September 25th, 2023
We never get tired of looking at the mountain that stands watch over Neema Village. At almost 15,000 feet, Mt. Meru is the fifth tallest mountain in all of Africa. She is a volcano so we hope she is puffing out fluffy clouds and not smoke! In the garden surrounding the grass roofed gazebo we are growing our own oranges, bananas, coffee, guava, mangoes and avocados. The scripture benches placed around the garden make it a place of peace and rest for those who come to serve and love the babies and moms of Neema Village.
In America Sarah Lockett stands watch over the finances that keep Neema Village going. Sarah is a nurse and for many years has overseen Mission Waco’s program to the homeless of Waco. A true servant, Sarah has never charged Neema Village for her work keeping our finances straight and making sure we are in compliance with the US government and the IRS. That is Sarah and her cute hubby Scott pictured below drinking coffee on the porch at Neema Village.
Sarah tells us we continue to get information that donations are going to Neema House Geita that were meant for Neema Village in Arusha. We exist solely on individual donations, and always need your donations! We began as Neema House Arusha twelve years ago but quickly realized there were problems with lots of other Neema Houses; one in Geita, Tanzania and one in Eldoret, Kenya, plus others. If you are just doing a google search for us and type in Neema House you will get the wrong one. Because of this donation problem, a few years ago we changed to Neema Village, located in Arusha, Tanzania. But we continue to hear that people have set donations to the wrong Neema. If you believe you set up a monthly donation to the wrong place that can easily be fixed by contacting those organizations. They are nice people and will send the money on to us! To set up a new donation we are www.neemavillage.org.
With two new babies this month we are back up to 63 babies in house. That is a lot of formula and diapers!!
Above, new Baby Katarina’s mom bled to death from retained placenta. This is just so sad. We are working as hard as we can with our Save the Mothers program each month bringing in traditional birthers to encourage them to get these moms to the hospital and if not possible how to correct a retained placenta. Please Pray for this program!
Baby Rachel came to Neema today, September 25, 2023 with her grandmother. Rachel was born August 22, 2023. Her Maasai mother was not feeling well before the baby was born or after. A few days ago, the family took the mother to a Maasai clinic (near our first baby Frankie’s village). The mother had a fever and a cough and sadly passed away. Baby Rachel has three other siblings, the father is not around and the Maasai grandmother could not care for the newborn. They think maybe the father is working in Kenya and only comes home occasionally. We will gladly love and care for beautiful Rachel until future plans are made for her to be back into a family.
Pictured below Michael and I in outfits made by one of our young MAP moms. She was burned as a child and lost some fingers. The outfits are not our color or style but we are wearing them because she made them with her little burned hands on a treadle sewing machine!
Michael will be receiving a Distinguish Alumni Citation from Abilene Christian University at the Crestview church of Christ in Waco, Texas, 9am on Oct 29th. If you know him, you will know he is totally embarrassed about this!! He will also be sharing the latest Neema news at the 10am church service. We would love to see you there!
Remember we are Neema Village, look us up.
Dorris and Michael Fortson