Another orphanage visit

Not Cradle of Love this time but the children's home my friend Jenny is involved with. A TZ couple she knows from Imara, Esther and Lyimo, are pastors of an Arusha church and over the years have found themselves adoptive parents to about 12 children, and counting. Not all of them are orphans; some have a parent who is HIV postive and can no longer care for them, or a parent has died and the remaining parent can't cope; there are many scenarios. Jenny has been spending more and more time with these children and even sponsors one of the teenagers and keeps her on school holidays. Needless to say, this arrangement has maxed out their space at their own home, and they had opened a children's home nearby with a "mama" there to care for them. But, some months ago, they decided to relocate to some family land a couple of hours away and build a home specifically for the children, and for more, as they come. They have been in talks with Jenny to join them as an administrator, so she's leaving Imara in February and moving to Marangu. I spent last weekend with her, and we went to Marangu for the day with Esther and Lyimo, so I got to spend time with the children. I had met some of them a couple of summers ago, but neither they nor I remembered much of that. I held little Precious (about 6 months old, maybe) for a while, then little Junior (about 4) until he fell asleep in my arms waiting for lunch to be ready. Hassan and Witness played games on my cell phone, constantly handing it to me to restart, we sang songs, watched the older children play, then we got to go to the building site to see the progress on the home, due to open in February.

A wonderful facility! A big great room and dining room combo, large kitchen and pantries, 4 bedrooms for 6 children each, a couple of guest rooms for volunteers, a study room, 2 bathrooms, and a garden already planted. Also with lots of room outside for the children to play - something they don't have much of now.

After that, we went to check out Jenny's house. A great place she found to rent with lots of bedrooms and bathrooms, and, a little strangely, 2 dining room areas (?), and a secluded garden and small lawn. She, of course, invites everyone she knows to come spend time there with her! I plan on doing that at least once!

People here have long amazed me wth their vision. Esther is trained as a nurse practitioner, works in the HIV-Aids minstry at Imara, but finds herself opening a children's home! Jenny, who is an administrator, both back home in Australia and here in TZ, has felt called to help them pioneer this new ministry - doing web sites, brochures, hosting volunteer teams, etc. I think that's something I've learned about the mission field that I keep re-learning: there are so many ways for God to use you, and we get so tunnel-visioned that we only see the one way we did it at home, if we even did it there. There are so many needs here that you never even come into contact with back home, and if you're open to being used, it will amaze you to see where God takes you!