Giving Your Life to Make a Living

April 23, 2019

I was just walking into the office here at Neema Village this morning when I was told that the Village Counsel was begging for me to come with our tractor. There had been a cave in that had covered up some of the diggers of volcanic ash.

Now, let me tell you, we live in the shadow of Mt. Meru, the fifth tallest mountain in Africa, at almost 15,000 feet. Mt. Meru is a dormant volcano, but in eons past it was quite active, spewing volcanic ash over the whole country side. You can dig just five feet deep on our property before encountering the volcanic ash, which is called moram. It is valued for roadways and building projects. So, all around us, hundreds of men dig with shovels every day to make a living from the moram. The trucks hauling the moram make coming and going from Neema Village quite a challenge.

When I heard the news, I immediately called our shop manager, Baraka, and told him to fill the tractor with diesel, and that I would be coming to get it right away. I ran back upstairs to our apartment to change out of my sandals, which I normally wear, and put on some sturdy shoes, then I ran to the tractor barn and started “Roy” our little red tractor. I say little, but the tractor is actually a big 85 hp four wheel drive tractor with a front end loader. As quickly as possible, I drove to the site of the accident, accompanied by several of our workers. Approaching the site of the accident we saw hundreds of people walking to the same place, and as we got closer, there were also many motorcycles and vehicles. When we topped the hill and got our first view of the cave in, I was awestruck. It was huge, perhaps one hundred or one hundred-fifty feet wide. The people said that they thought there were two trucks buried, along with their digging crews. There were thousands of people there already, many using shovels to try and get to the buried men. Truthfully, in my 76 years of living, I have never seen anything like this. I was totally dumbstruck.

Our tractor was the first machine to get there, and we immediately started working to move big rocks and piles of moram. It was tough going on sloping ground, and one time, with a full bucket of moram, I felt the tractor start to tilt. It was a scary moment until I could lower the bucket and ease out. One of our workers, who is an experienced tractor driver, offered to take over, and I reluctantly allowed him to take my place. That, however, was a good decision. I thought that it would take days to remove all the rocks and moram. But soon, the cavalry arrived, as bigger front end loaders came streaming in, followed by giant backhoes. “Roy” the little red tractor was dwarfed by the bigger machines. Soon there were too many earth moving machines and it was so crowded that we backed away so that the bigger machines could do the work.

In the huge crowd that was there, were all the important officials of Arusha, including the Mayor, the Regional Commissioner, Members of Parliament, and the top Police official. They all shook my hand and thanked me for trying to help. I told them that I was from Neema Village, and we always want to help, and explained that we were also helping the babies of Tanzania.

By late afternoon, they had recovered one truck and three bodies, and they declared that was all. I hope they are right and that only three people lost their lives. As the rest of the cave-in is cleared away in coming days, we will find out. While we are thankful that it is only three, what sadness three families are going through today. We pray that God will give them comfort and peace.

In a country like Tanzania, where there is such poverty, men will do anything to make a living. Using a shovel to fill trucks with moram and earn less than $3 per day is all that some can do. As for the three who died today, they gave their lives to make a living. We pray that it will not happen again.

God bless,

Michael Fortson

Home Sweet Home

November 2018

“It’s my first lamb!”  Mariya Halapi was quite touched yesterday when Mama Iddi gave her a little lamb. I think we were all touched by yesterday’s events when one of our MAP widows, Mama Iddi and her handicap granddaughter got to move into their new home. It was quite a day.

Mama Iddi has been keeping her 12 year old abandoned granddaughter in her home where part of the wall had fallen in and she had hung an old tarp over the hole. There were large cracks in the back of the house and so many holes in the roof that she walked in mud inside the house when it rained. It was unsafe to say the least.

We had been out to visit Mama Iddi with some friends in August and were so saddened by her living conditions that we decided Neema, through the generosity of friends and the MAP program, could help.

We had planned at first to shore up the house, patch the cracks, put on a new tin roof and paint the house. But when our builders got started they realized none of the house was worth saving. So they bulldozed it and started from ground up. We took Mama Iddi and her granddaughter out yesterday to see the completed house for the first time. I realize this may not look like much to you but to this widow living in extreme poverty it is a mansion.

While the builders were working on her house for a couple of months, we had moved Mama Iddi and her granddaughter to a room down the street from Neema. We had also started her in a chicken/egg business through Neema’s MAP program. So the first thing we had to do yesterday was move the chickens. That was fun, feathers flapping and all!

All the neighbors came out to help including this handsome young man. He said he remembered a bible class we had done at his house a few years ago. Emily Broadbent, look how he has grown!

After getting all the chickens together we loaded up the trailer and our car along with the squawking chickens, the chicken coop, volunteers and Mama Iddi with everything she owned in the world and drove to her new home. She had not seen it painted nor the inside of the house, so we were all pretty excited for her.

She looked around at the metal windows, the creamy yellow walls and the smooth cement floor and all she could say was Wow, Wow! I felt like we were on that TV show where they blindfold people and reveal their remodeled house and everyone cries!

After the Wows! were over, we prayed with her and asked God to bless the house and her family with peace and that no harm would come to her while she lived there. Then the builders and volunteers all gathered round and sang, “Mungu ni Pendo”, an old African song that means God is Love.

Click this link to see video of singing:  https://youtu.be/MwBQ9bk19PU

We got the hugs yesterday from Mama Iddi but we know those hugs and blessings were really for those of you who made this new home possible for her. We love for our volunteers like Sophie Line (pictured below) and Linda Johnson, (she was helping with the chickens in one of the pictures above), to see the Goodness of God at work in Africa.

Thank you dear hearts for your loving care of widows and orphans.  I think surely nothing is closer to God’s heart than these.  We are so grateful that every day we get to be Administrators of His Abounding Grace.

Michael and Dorris www.neemavillage.org

For your enjoyment, below are three happy Neema babies, Isaac, Neema Grace and Sara.

October 15, 2018

With sixty one babies and big kids at Neema Village now, I Imagine it is a loud and messy place. It is also quite wonderful.  Two new babies came to Neema a few days ago. Emily says they are very tiny and fragile.  The top one is named Rachel and the little one pictured below doesn’t have a name yet.  I’m sorry to show you the pictures but this is who they are and I want you to know them.

I know this is hard to look at but they look like skeleton babies, don’t they?  It is even hard to write that. Our hearts break for them and I wish we were there to hold them and keep them warm and safe and tell them they will be okay. 

We will love them until a new family member can be found to care for them or they can be adopted.  It is never our goal to keep these little ones. “No baby belongs in an orphanage” is our motto, even though I continue to stress that we are not an orphanage. We are a rescue center.

Until the babies have their forever families they will need sponsors. Please go to www.neemavillage.org and sign up to care for these little ones.

Pictured below, Baby Baraka #4,  came to Neema on Thursday.

He was born at home and shortly after the birth the mom developed complications with the placenta. She died on the way to the hospital. I sigh with deep frustration each time this happens.   Did you know that the biggest killers in Africa are all preventable;  Malaria,Typhoid and Childbirth complications.   

Even though we now have a large monthly give away program of formula through our Outreach Program to keep babies in their homes, there was no one at this home who could care for this little one right now.  African culture will not allow a single woman to live in a house with a single man so hiring a live in nanny for them is not possible.   We will care for him until his father remarries or a grandmother or aunt can take over.

Christopher, pictured below is an abandoned baby.

October 2018.  Christopher came to Neema a few days ago. He was abandoned in the back of a taxi. His mother said she was going to get something and would be right back but never returned. He is assumed to be about two days old. He was taken to a hospital, where they named him and cared for him. Neema was then contacted. He is not very interested in the bottle right now, but we are trying. Please pray for him and his mother. If you would like to sponsor baby Chris while he is here we could certainly use your help.  Sponsorships start at $30 per month.

 We are continually asked what makes someone abandon a baby? We have had babies left on roadsides, on porches, in latrines, in a gravel pit, in a house alone, anywhere. You ask why? It’s a hard one to answer. We don’t usually try.I have been visiting with family for a few weeks and we have a pretty spirited granddaughter who loves to argue American politics. She says there is too much greed, corruption, hatred and a lack of respect for individual life in America. She is right, any is too much.

 But those things are not an American “place” problem, they are a heart problem.  Governments or Politicians can’t make people be good, love their wives, or share with the poor, or take care of their families, says author Phillip Yancey.   Our granddaughter thought she might like to move to Sweden but I would guess the Swedes have their share of mean and selfish people

I told her don’t get discouraged with us humans, there are more good ones than bad ones. Just watch any tragedy unfold on the nightly news. To the few perpetrators of any tragedy there are way more good people rushing in to help. 

“Keep your eyes on the helpers” is a good way to not be discouraged about life.

In our work in Africa where we regularly see babies who have been thrown out, discarded, starved and women used, abused and left destitute, yes, it is easy to become cynical and want to move to Sweden.

That may be one reason we are so in love with our volunteers. They help keep us grounded, a regular dose of goodness every day! 

They are like the helpers rushing in to help clean up the mess and might I say with 61 babies at Neema that is a lot of mess to clean up!!

I also told our granddaughter that politics or governments don’t change people’s hearts. Only God can do that. But she is young and idealistic and also very passionate which is a good thing. 

I’m proud of her.

Neema Village is right where God wants it, helping the helpless, the discouraged, the down and out, the abandoned and the hopeless. So don’t get discouraged with life and remember there is way more good than bad in Africa and yes even in America.  I would imagine in Sweden too. 

May God bless you with great faith in the goodness of man.

Psalms 27:13 “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”

Michael and Dorris Fortson

August 3, 2018

“Four New Babies This Week”

All our Neema babies have a story or we would not have them.  These four new ones who came to Neema this week have a story as well and it breaks my heart.  Bryan, sleeping peacefully now at Neema Village was left on the side of the road, the placenta and cord were still attached. I cannot imagine the heartache this mother must have gone through before she put her baby down.  We do tell our nannies this does not just happen in Africa, it happens in school bathrooms and dumpsters in America too.  It is not an African problem, it is a heart problem.  Many of these women are poor and desperate and feel they have no options.  Thankfully our Neema Village MAP program is giving many women options today.

This sweet little 2 month old pictured above, lost his mom last night.  Sylvia Pape, Angel, our Social Worker, and Mama Musa, our Director, drove out about an hour and half late yesterday afternoon to pick up baby Johanna.  The house was already filled with mourners while the mother lay in the back room.   This Maasai village was high up in the mountains with no clinics or hospitals and so hard to get to they probably had been unable to get her to the hospital in town.  We will be trying to find a family member to keep him.

Newborn, Joshua above, is abandoned as well.  His mother is a drug addict and abandoned him but then she was found and put into a drug help program.  She ran away again and has not been found again.  We are not sure what is the matter with his eyes but we think he has a problem.  They are swollen and he will not open them.

Sweet baby girl Hosiana, lost her mother too.  I love her name.  It reminds me of “Hosana in the Highest” and how often we praise God for allowing us to do this work of saving babies in Africa.  

I was able to cuddle little Hosiana for about an hour yesterday afternoon.  She is precious and melts in under your chin.  When I hold these new little ones like this I am always crying inside for what they have lost.

   “Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names.  They are easier to ignore before you see their faces.  It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do everything changes.”                                               David Platt

If you knew your mom and had a good mom, Thank God for her for me would you!  I never really knew mine.

Love,

Dorris Fortson