new baby came to us right as the old year was ringing out. Sweet baby Nelson, above, had lost his mommy in childbirth and had been in the hospital over a month. He was born Nov 25, 2021 and came to Neema on December 30, 2021. He was still so tiny and weighted only 1.6kg at over a month old, when he came to Neema. Babies in Africa have a hard time surviving to age five if they lose their mothers. We are in love with him already and Angel is working on a plan to get him into a family by age two. 

Tiny Baby Selah above, an abandoned baby, is growing big now and will have a brand-new mom and dad someday. Look at her fat little cheeks.

People have finally started braving the airways and our volunteers are returning. With the Aggies for Christ students from A & M University, we have 22 volunteers at Neema today.  Whoop!   

What a cool day our Aggies for Christ girls had last week! They helped with a program for young girls at an orphanage down the street on how to avoid early marriages and pregnancies. Many of these orphan girls have run away from villages to keep from marrying old men. Some sweet bonds happened between the university girls and the young girls who have been so traumatized in their lives.

There are 88 moms now in the MAP (Mothers Against Poverty) program at Neema Village.

Interesting story! About eight or nine years ago an ACU Bible class professor let me speak to his class about our work at Neema.  A young girl named Julia Prior attended that bible class. Years later she took a job at Young Life and then learned her boss was planning a trip to Neema Village to volunteer. Julia remembered that class and the lady who spoke all those years ago. Amazing isn’t it. Now Julia and her boss Karla and daughter Ella are here volunteering at Neema.  Our Mighty God, not limited by time, always remembers and is constantly putting things together for His people. Romans 8:28.

Neema Village did three “Save The Mothers” programs last year and 34 traditional birthers (older women who birth the village babies) came to Neema, spent a week on campus and learned how to more safely deliver babies. They also learned the great harm they have been doing by circumcising their young girls. Kassie Stanfield plans to have nine more STM sessions this coming year.  

The Daycare program is one of the saddest yet sweetest programs we do at Neema.  We are in our third year of keeping special needs babies so their moms can work and each day we are at capacity at the house we rent down town. We are hoping soon to move that daycare into the Mothering Center on the Neema campus and then build a new Mothering Center for the MAP program. We have way outgrown the Mothering Center for our women.  All in God‘s good time. We won’t build until we have the money so if you know someone whose name would look good on a Mothering Center building in Africa and they have a heart and resources to give let them know about this life changing program. 

One of my favorite pictures from 2021 is Sophia, our little Muslim girl, out of her wheelchair and sitting on the front porch reading her Bible. Isn’t She gorgeous.