April 2025

Bought as a second wife, hers is a story of Courage and Hope.

Tumaini in her new MAP business.

Tumaini is a Maasai woman whose lovely smile was hiding a tragic story.

As a Maasai mother of four she had been coming to town from her village, once a month to help with our Save The Mothers program. The STM women have a morning bible class and one week Tumaini accepted Jesus and was baptized. Her name, Tumaini, means Hope.

One afternoon she told us her story. She was a second wife, between age 13 and 15 years old, when she was bought to do the chores; milk the cows and goats, cook the meals, plant the corn and bear the children.

Her husband was a drunk who beat her regularly and did not care about her. She was made to work for the first wife. After years of abuse she finally ran away and went back to her parents house but they had both died. Her brother was living in the house and he took any money Tumaini was able to make working in the fields. She had some goats, much like the African goats below, and she sold them but her brother took all the money.

She had nothing when she came to Neema Village.

She cried as she told us about having no one in the world who cared anything about her.

We told her God cared and we care and that Jesus loved her so much he came looking just for her.

After hearing her story we put Tumaini into our MAP program. She worked hard and graduated from the program and has started her beautiful MAP business. Now she knows there are people around the world who care about her. If you have helped a MAP mom start a business – God Bless You!!

Our second mom to start a business this month is Mary.

When we first saw her, Mary was walking down the steps to a Neema sewing class carrying her heavy son on her back. He was born with Cerebral Palsy and she had been carrying him on her back for 15 years!

Her husband had left them when he saw the baby. Mary has been struggling for many years to have enough food for them. We learned through her work with our MAP shop that she was a good business woman and this month we were able to start Mary in her own used clothing business. We know she is going to do great!

Our third mom, Magreth, pictured above, opened a small shop this month selling items like soft drinks, soap, sugar, flour, etc.

When you see the photo below you are not going to believe it is the same woman!

Magreth was 22 years old, and mother of one child when she came to Neema Village last year. Anna writes, “Her baby was born with Downs Syndrome and she was living with her grand mother.

The father had left Magreth when he saw the baby.

The baby has a big tongue, which makes it very difficult to feed her, she has malnutrition as well.

A lady met Magreth in the hospital, and because this lady knows about Neema village, she wrote an email to Michael Fortson, and MIchael directed me (Anna, MAP Director) to visit the mama. After the first visit we knew this poor girl needed help.”

Magreth came to live in the MAP houses on campus so that we could help the baby with the medical problems and help mom learn how to support herself. She has now finished our program of classes and counseling. It is always exciting to see a woman ready to move out of the MAP houses and start her business.

And now for the final business we have all been waiting for!! Yes, that is Joari above in her new used clothing shop. isn’t that Amazing! I don’t know about you but I’m crying!

I know you remember Joari’s incredible story of the young 15 year supporting five people on the street. Anna brought all five to Neema, including the 12 year old handicap sister who had been terribly abused by the “occasional father.”

Her cousin was also living with her and with two babies and the sister the small tin shack tacked onto a corner fence was crowded. We brought them all to Neema.

Joari immediately ran away abandoning her baby with Anna. Changing a life is not easy, sometimes its messy. After a few months Joari came back, pregnant again.

This time it took, she graduated from Ed and Tammy Burns’ computer class, and sewing classes and became a leader in our women’s group. Last year she accepted Jesus and was baptized.

Joari is going to do great in her used clothing shop and she is also sewing. When you come to Neema ask for Joari!

The incredible fortitude of these African women who live through so much abandonment and abuse continues to astound us! Very few people can lift themselves up from such extreme poverty without help.

We love to call them the Lion Hearted Women of Africa. You can help women like Tumaini, Magreth, Mary and Joari by donating to our MAP (Mothers Against Poverty) program through Outreach on the donate button at www.neemavillage.org. We have set over 150 women up in small businesses. It is not a loan program, it is a free gift, mainly from Christian women around the world.

As we always say, When you help an African woman you not only change her world, you change ours!

If you have helped with a MAP business – God Bless You!!

Michael and Dorris Fortson