All Things New

All Things New!

August 29, 2019

When new babies come to Neema Village it is a happy time. Everyone crowds around to meet the new little one. Meet this precious, happy baby, Glory. She wasn’t too happy the first couple days!! Since January we have had 20 new babies come to Neema. Today there are 62 babies and our big kids living at Neema.

New baby time is also a sad time as we think about what the new little ones went through before they got to us. We only take babies 2 and under. Some of our abandoned babies have been left on the roadside, some in latrines, one in a hotel room, one in a taxi, a little newborn still with umbilical cord left in a gravel pit, another laid down by the river, one in the grass and one found by children on their way to school as he sat crying in the road. I cry with you little Emanuel, pictured below.

It’s always sad as I think about what happened to them as they waited for someone to find them. Our newest little one (pictured above) was two weeks old when Social Welfare called and asked if we could pick up an abandoned baby at the hospital. The mother had died at the birth and for two weeks no one ever came for the baby.

We named her Christina for some good friends in Wisconsin who lost their daughter this year. Out of the ashes God brings new possibilities. These little abandoned ones have a new life ahead of them through adoption. We have babies adopted by a surgeon in Dares Salem, a nurse in Arusha, a missionary family, an Italian solar salesman working in Arusha, a teacher and so many others which means exciting new beginnings for them. Adoptions are happy times too.

Glory, the happy baby pictured at the top, came to Neema Village because Social Welfare had been trying to catch a mentally handicap woman who had a 3-month-old baby who was living in extremely substandard conditions even for Africa. See her home below. So sad. God help us.

It is sad but important that you see sometimes where some of our babies come from.

Little tiny preemie twins who weighed about 2 Kilos have also come to Neema Village recently. Their mom died in childbirth and they have no one who can keep them right now. They are getting big and smiley now and should be able to go home to their grandmother soon.

Aren’t they just adorably, doubly cute!!

Babies who lose their mothers in Africa have a slim chance of surviving especially in the Maasai villages where there is no clean water, sanitation, electricity or medical care. Since we are a rescue center and not an orphanage, we are “standing in the gap” for these babies until their family can step in. So far, a family member has stepped in for 56 of these little ones!

I love it! Many of them come back regularly for visits. Sometimes they bring goats!

Our new van from Japan also arrived this month and non too soon since our old one was falling apart from the rough roads here. The new one is pretty cool and even has air conditioning. So far we have had no one help us buy the van so if you can help that would be great. The old van is in the picture below, but I guess you knew that!

The new school building is going up and the steel beams for the rafters will go up this week

That is pretty exciting for Teachers Ashley Berlin, from Casper, Wyoming and Napendella, who will finally have an office. The money set aside for the school/church was given separately and does not come out of your baby care donations.

And the new green house is growing up all kinds of colorful things like tomatoes, corn, blackeye peas and yellow squash.

Our new NGO (nonprofit) officially making us Neema Village instead of Neema House is still exciting news. Hopefully no more cross wires on money going to the wrong Neema House. If you ever sent money to Tennessee that was meant for us, you sent it to the wrong Neema House. Our Nonprofit office is located in Waco, Texas, P.O Box 21553 and zip 76702.

Neema means Grace and God’s Grace makes All Things New! Every day we get to start out fresh and He wipes out all the bad and the ugly and He makes all things new! There is nothing like Grace!

May your life be filled with a new fresh Grace today!

Dorris at www.neemavillage.org

Hope This Is Enough

Hope This Is Enough

August 23, 2019

For the last few days Anna, our MAP (Mothers Against Poverty) director at Neema Village has been trying to find a young mother who was digging through trash at the dump to collect plastic bottles to sell. We found the place where the bags are brought and our daughter Kim was shocked at how big the bags were.

Anna finally found the young mother and today Mary Fernandes, Tammy and Denise Burns, Kim White and I went to her home to see how we could help. Margaret is her name and she is holding her little boy in the photo below.

To have food for the family she has to dig through the dump and people’s trash cans to collect an enormous bag of dirty, plastic bottles every day and bring them to a processing plant, which sounds and looks like Dante’s Inferno! For the bag she receives 250 shillings or about .10 cents a bag!

We were shocked at the continual, horrifically grating, shrill of the grinding machine and appalled that women sit there all-day dumping dirt and other unmentionables out of the plastic bottles before sending them through to the “screeching demon ” bottle crusher. It was simply horrifying and these women do this from sunup to sundown six days a week. We never saw Margaret smile.

She and her baby live with grandma in a room with one bed. They were unsure of why we were there since they h ad not asked for us to come. The other women at the dump had asked if there was a way to help this young mother and so we came.

Margaret is somewhat mentally handicapped although she made it through 7^th grade and I thought she looked more shell shocked than handicap. She never smiled while we sat and talked in their small one room home. Grandma did all the talking while Margaret and the baby both licked a lollypop Tammy Burns had brought. I must tell you I have not been able to get the image of her eyes out of my head.

Margaret and her husband had lived in Tanga on the coast and after the baby was born, he beat her and kicked her out of the house, so she came home with her child to grandma in Arusha.

Her little boy was sweet with eyes too big for his face, thin arms, big head and small body, a sure sign of malnutrition. He loved the lollypop, probably his first. His mother’s eyes were lifeless even with a lollypop.

I guess hope had been ground out by the day to day grinding of the plastic bottles. I cannot imagine how many endless, unbearable, days upon days it takes to beat the hope out of a young woman like this. After getting all the information and saying a prayer with them we left in tears.

By God’s abundant grace we will set them up in a vegetable stand and add them to the Neema Village outreach program which will give them a little money for a few months until the vegetable business can take over. We talked about the vegetables she would sell and items like matches, soap and cooking. Hopefully it will be enough.

We visited two moms today but the second one will have to wait for another blog. My heart cannot write another one just now.

Bless you dear ones and may you always have enough.

Dorris

Neema House in Arusha is No More

Neema House in Arusha is No More!

August 22, 2019

Did I get your attention with that? Sorry, but I hope so. We are excited and want everyone to know that we are no longer Neema House. Why, you might ask? Because there are other Neema Houses in East Africa with the same name and we have had people send money to one thinking they were sending to us!! In the USA and in Tanzania we are now officially Neema Village Tanzania. With twelve buildings on the property we are truly a village.

Michael, Mama Musa and our attorneys have been working for months on the mountains of documents needed and the ever-changing government rules in order to make this name change official. But it is done, and we have the certificate that shows we are officially Neema Village Tanzania!

Little Noah, an abandoned baby, pictured below, was pretty happy when Bekah told him!

Over the last seven years Neema House Arusha has helped over 232 babies and 41 MAP moms (Mothers Again Poverty) giving them Hope and a future. We thank God that he has allowed us to be a part of this but we want you to know that Michael and I take no credit for this. Our names are not on any building. We know we are like “Jars of Clay” easily broken, here for a time and then gone.

11 Corinthians 4:7 “We have this treasure in jars of clay that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

May God Bless each of you who have helped to make Neema Village Tanzania possible.

God is Indeed Good!

(Click on the really cute video below!)

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Giving Your Life to Make a Living

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

A Baby On Her Lap

A Baby On He Lap

April 9, 2019

Our daughter, Kim White, has been at Neema Village for three months handling the volunteer coordinating and the bookkeeping. We are so proud of the work she has done in the office, getting more procedures set up in Quickbooks for Priscilla, designing Excel spreadsheets to keep better records in the office, setting up shared folders so we can all see volunteer schedules, handling payday, balancing the books and she has not lost a single volunteer!

She has done an especially awesome job with volunteers; meeting new volunteers at the airport, arguing with the airport customs inspector for them, giving introduction tours to the work at Neema Village, (below greeting Caroline and Luna from Belgium) and

Taking volunteers to exchange money and to the market, getting nightly supper on the table, making sure everything works in the house, giving out keys, scheduling bed space, helping them plan safaris, giving them available opportunities to see the different areas of our work, checking on the sick ones, counseling the troubled ones and daily (sometimes hourly) answering the myriad of questions in emails before volunteers come to Africa like “Will I be safe?” or, “I want to come next week, is that ok?’ (we are now booking many of the busy months one year in advance!) or, “Can you pay my way so I can come hold the Babies?” or “Can I have my own private room? (FYI, we operate like summer camp!!) and “I can only eat …” Really??! And she has handled it all without pay and with Grace and a whole lot of tact.

All we could say as we watched her work was, “Wow!”

Her husband, Bruce the Saint, let her come for three months while he stayed home in Wisconsin to work. Kim has paid her own way to come and live at Neema and is a volunteer herself just like the volunteers she serves. She is also on the board of Directors of Neema Village. Kim and Bruce have two children both out of college now. Below is Kim, Bekah, me and granddaughter Maria at one of the many breakfasts at the volunteer house.

Kim was three months old in 1965 when we first came to Africa. Growing up to the age of six in southern Tanzania as a missionary kid, she spoke perfect Swahili, helped skin animals for meat, played in a river with crocodiles (once), had her diapers washed in a muddy river, named her cat “KLMNOP,” had a monkey bite her on the leg, had a leopard eat her dog, and camped in tents with lions walking around. It is always a wonder for us that our children survived!! Kim says we must have walked around in a God Bubble!

It looks like she is still doing wild and crazy stuff!

Africa is in her blood and Neema Village is in her heart. She dearly loves the babies and worked many days in the office with a baby on her lap. But the big kids are her favorites.

Three months away from her husband and children has been a sacrifice for her and her family but she has done it with great love and commitment to God and her enduring love of the Neema babies. She left for America today. We will miss her beyond words!

Jesus tells us, “Everyone who has left brothers, sisters or father, or mother, or children for my sake will receive a hundred times as much.”

Be Blessed a Hundred Times Dear Heart!

Proud Mom and Dad

Living in Africa With a Handicap

January 2019

Living in Africa With a Handicap

I can’t imagine what living in Africa must be like for a child with a handicap.

It would be hard enough in England, America or Australia where every kind of government help known to man is available. But here in Africa there is nothing and children are hidden in back rooms, neglected, abused, made to beg on the street like the little girl pictured above or worse just not fed. In the old days those babies were put outside the boma for the hyenas. Sorry to write that, I know it makes you sick at your stomach, it does me too.

We met this mom with a handicap child this week. We deal with so many moms at Neema Village through our MAP program, whose husbands have left because their child was born with a handicap or birth defect. There must be a stigma about that. The young mom above had to move back home with her mother who has no income and lives in a mud hut. She thought she could start a milk/cow business.

Pendo’s husband left her after the birth of little Calvin who was born handicapped. Pictured above, she is one of our successful MAP moms today. She started an Internet/Fresh Juice Bar. We provided her with some computer training, she did not know how to turn a computer on at first! Then we gave her a computer which Mariya had brought from Germany and now she charges by the hour for people to use her computer in her shop to search the web for jobs or products while they drink her fresh juice.

Sophia and her little boy, Martin above, were left destitute when the husband left so she began getting up at 3am in the morning to make mandazis (like a donut) to have money so they could eat. She stood out on the street to sell them to people on their way to work. Sophia has had a rough year but hopefully is back on track now with her MAP program. When these women who have been so poor get a little money they want to buy more than they can afford and still have money to run their business. Sometimes the husband who sees his wife now has money comes back and wants the money. We know we won’t win them all but we try. But we are glad Sophia is back in her shop and making mandazis.

The little fellow with a missing hand pictured above, was also deserted by his dad. His mom has five children and a kind lady has let them live in her rent house. The family has no income and is allowed to get only one bucket of water a week. The kids are dirty with horrible sores on their heads. She cried when we came to help.

The children pictured below are fortunate ones. They are in school and learning new things, They are curious, energetic, determined, tenacious, well fed and happy. I seriously doubt any of them would be alive today if God had not intervened.

Malikia, a twin born blind, is in boarding school in Moshi and comes home to Neema on school breaks. She is going to be a music teacher when she grows up.

Above Elesha, born with Bells Syndrome, is at Neema and doing well in school. He is one of our big kids now. I love this picture of him above taken the first day he was put in the walker because he looked so happy. He runs everywhere by himself now.

Editha is making progress by leaps and bounds. She loves to clap and can mouth the words to songs now. Who knows what this child will be able to do in the future.

Above, Loitapuaki was born four hours after his twin. The doctor says he was pulled out with crude forceps like they use out in remote Maasai villages. His head was so damaged the doctor thought he would not survive. He is three years old now. Our nannies love him and he is fed everyday through a tube Bekah put in his stomach. That is easier for him because he gags so much trying to swallow and breath at the same time. We will love him as long as we can.

And there are other mothers and grandmothers like the one above who are dealing everyday with handicap children. They cannot go to work because there is no place that will take the babies. God is dealing with us about this. We need a day care for handicap children. Social Welfare tells us there is not one in Arusha, a town of 1.6 million. Mama Musa, our Managing Director, who is on the governing board of all day cares and orphanages in Arusha says there is not one that will take a handicap child. She has tried to find one. Our Neema Board and Social Welfare have given us the go ahead to open one. All we need is money. And a bit of courage too.

Michael and Dorris Fortson

Founders and Directors of Neema Village

The Daily Life of a Family Volunteering at Neema Village

January 2019

The Daily Life of a Family Volunteering at Neema Village

Ever wondered what it could be like for your family to volunteer at Neema? Let Tammy Burns from Bastrop,Texas tell you:·

As Christmas 2018 was approaching, our family (Ed, Tammy, Nathan, and Denise Burns) were eagerly preparing for our trip to Neema Village in Arusha, Tanzania.

Our flight out of Houston left on December 27 and we arrived on December 28 and were warmly welcomed by Neema Village staff at the airport. After an hour drive from the airport we arrived at Neema and, exhausted, immediately went to bed. We woke up on Saturday morning to the beautiful and breathtaking view that is Neema Village. All those that stay and work at Neema get to enjoy this beauty from God every day. God is amazing!

Safina, the cook at the volunteer house always has a wonderful breakfast of biscuits and gravy, or pancakes, or French toast ready for the volunteers to enjoy.

Our first day Dorris gave us a tour and we got to see the homes where the children live, the vegetable garden, the flower garden, the chickens and cows, and the new Mothers Against Poverty home. The large vegetable garden is producing food for Neema Village to use, and they are getting large supplies of milk from the cows, as well as many eggs from the chickens. Fifty-five Tanzanians work here and keep everything running smoothly, which is so wonderful to see. Those are beautiful strawberry plants Tammy and Ramah are checking out below.

We got to spend a good part of the day playing with the children. What a treat for us! The children love to spend time with the volunteers, and we love to be with them, as well.

Late in the afternoon on our first day, we had a concert by our son Nathan Burns and McKenna Walton, another volunteer here at the time. All the children and nannies attended the concert which included violin and guitar music. Mckenna is a yodeling performer and Nathan plays the violin. Surprisingly it went together very well. The children were entranced by the beautiful sounding instruments. They had never seen a violin before. After Nathan and McKenna played, the nannies led us in some Swahili songs which was so beautiful. Another day the whole family got to play and sing with the children.

On Sunday, we attended a Tanzanian church and took a number of the older children with us, and we had the privilege of worshiping God in another culture. The Tanzanians LOVE music and LOVE to sing!! After church, Dorris and Michael took all of us out for lunch, and we had a great time of fellowship. Later in the day, we spent several more hours holding babies and playing with the older children.

Monday, we did a craft with the children ages 3-6 with some craft supplies that we had brought along with us. It was so much fun to watch the children working with the beads, and they were so proud of their work. We spent some time in the garden, picking vegetables and transplanting some plants. There is such a variety of things to participate in here at Neema Village. That is Mercy with stars on her head below, or is that identical twin Mary??

Tuesday, we watched Sophia teach music class to the children ages 3-6, while the toddlers observed and the volunteers held babies. Music is such a big part of the culture here in Tanzania. Tuesday was New Year’s Day, so some of the workers were barbecuing a goat. We had a fun lunch in town instead, but when we arrived home to play with the kids, we stopped in the kitchen and had a sample of the goat meat. It was delicious. So many great cultural experiences!! That is Bryan, an abandoned baby pictured below with Tammy.

During the rest of the week, we spent time leading Bible time with some of the children, feeding the babies, asking children to teach us some Swahili, visiting with nannies, getting to know some of the other workers here, playing on the playground with the children, reading books to our assigned children, eating meals with Dorris and Michael, getting to know their daughter Bekah, eating African food made by the cooks, doing a little gardening, putting babies to bed, and taking kids swimming in a local pool on Friday. On Thursday, Ed and Nathan joined Safina in the weekly trip to the market to purchase the large amounts of food needed to feed all the workers and children here. Wow! It was amazing to watch all that goes on in bartering and purchasing all the food and supplies.

Friday we went on a safari to Tarangire National Park and saw so many different kinds of animals and birds, including a lion chase of a wart hog. There were lots of elephants!

On Saturday we took Malikia to her school for the blind in Moshi, where she attends several semesters every year. It was good to see that she was happy to be there and to start school again. She, of course, sang for us almost the whole way there!

On the way home from Moshi, we took an adventurous ride through some villages in a couple of tuk tuks, an unsafe cloth covered tricycle of sorts. We swam at Magi Moto (Hot Water), a pond fed by a thermal spring, which was quite refreshing on a hot day.

On another day, we journeyed a couple of hours out to a Maasai village to pick up Joshua, one of the Neema babies grown up now and attending school in Arusha. What a privilege to spend an hour in a Maasai village, where they welcomed us and showed us around their homes and their chicken business which Neema helped begin for them. We were excited to hear that they are now making money from selling eggs!

Before we left the women wanted to pray for Joshua and for Neema Village. It was so touching to hear these women who have so little thank God for their lives and see the impact Neema Village is making on so many lives.

As we prepare to leave in a couple of days, we know we will miss this place, where there is so much love, constant activity and fun times! It will be hard to leave.

The Burns Family has promised to return, we will hold them to it!! Love you guys!

Second Update… 2019 Kilimanjaro Charity Climb

Neema Village Announces

3rd Annual Kilimanjaro Charity Climb

Climb Dates: July 4 – 11, 2019

Watch the Video! You too can do this!

It is not too late to sign up for one of the most challenging, exhilarating, and rewarding experiences of your life. Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa, 19, 341 feet (5895 meters.) All of our previous climbers will attest that it is one of the most exciting things they have every done! Our success rate for the Neema Village Charity climb is that 28 out of 29 climbers made it to the summit! That is almost 97% success! You can do it! Plus, you can help raise needed funds and awareness for Neema Village, a rescue center for orphaned, abandoned, and at-risk babies.

Factoring in travel and a day or two before the climb and/or after the climb to visit Neema Village and/or take a great safari, climbers will need to block off the first two weeks of July.

This Charity Climb will benefit Neema Village. Climbers from the 2018 Kili Climb were able to give Neema Village over $20,000 by soliciting donations!

Costs for the climb are $2350 for climb fees and three nights at Moivaro Lodge (food and lodging included, based on 10 climbers), about $2000 for airline ticket, plus your incidental expenses which vary depending on the climber’s tastes.

Itinerary

July 2019

1 Monday Depart Home

2 Tuesday Arrive Tanzania

Overnight Moivaro Coffee Lodge

3 Wednesday Day at Neema Village

Overnight Moivaro Coffee Lodge

4 Thursday Travel Moshi

Day 1 Climb

5 Friday Day 2 Climb

6 Saturday Day 3 Climb

7 Sunday Day 4 Climb

8 Monday Day 5 Climb

9 Tuesday Day 6 Climb

10 Wednesday Day 7 Climb

Summit

11 Thursday Day 8 Descend to base

Overnight Moivaro Coffee Lodge

Option 1 Option 2* Option 3**

12 Friday Visit Neema Village Visit Neema Village Visit Neema Village

Depart Tanzania One day Safari* Two day Safari**

13 Saturday Arrive Home Visit Neema House Safari

Depart Tanzania

14 Sunday Arrive Home Visit Neema Village

Church

Depart Tanzania

15 Monday Arrive Home

*For a one day safari to Tarangeri National Park, add about $225

**For a two day safari to Tarangeri and the Ngorongoro Crater, add about $550

***Longer stays can be arranged for either a Safari to the Serengeti, or more time to volunteer at Neema House.

If you are interested in signing up or receiving more information, please contact Michael Fortson by email at: [email protected]

If you are ready sign up, please open this document link, print, complete, and return the reservation form. Reservation Form

Please pass this information on to others who you think might be interested in climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, East Africa.

Ringing Out 2018

Ringing Out 2018

December 29

With three days left in this year, today we were called to the hospital to receive this little one, a one month old pre-mature baby boy who weighs just 1.7 kg ( 3.75 lbs). But the year is not quite done and we could be called again before the end of the year. This is what we do. We rescue abandoned, orphaned, and at-risk babies!

2018 has been a quite a year here at Neema Village. We started the year with 46 babies and children under our roof and have ended with 60. Remember we only take babies under the age of two years. We began the month of November with 64 babies! And of that number, 25 were under the age of 6 months! Can you imagine? This year we received 30 new babies into our care from Social Welfare. We saw 4 adoptions, and we were able to reunite 29 children with their extended families. To help with all the babies, we had 205 volunteers stay in our volunteer house! We love volunteers; maybe 2019 will be your year to come and help!

Our new MAP home, “The Koala House” has been used countless times for classes and seminars for the women. And 23 women have been set up in new businesses through that program!

We have been busy this year! And all of this has been done by the Abundant Grace of God; Praise His Name!

God has used many people to donate their time and money to help Neema Village in 2018. Neema operates only by charitable donations. To the many, many people who have generously given financially this year, we say Thank You! Many have made special gifts just in the last few weeks. Because of your generous and faithful hearts, we have finished the year in the Green and not the Red!

Perhaps you have not made your year-end, tax-deductible, donation. It is not too late! We count on end of the year donations to have a good start in the next year. We pray that you will consider gifting Neema Village with an end of the year donation, if you haven’t already. You can make the gift on-line through our website: www.neemavillage.org or go directly to: https://swp.paymentsgateway.net/co/default.aspx?pg_api_login_id=KKuhXavq14

Alternatively, you may mail a check to:

Neema Village

P. O. Box 21553

Waco, TX 76702

You may wish to sponsor one of these babies who are still needing sponsors: Abigael, Baraka #4, Baraka #5, Bryson, Christopher #2, David (twin), Dennis (twin), Ebenezer, Edward (triplet), Elcram (twin), Elham (twin), Eliah, Elisha (triplet), Esther (triplet), Josephine. Majaliwa, Nammyaki, Ruth, Sasha. Sharon #2, Yohana, Zablon (twin), Dorcas

We pray that you had a wonderful Christmas and that the New Year will bring God’s abundant blessings!

Michael and Dorris Fortson, Founders/Directors

Neema Village

www.neemavillage.org

The Perfect Christmas Gift

December 19, 2018

“The Perfect Christmas Gift”

What do you get someone who already has the perfect Christmas gift?

You see, we really do… already have The Perfect Gift. It came over 2,000 years ago, wrapped in starlight and hay and in one of those shockingly expensive, one-of-a-kind singing gift cards.

We can’t top that! The Perfect Christmas Gift has been done! And it’s one of those gifts that can’t get broken, or lost or stolen or rusted. And it feels new every time you open it!

And the really good thing about it is that it’s mine, all mine… and it’s yours, all yours too for the asking. Don’t ask me how they do that, they just do!

There is a gift that The Perfect Gift would love, I’m quite sure of it. Another little baby, and this one too is a little rough around the edges, it’s been through a lot, it might be bruised and definitely messy. But precious beyond words to The Gift. Yes, He would love it, I’m sure.

So if you’re pondering this Christmas what to get someone who already has it all, here’s a thought!

Sponsor a baby in Africa for a year in someone else’s honor, in their name, so they get the picture for the fridge and the progress reports through out the year. Then just send them a Christmas card that says,

“I’m sending you a baby for Christmas!” That will get their heart bumping, I’m sure of it!

You can pick out your gift to give at www.neemavillage.org under “Neema Babies.” Let me know if the instructions are not clear or if you need help with assembling. [email protected]

No wrapping needed. Happy Shopping!!

Below is an example and a complete list of precious gifts whom no one has chosen.

Abigael

Baraka #4

Baraka #5

Bryson

Christopher #2

David (twin)

Dennis (twin)

Ebenezer (pictured above)

Edward (triplet)

Elcram (twin)

Elham (twin)

Eliah

Elisha (triplet)

Esther (triplet)

Josephine

Majaliwa

Nammyaki

Ruth

Sasha

Sharon #2

Yohana

Zablon (twin)

Dorcas

Michael and Dorris Fortson,

Santa’s Helpers at

Neema Village

Home Sweet Home

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.

2019 Kilimanjaro Charity Climb Benefiting Neema Village

Neema Village Announces

3rd Annual Kilimanjaro Charity Climb

Climb Dates: July 4 – 11, 2019

Details of the climb are still being worked out, but if you are interested in joining us as we climb the tallest mountain in Africa, 19, 341 feet, you need to begin planning now. It is a fantastic experience and challenge.

Factoring in travel and a day or two before the climb and/or after the climb to visit Neema Village and/or take a great safari, climbers will need to block off the first two weeks of July.

This Charity Climb will benefit Neema Village. Climbers from the 2018 Kili Climb were able to give Neema Village over $20,000 by soliciting donations!

Costs for the climb are about $2170 for climb fees (food and lodging included), about $2000 for airline ticket, and your incidental expenses which vary depending on the climber’s tastes.

If you are interested in signing up or receiving more information, please contact Michael Fortson by email at: [email protected]

Please pass this information on to others who you think might be interested in climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, East Africa.