School Days Begin Again in Tanzania
When the Christmas season winds down and January begins, the flurry of activity at Treasures of Africa is amazing to watch. The new school year in Tanzania starts in January and the preparation required to get all our children ready for school is intense. There are long lists of supplies to buy and uniforms to wash and a myriad of sizes of new school shoes to find.
The biggest excitement came on the first day of school when our five youngest children - Justice, Moses, Zoe, Diamond, and Maria (on the left) - started first grade. After participating in our in-house preschool program for three years, these six year olds were ready to step outside the gates of TOA and begin their academic journey. By faith, we enrolled them in a private English medium school in town, rather than place them in the overcrowded local government school, even though only one of the five had an education sponsor. The photo on the left shows them during the first week of school, still awaiting the uniforms the school had ordered for them. They were bubbling with excitement as they shared about their new experiences when they came home from school that first day.
This year we have chosen to move almost all of our children to private schools in order to obtain the best possible education. Only Antoni remains at the local government-run primary school by his own choice. We gave him the option to choose because he has only two years left in Primary School. If he had switched to the private school they would have required him to repeat his last grade, meaning it would be three years before he finished Primary School. And since his goal is to go to a vocational training school when he finishes Primary School, it seemed to be the best course of action for him to stay and finish out his two years.
With so many children in Private School this year - the need for school fees and other academic expenses at the orphanage has skyrocketed. A generous (and miraculous) end of the year donation provided the money we needed to get them all enrolled in school - and we are so grateful to God. But we need to pay the rest of the year's school fees in two more installments - so please pray for that to be provided.
Every private school requires that prospective students take an entrance exam and only a small percentage of those taking the exam are actually accepted to the school. Last year we were thrilled when Emmanueli passed the entrance exam to get into an exclusive Christian Boy's Secondary School called Living Stone Seminary in the coastal town of Tanga. He hada great year and came home with glowing reports of the school. This inspired Ray, our aspiring engineer, to want to apply to that same school. He took the entrance exam and passed with flying colors and is excited to begin his Secondary School career with his TOA "brother" Emmanueli.
Then we decided it might be best to have Innocent take the entrance exam for Living Stone also. He had already completed one year of Secondary School at a different Boarding School but we felt it was not the best environment. We wanted better for Innocent, who aspires to become an airline pilot one day.
Now it is important to understand Innocent's background to fully appreciate this story. Innocent was a hardened street kid when he came to live at TOA and almost got removed from Treasures of Africa for bullying the younger children. He could barely read a word and had spent little if any time at school. But by the grace of God, his heart softened and he literally was transformed as he accepted the love and discipline that was offered to him at TOA. He began to work diligently in school though his academic foundation was very shaky.
We prayed hard when Innocent went to Tanga to take that entrance exam at Living Stone. When the word came back that he had passed the test and was accepted to Living Stone the cheers went up! Now the three boys - Emmanueli, Ray and Innocent - are on the way to Boarding School together where we believe they will be well-prepared for leadership and future academic studies. Only Ray has an academic sponsor - so we are looking for sponsors who will help specifically with the education expenses of Emmanueli and Innocent.
If you would like to help Treasures of Africa by making a donation to the Education Fund - we will be thrilled to apply that gift to the school fees, uniforms, supplies and other academic expenses of our children. If you would like to sponsor a specific child's education costs - you can call the ministry office office at (714) 665-0407 and we can inform you of the amount for that particular child. Since our kids are at several different schools with some in Primary and others in Secondary School, some in Boarding School and others in Day School, the costs vary.
We are grateful to everyone who has prayed for our children's academic success and for those who have given financially. We believe that this year will be the best one yet for the kids at TOA!
Our orphanage Chaplain at Treasures of Africa, Christina Oberst, was at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center with one of our kids when she ran into a doctor that she knew. Dr. Esther told her that the police had just brought in a tiny infant that was found in the trash. She wanted to know if Treasures of Africa would take in the child. Christina took the child in her arms and wept.
When God first gave us the name "TREASURES OF AFRICA CHILDREN's HOME" as the name for the orphanage - we knew that the name was significant because it spoke of the value that the children have in the eyes of God - not the value they have in the eyes of the world. What humans consider to be "TRASH" - God calls "TREASURE."
Every year the city of Moshi, Tanzania hosts the International Kilimanjaro Marathon. People come from other nations to participate. Along with the full marathon, there is also a half marathon and a 3 mile "fun run." Three of our kids asked to participate in the 3 mile run this year - led by Antoni who was the enthusiastic leader of this group. His buddy Samweli immediately volunteered to join him and Mary represented the girls.
They all did very well and we were proud of them! We hope that next year we can actually buy them real running shoes as they all ran in the athletic shoes they had - but not true running shoes. We also hope to get more of our kids to participate next year!
Americans are estimated to spend close to $600 BILLION dollars during this holiday season - WHAT IF WE ALL GAVE A TITHE (ten percent) OF WHAT WE PLAN TO SPEND AT CHRISTMAS and directed it to BLESS ORPHANS????
It was beautiful day in Tanzania when we loaded up the Treasures of Africa kids in our two vans and drove out to the new TOA land to enjoy an American-style picnic. We spread blankets on the grass and enjoyed chicken, chapati and samosas for an African twist on the picnic menu!