Amazing rainy day donations!

Got these amazing donations over the past few weeks!!! Thanks to all of you for your help in keeping us dry from the rain!!! 

Rainy season made fun!!!!

Picture update of my beautiful little angels!

Balizahu and baby Mandy! 

Caroline, Joyce, and me hanging around the orphanage one afternoon

The kids and me playing the memory game-- we got an incredible donation of board games and Coloring books  from a friend of my father's-- they kids have loved playing with the games. It has also been a great way to teach them how to be patient and wait for your turn to come! 

Neema, Dorisi, Hellen and me :)

Happy little Violet! 

Some fun with Tina!

So my best friend Tina surprised me here in Tanzania for two weeks... She showed up on my door step randomly on a Sunday night-- best surprise ever! My good friends Adam and Edward helped her plan everything. On Sunday night January 12th, Adam calls me around 9:30 at night and was like "hey I got a flat tire-- can I use your car?? I'm at your house now.. Will you bring me the keys to your car??"  I go outside and he is in the safari truck-- I knew he had been on a safari with some clients that weekend, and so when I saw this Mzungu (visitor/white person in swahili-- NOT A DEROGATORY TERM) I just assumed it was a client of his from the weekend. I was like "who is with you?" And then the Mzungu started walking closer to the house and the light hit their face and I saw it was Tina. Craziest surprise of my life. I had NO idea she was coming! Anyways then I got to surprise all the children-- Tina was here in June and July of 2012 with us and the kids adore her. They were soooo surprised and excited to see here. Below are some awesome pictures of Tina and the kids from

Her visit! We can't wait to have her back here again this summer!  

Tina and me bathing Junior and Jonathan!

Tina and Neema mdogo (little neema) 

Tina surprising our girls who are at boarding school at Sangiti! Here she is hugging Hellen 

Tina helping Junior with his homework 

Two of the most important people in my life-- Tina and Mama Faraji 

Thanks for coming to be with us Tina! We love you! 

We love school!!!!!

Balizahu, Godi, Freddy, and Paul looking so smart in their new school uniforms 

Ismaeli, Jonathan, ericki, and junior are loving school so much! They are the stars of the KEA nursery program!

From left to right: Joyce, Jackie, Hellen, Jackie, Anna, and Vanessa--- my BEAUTIFUL strong smart empowered girls at their new boarding school Sangiti!

 Abdallah, kelvin, and Simon dressed and looking so handsome for Majengo secondary school! 

KCMC Med Students Come to Tuleeni!

Neema International is working hard to form a partnership with the KCMC hospital and their medical students so that the Tuleeni orphans will have constant access to free healthcare and educational seminars!! On December 1st, the 36 KCMC medical students who are in the UN medical student chapter chose Tuleeni orphanage as this year's World AID's day project-- we had these 36 amazing doctors come to the orphanage to teach the kids about protecting yourself from HIV and two certified doctors taught my older kids about reproductive health!! ALL OUR CHILDREN GOT HIV TESTS FOR FREE AND ALL THE TESTS WERE NEGETIVE!!!! Sooooo thankful my kids are healthy! 

Some days I really feel like a mom... Spent a large part of the afternoon holding by kids in my lap, and comforting them while they get their blood drawn... AND Then having the doctor call me over as the kids' mother to show me the tests results and seeing every test was HIV negative.... My eyes teared up. I was so relieved. So so so thrilled to have these kids in my life and to be able to supply them with opportunities like this

So fortunate to have access to this wonderful group of doctors! 

Happy holidays!

Happy thanksgiving from Neema intl and the Tuleeni Orphans! 

The Tuleeni kids colored all these awesome thanksgiving pictures. And this one moved me so much-- "I am thankful for celebrate with us and teach us some kind of things and we see that is good to us, thanks Neema" I love you silvanus!!

Hellen, 13, singing the prayers and lighting the Hanukkah candles with me at the orphanage. 

Happy Hanukkah from all of us, to you! 

Anddddd Merry Xmas! From the Tuleeni orphans, Neema intl, and my family, who came all the way from Texas to join us here in Tanzania for Christmas and New Years! 

Tuleeni library!

The start of the new Tuleeni orphanage and community center library is on it's way thanks to hands and hearts international!!! They donated over 200 books including all the classics I read as a child. Cannot wait to read these with my kids! Charlotte's web, ramona the pest, ronald dahl, curious george, pippi longstocking, frog&toad, Junie b jones, baby sitters club,  and so many more!!! Thanks so much for the donation h&h international!