Neema’s Newest Babies

August 3, 2022

Sesy

Neema’s newest baby was abandoned at a church a few days ago.

They named her Sesilia Peter Paul. We will call her Sesy. She is healthy and beautiful and weighs about eight pounds with chubby little cheeks. She is probably a couple of weeks old. She doesn’t cry or spit up and is not a fussy baby. We cannot understand how a mom could take such good care of such a sweet little one and then abandon her. We know this poor mom must be hurting. We hurt for her.

Afsa

This beautiful baby was born May16th, 2022. Her mom is very young, she is also deaf and both her parents have died. Social Welfare decided she needed help while the baby was so little. Hopefully we can work together to give this young mama the help and support she needs. Afsa will stay at Neema until her mom is able to take her home.

Clarence

Clarence Delvis was born March 25, 2022. His mother asked a neighbor to watch him while she went to get milk. She never returned. The neighbor said his mother is an addict, a prostitute and has HIV. We hope this mom will reach out for some help someday. Until then we already love this little guy. He was very malnourished and seemed almost comatose until Ali Maddox started calling him “Clarence.” Then he began to giggle. He had been abandoned in a Maasai town so we thought he was Maasai but Clarence is so not a Maasai name. Now he is a happy baby and is adjusting just fine to the love and care at Neema. I am still concerned about his right arm which he does not use much. The shoulder had seemed pulled out of joint at first. We will watch that arm.

Grace

This sweet baby girl’s mom died at her birth and there was no father in the picture. The baby came to Neema Village just as our Grace Bible Church volunteers from Georgetown were leaving. Our Social worker, Angel, will work to find a family member for this little girl. Once the babies are off the bottle, they are ready for adoption or reunification with a family member. “No baby belongs in an orphanage” has always been our motto. We hope baby Grace will one day be able to return to a grandmother or aunt.

Nosim

Baby Nosim was a week old when she came to Neema. Her Maasai mom had died and the grandmother and father, along with Rick Morro, a friend, brought the baby in to Neema. The family is Ngorongoro Crater Maasai, who are the only tribe allowed to live in the crater. The grandmother does not feel that she can take care of such a little baby so we are happy to step in until the baby can return home. It is very hard for Maasai to provide clean water, sterilize bottles, or buy formula after a mom has died. Many babies out in the remote villages will not be able to survive to age 5 without a mom. Our Save The Mothers program is helping with this problem of high maternal death rates but with six million Maasai it will take a while to train enough TBAs (traditional birthing attendants) to make a difference.

Neema #2

Neema was about a week and half old but very tiny when she came to Neema Village. She was not eating well and vomiting and spitting up a lot. We had to change her formula from Infacare to Lactogen. This baby has been in and out of the hospital since she arrived at Neema Village. We had been trying to work with her mom through our MAP program, but the mom decided she could make more money working the street and so she ran away. We will love you baby Neema.

Selah

Tiny Selah weighed 3.74 pounds when she came to Neema Village. She had been abandoned at the hospital. Her name means “look what God did.”

Now happy baby Selah below is ready to be adopted. We know God has just the right family for this sweet girl.

Gillian

Gillian came to Neema at one day old. She is a healthy 3.3 kg (7.3lbs). Her mother abandoned her at the hospital. The nurse says she tried to ask the mother questions but she would not give straight answers and was very quiet. The nurses noticed the mother was missing early the next morning. They looked for her but she was not found. Gillian, pronounced “Jillian,” is chubby and perfect and we will gladly care for her until her forever family comes.

We thought you might enjoy just a look inside our isolation room at Neema Village today. When the babies are brought in they come to this room first. In a few months they move into the small baby room where they can meet such cuties as these three little ones below,

Tayo, Judith and Filbert

Voilà! Neema’s Best Photo of the Year!!

Thank you Kelle Samsill!

Love you all and Bless you for supporting the sixty precious little ones living at Neema Village right now. When Jesus said if you will take care of the least of these it will be just like you are caring for me, I think he must have surely meant these little guys, don’t you think?

Dorris and Michael

www.neemavillage.org

Since We Last Talked

July 8, 2022

Summers are usually full with lots of volunteers at Neema Village. In June we had 39 volunteers from Oklahoma, Fort Worth, Georgetown, A & M University in Texas, the UK, Canada and Australia. With 59 babies at Neema they were a big help.

Hayden with the Aggies For Christ, had her 26th birthday at Neema so we put her in a room with 26 babies. Below, most of our volunteers have a favorite baby room. Alex’s favorite was the crawlers room.

Kent and Joan’s group from Southside Church of Christ got to visit a much loved Maasai village while volunteering at Neema.

Dr. Scott Bedicheck, an Abilene Christian University graduate, with the Fort Worth group, did a dental clinic out at the Maasai village. I lost track of how many teeth he pulled and how many men got up and ran away when they saw that needle!

It is always fun for our repeat volunteers, like Kent and Joan Smith, to get to see how much our school kids have grown. Frankie, Elesha, Meshack, Maria, Ema and Julius spent the day with them at Neema catching up.

They also visited one of our MAP businesses. Elizabeth, whose husband brought in a second wife and kicked her out, now has a very successful sugar cane juice business. Big mistake man!

Cindy Roberts from Grace Bible in Georgetown, visited with a MAP mom she helped set up in a used clothing business.

Joan and Cindy both got to teach early morning bible classes for the eleventh “Save The Mothers” program which was held this month. The program, designed by Kassie Stanfield, has now taught over 100 traditional birthers how to use a “battlefield” approach to help save women in childbirth when they cannot get to a hospital quick enough.

We gave away ten sewing machines this month to young women who had finished our sewing classes at Neema. The Aggies for Christ watched the young women perform a skit about life out in a Maasai village when they are forced to marry an old man. These treadle machines will give these young women a new start in life,

Nicky Thomas, from Australia, is here this month. She is always a “gud day mate!”

Five very tired and dusty climbers from the UK arrived after descending from Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest mountain. Thank you Sophia Mekhael for directing this charity climb to benefit Neema Village.

Finally Melanie, an occupational therapist, from Toronto Canada had six year old Editha using a spoon to put food into her mouth after just a few days of working with her. Way to go Melanie!

Here is a different view of Neema Village showing off the pretty steeple on our new chapel.

Robert Hilton with Grace Bible in Georgetown put together a cute vide of life around Neema Village this month. Enjoy!

Volunteers make such a huge difference at Neema especially for those of us who live and work day to day with the babies. Bless those of you who help send these young people on short term missions. Neema Village might not be here today if it were not for a short term mission Michael took in 1963. It changed his life and mine too. If you can’t come then send!

www.neemavillage.org

Happy Birthday Save the Mothers

June 5 2022

Kassie Stanfield writes:

Happy Birthday Save the Mothers! As we reflect on all the lives touched and saved in the first year of this program, we cannot wait to see how God continues to move!

“This is the way that God works. He puts people in positions where they are desperate for his power, and then he shows his provision in ways that display his greatness.” -David Platt

One year ago today we took a deep breath and walked through the doors to 24 eyes staring back at us, expecting us to teach them something about obstetrics, something that would help them save lives. A year and 99 trained birthing attendants later, we stand in awe. Over the last year, those 99 women have gone on to help deliver about 1,672 moms. ONE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED SEVENTY TWO MOMS. This is just year one. We’ve got big plans for this year (& the next & the next ;)).

I could not be more proud of our team and the work they have done in year one. Here’s to the STM team! Here’s to all those who have come alongside in support! Here’s to those 1,672 we have reached so far (& here’s to the next 10,000 we are coming for ;)). It’s been the greatest pleasure of my life to watch God display his greatness. Happy Birthday Save the Mothers!

Beautifully written Kassie! I wish you could each personally know this incredible young woman. Giving God the Glory every step of the way Kassie has written, directed, begged, cried, prayed, pushed and pulled this incredible program called Save The Mothers into a position to actually change the face of Africa! Well Done!

Dorris and Michael

www.neemavillage.org

The Next Ten

May 24, 2022

In June, 2012 we opened a large rented house in Arusha with a promise to God that we would do all we could to love well the babies he sent to us who had been abandoned or orphaned in the East African country of Tanzania.

Who knew ten years later that we would become a village with 13 buildings, five major programs, 79 full time employees, hundreds of volunteers and over 400 babies who’ve been though our programs.

Most of the babies are living with families today through adoption or reunification with families. Along the way we buried a few. But we are pretty humbled by those numbers.

When I say “we did this” you know I mean “us”, you and me and Michael and over it all led by and standing in the Amazing and Abundant Grace of God. Please click on the song below to hear two of our babies, Joycie and Malikia, sing this powerful song of God’s Greatness. To hear Malikia sing “I see the stars” is just Wow!

How Great Thou Art, sung by the children's choir of Neema Village Tanzania

I didn’t tell the girls what hand actions to put in, I just said feel the words.

Below, The land seven years ago with nothing on it, no trees no bushes, nothing and then to see the video. I am blown away by it all!

Think of it, Ten Years! With forty plus trips over the Atlantic I have never lost the excitement and squishy feeling in the pit of my stomach when we head home to our beloved Africa and the moms, babies and staff at Neema Village. It has been a full ten years of babies.

I think numbers probably don’t mean much to God though and when we look back at the babies who have come and gone, I think it has always been about the one. Just one. Like little Filbert here.

With all of those who have come and gone I can still hold only one at a time,

Well, sometimes I can hold two but holding one, playing and singing to one, teaching the stories of Jesus to one, finding a forever family for one, saving one has always been what it is all about.

I have had many people ask that with so many babies do I have a favorite baby and I always say, yes I do, the one I am holding at the moment.

So here we are again, home at last, one or two babies on my lap with all the hopes and dreams God can place in that sweet little heart before me. Each one special, each one very real as David Platt writes,

“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 are not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.” It certainly did for us.

When we first flew from that small airport in Abilene, Texas to Tanzania in 1965 Michael and I could not have known all those years ago, as crazy, eager 21 year olds with Kim a 3 month old, just where all this would lead but I think now we know. It was all leading to this time and this place, rocking here on this porch, facing our mountain with one baby.

Where it will lead in the Next Ten years we still don’t know but one thing we know God is Faithful and we can follow on if you will come with us.

I hope wherever you are today that you have found the place God wants you to be and that you are living and loving and being loved well there.

Acts 17:26 – 27

Dorris and Michael

www.neemavillage.org

On Loan From God

April 3, 2022

We lost Loi today. I can hardly write the words.

Such a simple line to note the end of life for one of our precious Neema babies.

On Sunday April 3rd, 2022 Loitapuaki went to sleep in his little bed and woke up in the arms of Jesus. Loi never got to play on the swings or jump on the trampoline, he never went shopping or to school or to get an ice cream and he never got to go to church. He was already God’s little damaged baby. HIs was a simple life lived in his bed at Neema village with occasional trips in the stroller and sunny mornings on the front porch in his bed.

His last couple of years he was on oxygen and a feeding tube with the suction machine always close by.

Either one of his special nannies, Glory, Zawadi or Gertrude was with him, day or night, 24/7. We almost lost him a number of times but were able to pull him back. Doctors who stopped by would tell us he won’t live past age 2, then not past age 3, surely not past age 4, but Loi was six years old when he slipped away. We know the good care he got from his nannies kept him with us as long as it did.

He was Ashley’s special little boy. After teaching at Neema she would come in the afternoons to read to him and then prop his books up so he could see them. We never knew whether he understood a single thing we did or said, but we did understand that he belonged to God and was just on loan to us for a short time.

It’s ironic that a Safe Birthing Seminar is going on at Neema Village right now. We had to move the birthing class to the school to have the funeral. Some of his Maasai family came in for the funeral.

Loi and his twin were born out in a remote village. It was a horrific birth, his twin came first and later died. Loi was born four hours later and pulled out with crude forceps. After the mother died they brought him to Neema. Loi’s head was so damaged I had never seen another baby like that, I couldn’t imagine he would live through the night.

Our faith gives us confidence that today Loi can run and play and breath without a struggle. We hope he will tell Jesus that they took good care of me and loved me well at Neema village.

So many of you who volunteered at Neema loved Loi, we knew you would want to know of his passing.

It’s not just Loi’s life that was short, the older we get the more we realize Life truly is but a breath. The good we want to do, let’s do it now before it is too late.

Dorris and Michael

www.neemavillage.org

Click on the picture above to hear the Neema Nannies singing “In The Sweet By and By” at Loi’s grave site. He was buried next to our babies Christina Fortson and Olivia Fortson, two of our abandoned babies who died. This is hard.

Marching On

March 27, 2012

Did you know that ten years ago this past Sunday Michael, retired and 69 years old, boarded a plane for Africa to start a baby home for abandoned, orphaned and at risk babies now called Neema Village? Isn’t God Amazing!”

March 30, 2022

Still going strong, Praise God!

In the baby rescue program two new babies came to Neema this month, Ivan and Fahima and two little ones, Jovin and Mohammed, were reunited with family. There are 55 babies in house today,

A young woman had knocked on a stranger’s door one night and said she and her baby had nowhere to spend the night. They gave her a room but around 3am they checked and discovered the mother had left and abandoned the baby. They kept him for five days and finally realized she was not coming back. Most of our babies are newborn so as an older baby little Ivan was very sad and missed his mother.

Sweet little Fahima’s mother died of the sickness and she has no one but a sixteen year old half sister who says she will take the baby when she finishes school. We have fallen in love with this bright eyed little angel and are praying God has a bright future for baby Fahima, pictured above.

Little preemie Mohammed was the baby Bekah took in at the gate during the Covid lockdown. Mo’s mother has recovered from her illness and was ready to take him home and baby Jovin’s dad and an aunt have decided they can keep him now. It’s a happy day for these two Neema babies.

The MAP program is marching on! This month we added our first rice business. The widow, Nasha Labahati, above, lost her daughter last year and was trying to feed and care for her six grandchildren. She came asking if we could help her get a field so she could grow corn to sell and feed the children. She didn’t know how old she was but we figured too old to be hoeing corn so we have set her up in a rice business through our MAP program. We will buy her a big burlap bag of rice, one per month for six months which she will break into small portions to sell. She can double her money and we will supplement her living expenses at $30 for six months until she can get her business established and have regular customers. A big burlap bag of rice cost about $150.USD.

You know Mother’s day is coming up, “A Bag of Rice for Grandma” would make a unique gift for your Mother’s Day! Contact me and I can send you a sweet picture of grandma.

Be sure and put simply “MAP Program” on the donation purpose line, or Sarah will get me! She might even send your check back since you cannot give a tax deductible gift in the U.S. to a specific woman!!

MAP moms Zainabu and Christina did not know how to read or write but through the literacy program in the Mothering center at Neema Village they do now! Zainabu, above, came up from the center to proudly show me her spelling workbook.

Christina, above, had run away from her Maasai village after her husband died and the village elders tried to force her to marry an old man. She wants to do a sewing business but she knew it would be hard to keep records without reading and writing. She is excited to know how to read now. We also have a Dress for Success room in the MAP center for girls like Christina who leave home with nothing but the clothes on their backs. After going through the program at Neema, Christina is ready to go!

Mama Noelle’s chicken and egg business is still going strong. She had enough eggs to make a gift to Paul and Jack Pape, the brothers who built her first chicken coup.

Teaching through videos and pictures, Kassie Stanfield’s “Save The Mothers” program is saving lives as the older women spend a week at Neema and learn how to safely deliver babies. I wish I had time to sit down and tell you all the stories that are coming out of that program.

They learn baby first aid along with how to handle things like retained placenta and the harm they are doing to young girls by performing the ritual of FGM (female circumcision)

On the “Save The Mothers” week at Neema it’s like a big slumber party for women 65 and older! We move out the sewing machines and move in the pallets and they all sleep in one room. Can you imagine the giggling and chattering that takes place in that room at night!!

Our staff got to take part in the big International Women’s Day held in Arusha this month. They had designed their dresses and hats and our sewing women made their beautiful clothes. Pretty Cool!

Michael and I have returned home for a few weeks but left some great volunteers including the Burkhalter family, John, Angela, Makenna, Aden, and Nicole and our Emily Moshi and a brother and sister from Italy, Nico and Viola Pattenati. Of course the Mighty Kim is Directing and holding down the fort! That is our little bundle of sunshine, Maria, in the middle. Missing you all like crazy!

May God bless you and keep you until we return!

Dorris and Michael

www.neemavillage.org

Once A Neema Baby, Always A Neema Baby

Once A Neema Baby,

Always A Neema Baby

March 2, 2022

We had been putting off this trip since December, now with the rains coming we had to go. Grandmother Shabani had come to Neema Village at Christmas time and begged for some help with her house. She said it was falling down, it leaked and when it rained, she walked in mud inside the house.

You could see daylight through the walls. It was not a safe house for Grandmother or Shabani to come home to from boarding school for three months a year.

If you follow Neema Village you will remember little abandoned baby Shabani who went home to live with his grandmother a few years ago. His mom had been just sixteen when she left him on the street and the police caught her and took her off to jail. Like the Moses story, she had been watching to see who would pick him up.

Shabani is a big boy now and one of our brightest little guys.

When Grandmother came to Neema Village in December, we had given her a mattress and she had somehow gotten that home on a bus. But a niece with her new baby had moved in to live with Grandmother and she had the bed while grandmother still slept on the floor.

As poor as these people are they still try to take care of each other with the little they have. Amazing.

Shabani’s name had been changed to Jackson when Grandmother decided he could be raised Christian since he had started life in a Christian home at Neema village. We were thrilled about that and especially when Grandmother herself became a Christian and changed her name to Neema.

But now it was time to check on Jackson and his grandmother’s house. It was a long day of driving; four hours out and four hours back. It only took a few minutes to see that they were in trouble and needed help. The house was definitely leaning and with a heavy rain might easily fall down.

There would be no way to “shore it up,” we would have to build a new house with a a good foundation. It won’t be expensive just a rock foundation, cement block walls and a tin roof. At Neema we will wield two metal windows and a door for the house and carry those out to the building site.

But it will mean a couple of our builders going that far out to the village to stay for a few weeks to get the work done. They will need a place to stay, a rented truck to carry the building materials and to travel back and forth to town and they will need food while they work. With out a Holiday Inn in Africa these kinds of problems are never easy but with God’s help we can do this!

It’s for our baby Jackson, and as you know “Once a Neema Baby, Always a Neema Baby.” Shabani has always been special to our family, our daughter Kim White’s son Tanner had climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise support for Shabani a few years ago.

A big Thank You to the crew who traveled out to the village to check on Grandmother’s house, Marion Lamoriniere, Kelle Samsill, Kim White, Ashley Berlin and Emily Moshi.

We hope your house is standing strong today and in this shaky world of wars and rumors of wars that you’ve built on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ.

Dorris and Michael

www.neemavillage.org

The Rains Came Down and the Floods Came Up

The Rains Came Down and the

Floods Came Up!

February 20, 2022

The rains have come, Thank God, but with thunder and lightning crashing across the dark night and rivers of rain washing our top soil down the hill I was fearful that the cow barn would slip down the back side of the cliff this week! Instead of cats and dogs it rains giraffe and zebras here!

Rama has been sleeping in the cow barn since Daisy’s calf is due any day. Hopefully this baby will come soon. But we have no lack of babies in the baby home at Neema Village!

Kelle Samsill and the Fort Worth group with Maria and Julius love to sit on the baby love couch with the little babies.

New baby Ester, below, was brought to Neema February 16th by Social Welfare. Her mother is HIV positive, has throat cancer and some mental problems. The grandmother could not take care of both the newborn and the mom. Hopefully another relative can be found or mom can be healed. We should pray for that. We want this beautiful little baby doll to have her family to grow up with.

And yes this is a real live baby!

Ashley Berlin got to name one of our recent babies, Tayo, below, which means “boy full of happiness.”

His mother abandoned him on a dala dala, the local transport system, but the people chased her down and took her to the police station. On the way she tried to smother the baby. Our staff went to pick him up and got to see the mom. She was talking to no one not even the police. We offered to bring her home to Neema with the baby but her eyes were blank and she did not seem to care who took the baby.

She might have been beaten since the volunteers saw bruising on her side. Our babies go through so much before they come to Neema Village but I suspect these moms do too. Please say a prayer for this poor mom as you put your little ones to bed tonight.

Baby Joshua came to Neema on February 10^th. His mom is mentally ill and burned the house down so Social Welfare picked up the baby and called Neema Village. He had been given raw cow’s milk so we were fearful there would be some tummy issues through his first night but he was a good baby. His eyes speak volumes and we will never know all that this precious baby has been through.

The twins, Nashooki and Esupati, came to Neema with their mother and a neighbor this month. The twins are around 18 months old. These little girls are Maasai and were severely malnourished with big heads and skin stretched over the bones in their little faces. Their tiny bodies and thin arms and legs don’t seem to fit their large heads.

Their mother has HIV and is not taking medicine and does not want to take it. She wants to keep the babies with her but keeps trying to breastfeed them. She is also very weak. We are trying to encourage her to get the medicine and take it so she will live for her girls. We know she loves them. We told her she is welcome to stay at the May MAP apartments on campus and visit the girls but she did not want to stay. Below the girls after one month at Neema. They love their cookies!

The twins got to come to bible class and learn to Pat Pat the bible. Thank you Lottie McCormack for the bibles. They have now been properly chewed and slobbered upon!

This little dumpling below got to return home this month. Baby Grace went home with her dad and an auntie who has moved in to take care of her. Her mom had died at her birth but her dad came quite often to see her. She was ready to go home. It is exactly what we want for these little ones.

We often see street beggars with their cups in downtown Arusha.

This month a street beggar carrying little twins walked to Neema Village for help. Dorinni, below, had finally had enough and told us through her tears that she just couldn’t go back out there. She is a widow and had moved back home to her mother for help after her husband died. When her mother died she went out on the streets with the little twins to beg.

She was living in filth and the babies were sopping wet when they arrived at Neema. As Nicky and Abby tried to give the babies baths you could hear their shrieks all over the baby home!

After they took the mom and babies back to their one-room home in town they laid the babies on piles of dirty clothes which seemed to serve as their bed. Anna and Gilead went back the next day to clean and were appalled at the bugs in and on everything.

I guess when water cost money and you beg for every shilling you must use water sparingly. Dorinni really wants a different life for her children so she will begin coming to classes at Neema and then we can set her up in a vegetable stand business. Hopefully things will be better for Dorinni and her beautiful twins.

Kassie has planned two Save the Mothers birthing classes this month and these Bibis (grandmothers above ) continue to save mothers out in the remote villages through this program.

Rain and sunshine always bring new life to the earth and New Life is also what is happening for these babies and moms at Neema Village. Bless you for being a part of that.

Our big girls Hosi, Lightness and Neema Grace are sending you Sonshine and Flowers this month. Cute photo Ashley Berlin!

Love you guys,

Dorris and Michael

www.neemavillage.org

It’s not Pomp and Circumstance but it’s just as exciting for the Bibi’s (grandmothers) graduation from Kassie and Mercy’s Save The Mothers class at Neema Village.

I’m Feeling 22, How About You?

January 11, 2022

The little Maasai twins Nosiligi and Naleku at Neema Village look just like we feel!

It can’t be another year already!

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.)

Thirty Six (36) new babies arrived at Neema Village in 2021. That is always bittersweet for us, we love that we are here for them but we despise the tragedy in their lives that brought them to us. All the Neema babies have a tragic story or we would not have them.

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.

We were able to put 27 babies back into a family unit or in foster care/boarding school in 2021.

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.

Neema Village had three adoptions of abandoned babies like Selah last year.

With the 36 new babies coming in and the 27 babies going out for adoption or reunification, we ended the year with sixty (60) babies in house.

Now this is a Full House Mr. Saget!

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.

Our newest MAP mom, Shamimu with her baby and MAP Director Anna above, ran away from her husband because he beat her. He beat her a lot and so often that she became deaf from the beatings. Beating a woman seems to be acceptable here. Ugh! This poor mom found her way to Neema Village for help. If you look at her wall upper right, she had written “God Save Us.” Fortunately, she came to Neema on a Thursday when we were having the “Women’s Rights” seminar where an attorney, Winnie, teaches these women they have the right not to be beaten. I love this program.

We will try to find some medical care for Shamimu and maybe her ears can be repaired. She is so frustrated and sad because he took away her hearing. We have moved her into the Jeffrey Scott May MAP houses and will help her start a business. Right now, she doesn’t see how she can do anything because she cannot hear. Our volunteer, Kassie, who is 24 years old, was broken hearted for this poor woman who is exactly her same age. Every MAP mom we help is depressed and sad when we first meet them and you can see the hopelessness on their faces. I hope we never grow so used to these tragic life stories that we cannot feel their sadness.

You can see it on Shamimu’s face as she holds her baby above.

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.

Wonders never cease.

May God grant you laughter, some quiet time and plenty of hugs in 2022.

Dorris

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

We Wish You A Merry Christmas!

December 24, 9 p.m. Tanzania Time, 2021

Merry Christmas from Neema Village!

Our 59 babies and children are nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of mangos dance in their heads… Well, it may be something like that.

Christmas is a big holiday in Tanzania and we don’t neglect it here at Neema Village. Our staff payday and Christmas celebration was held on Thursday, and it was quite an event. Everyone pitched in to prepare more food than we could eat. We killed the fatted goats, and everyone received a Christmas gift. Thank you to the many who contributed to those gifts! As we read the story of Jesus birth on Christmas Eve we are most thankful for that one special baby who came.

Following the lock-down last year in 2020, this year has been much better. We have loved the return of many volunteers, and look forward to even more volunteers in 2022. If you haven’t made your plans to come to Neema Village to help out next year, it is not too late. Honestly, Dorris and I feel safer from Covid here in Tanzania than we did in the USA.

This month, December, has been a month for receiving many new babies, like our newest baby, Edison, whose mother was trying to sell him in the market. The police brought him to Neema Monday night. Rescuing babies who are orphaned or abandoned, or at-risk is why we are here, and even though we are often over capacity, we will continue to make room for one more. We know that God will provide a way and we are dependent on his Grace and Mercy.

Dorris and I are so thankful for the many people who donate to keep Neema Village running. We truly live by faith month to month and God has never disappointed us. Thank you for allowing God to use you to care for these precious babies and children. Although others may not contribute funds, we know there are many who lift up Neema Village in prayer. Thank you for doing that. From the first day until now, almost ten years and 380 babies later, prayer still sustains and encourages us.

Dorris and I are blessed to serve God as volunteers at Neema Village, and we are happy to spend Christmas with the babies and staff. We do miss our children and grandchildren, but we pray that you and your loved ones will have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Praying for God’s Mighty blessings to be upon you,

Michael and Dorris Fortson, Co-Founders

Neema Village

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Those Pesky RMDs!

December 21, 2021

If you are over 70 years old and required to take a yearly minimum deduction, (Required Minimum Distribution) from your IRA, you can have that deposited directly into the Neema Village 501c3 account. If it saves on your taxes it could save an abandoned, orphaned, or at-risk baby at Neema Village! Two of our donors decided to do that this year; we thought you might want to know about it too. We have a broker ready to receive your RMD; just give us an email at neemavillageinc@neemavillage.org before December 31st!

The Isolation room has seven tiny babies, Nanny Glory and Nanny Gertrude are caring for those little ones today. Caroline, in the middle, is our music teacher and just goes around to sing for the babies after her classes.

The work you do at Neema Village is precious, we are so grateful to be the administrators of God Grace through you! www.neemavillage.org

Dorris and Michael

in the small baby room Teacher Caroline and Nanny Anita are singing for the twelve little babies in that room. There are 58 babies on campus right now!!

What a way for Michael and I to spend our retirement!

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No More Room at the Inn

December 13, 2021

The knock didn’t come at midnight, it came at 5pm… quittin’ time… on Friday.

A mom with newborn triplets and nowhere to go. Her abusive and drunkard excuse of a husband had no food at the house, no clean diapers waiting, no soft blankets.

All she could do was cry, the thin, government issued sheet soaked with her tears. She couldn’t stop. Hopelessness.

The nurses call God’s people. They will help. But it’s 5 o’clock Friday and we are full.

The twelve beds in the Jeff May House for women each have a mom with little ones, full up, no more room at the Inn.

How could we say no? Not at this time of year. A mom and her babe with nowhere to go?

So, we buck up, we get on the phone and start calling. Call Cliff to be ready to go pick them up. Gather up some tiny clothes and blankets. They never have blankets. Tell Ephram she’ll need some good warm nutritious soup to make her milk. Ritha will need to head back to work, let’s clean out a room at the Edwards/Dawson Blessing house. We’ll need diapers, lots of them, sheets, water, the room has no bathroom so she will need to walk outside and down the porch to the visitor’s bathroom. Don’t forget the toilet paper. And she’ll need towels to take a shower. And soap. The room had been empty for a year waiting for those Covid restricted volunteers to return. It was full of bugs. The floor crunched under my feet as I inched the door open.

Bado Moja, one more, come on guys, we can do this. One more mom in trouble, three little precious bundles of hope. Let’s go. Hold us up Father God!

When your life is full, make room for Jesus. Unlike the Inn keeper that dark night, don’t let the biggest thing that could ever happen to you slip by because you didn’t have room.

Michael and I are wishing you a Merry Christmas, full of Joy and Peace.

Love You