Havilah Village Children's Home

NEW WEBSITE

2011-01-30T02:08:00.000-08:00

We are very excited to have a new website for Havilah Village at www.havilahvillage.com Please stop by and check it out!

It is better to give . . .

2010-10-31T07:36:00.000-07:00

We are still working on the concept of giving. In an effort to teach the children that it is better to give than to receive, we have been giving out items to those in need around us. A few weeks back we gave out clothing, then it was rice, then beans and the most recent item was sugar.

Clothing Giveaway

2010-09-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

Kids are ready to go!

Neighborhood children taking their "new" clothes home.

Even the mamas enjoyed the new clothes!

This week the children distributed some used clothing to neighborhood children. We are trying to teach the concept of giving without expecting anything in return. What a great experience for them to be a part of. Not only were the children and their parents excited to receive the clothing, but our children really got into the spirit of giving and one little boy literally gave the shirt off his back. They had to much fun they decided to do it again a couple of days later.

Fun in the Sun!

2010-09-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

All in the poolCool Benny

Yasini coming up for air
Little Mery

Ruth and DoriSimon taking the plunge
Collin and Isaya warming up

We took the kids to the pool today at Ngurdoto Lodge. What fun they had. We finally had a day that was nice and warm, but the water was still cold. Despite that fact, the kids had a great time. Then we came home and had ice cream floats. They all went to bed early tonight, tired out from a busy day.

New Faces

2010-08-30T12:18:00.001-07:00

Ruth

Jordan

Our volunteers have arrived. After about a week of getting used to things they are now in full swing. Ruth and Jordan are attending Southern University. Ruth's home state is Arkansas. She is a sophmore and majors in Social Work. Jordan is from Florida and is taking Graphic Arts. We are happy they are here and the children have made them feel very welcome. At the present, Ruth is working with the children in House 1 and Jordan is working with House 2. We will be moving them around so they can get to know all the kids. Karibu to both of you!

Up, Up and Away!

2010-08-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

This month has been filled with fun things and new experiences. Last Sunday, we took all the children on a field trip to Arusha airport. We have several boys that are facinated by airplanes. Erick desperately wants to be a pilot. Teacher Maureen had a great idea of taking the kids to the airport to see the airplanes. A doctor friend of Teacher Maureen's donated some money for the children to do something special. So we put the two ideas together and came up with chartering a small airplane for one hour. They put the children into groups of five and each group got about 15 minutes of flying time. The kids had a blast! We got different reactions from the children, some absolutely loved it, some were scared, some a little queezy, but overall it was a memorable experience for them and so fun to share with them.

Summer Fun and Sad Goodbyes

2010-08-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

Teacher Maureen & House 2 Teacher Maureen & House 1

Watching videos on the computer. Filling water balloons!
The whole group at the picnic.

Teacher Maureen is a volunteer that has been here with us for 5+ weeks. All of the kids have learned to read while she has been here. What a blessing to have her here helping the kids. She just loves reading and promotes it heavily so the kids have enjoyed reading and being read to while she has been here.

Yesterday we had a picnic in her honor. We played games all afternoon like duck, duck, goose, water balloon toss, relay races, and even some African games. We had a picnic supper at the pavilion with roasted hot dogs, baked beans, potato chips, potato salad and ice cream. So much fun was had by all.

Today Teacher Maureen left to go back to the United States. There were many tears and sad goodbye hugs. We will miss you Teacher Maureen but will hope and pray that you come back next year! Thank you for your time and love.

More Construction

2010-08-04T04:22:00.000-07:00

Abdul reading with Teacher Maureen

Latest work on Administration Building

It was so nice to have Baba Frazier and Mama Virginia here for the past couple of weeks. Much construction was completed and the new administration building is really coming along. Days are getting warmer. The kids are on a break from school for this month. Nice to have some time off for them. We have a volunteer teacher from the states here working with kids for about six weeks. She has been a tremendous help in teaching them to read among other things. She is amazing with them. Really good at what she does. We are blessed to have her here. When Maureen leaves we will have 2 volunteers coming for 10 months. We are looking forward to that as well.

Cold days

2010-06-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

When you think of Africa you think of hot weather. Well, sadly that is just not the case all of the time. Right now it is "winter" here and I am cold!!! For the past 2 months we have had rain and cold. This is the long rainy season and even though most of the rain has ceased, it is still cold. The temps get down at night in the high 40s and low 50s. And the daytime temps are in the 60s. One day this week it may have gotten up to 70. But when it is damp, it is cold. I am wearing socks, long pants, and two shirts everyday just to keep warm. In August the temps begin to climb and stay warm until next March. Remember, we don't have heat in our homes, nor are the houses insulated or sealed. We do have hot water, so fortunately I can take a hot bath at night to warm up. We drink lots of hot drinks and try to keep moving. With the colder temps also comes sickness.

The changing temperatures bring ear aches and colds in the children. We are dressing them warm, but we have had several trips to the doctor, even for us. Sinus infections, colds and runny noses are prevalent. But through it all, God is good and all of us are doing better.

The second floor on the administration building is finished. Yeah! We are looking forward to the next phase of construction.

We have a teacher coming in July to spend 6 weeks with us. She will be working with our teacher and doing some extra tutoring and so on with the kids. She was here last year and the kids all know her. It will be great to have some extra help. In August we have 2 volunteers coming (college-aged girls) for 10 months. This will be new for us but we are excited to have them come be a part of our team. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and we embrace all these new experiences! God will lead us, we know, even though we know there will be many things to work out.

Thank you in advance for your prayers and support.

Pouring Cement

2010-05-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

Our days are busy now. The second floor of the administration building is being poured. What a process here to pour cement. First, we had to borrow a mixer from our neighbor, Peter O'Neal. He was gracious enough to lend us his. But then we needed to move it to Havilah. We had to round up a truck big enough to carry it, and enough men to load and unload it on and off the truck. Then we had to rent a motor to turn it. Next we hired 45 people to pour the floor. You might be wondering why in the world do we need 45 people? Well, it takes about 5 people to run the mixer, one puts in a bucket of sand, another water, another cement, another gravel. When the cement is ready, they unload it into buckets and pass it up an assembly line of people to the top floor. They empty their buckets and pass them back down. Then there are people on the roof that are smoothng the cement and putting it in place. Such a long process. It will take about 5 days of this before the top floor is poured.

MISSION GROUP

2010-03-31T04:58:00.000-07:00

We have been busy preparing for a mission group from Takoma, Maryland to come to Havilah. They are a group of 31 people, mostly high school-aged young people. There was much to do to prepare for their coming -- houses to clean, slashing the grass, planting the garden, maintenance, buying supplies for building while they are here, landscaping, and even haircuts for the children. They arrived last Friday.

The mamas and I prepared a meal for them with traditional African food. We made chapati, ( a flat bread like a tortilla), beans and rice, ugali and greens, a fresh vegetable salad, and platters of fresh fruit like mango, pineapple, and watermelon.

So this week has been incredibly busy. We had 10 people staying in our house and the rest of the

group staying in the other empty house. The girls in the group stayed with us, and the boys stayed in the other house. It was a blessing to have them here.

They have been working on the new administration/learning center. This is the building project that we are working on right now. We have two houses that are empty that we are working to fill with children and when the new building is finished we will move into an apartment there for the directors. James and I will also have an office for each of us.

While the group was here they were busy seeing sights as well. On Sabbath they hiked for about 3 hours up Mt. Kilimanjaro to a waterfall. They also went in town to Arusha to the Cultural Center. They went on Safari to the Ngorongor Crater. They visited ADRA and the Cradle of Love baby home and a Maasai market in town. We went on the safari with them. What a beautiful place! The Crater has some of the most beautiful scenery. We saw many animals that day as well, but not too many that we haven't seen already, except we saw some lions from a distance. That was really cool. Can't wait til we get to heaven and we can see them up close and have no fear of them! While we were there, we visited a Maasai village. What a great experience! We saw dancing, we went inside their homes (which by the way are made from cow and goat poop -- lots of flies!) We visited with them and learned more about their culture. They have some very interesting traditions. Sabbath evening ended with a wonderful dinner at the Ngordoto Lodge (a beautiful 5 star hotel about 2 miles from us). Thanks to 2 very generous ladies that paid for the whole group. We ate some traditional African food and got to see some acrobatics and dancing. Really cool. Some of the kids even took a swim. What a beautiful evening. It was so nice to "get out". The group left on Sunday and things have been back to "normal" this week.

Blessings to you all for a wonderful week ahead.

Safari!

2010-02-09T10:56:00.000-08:00

We had the opportunity to take the kids on safari (big thanks to Ned and Emily for donating the funds)! We rented a bus and off we went to Tarangire National Park. We all had such an enjoyable time. Below are pictures of the many animals we saw. This park is home to many, many elephants. You will find more here than any other national park in Tanzania. That's why you see so many pictures of them. We took a picnic lunch and ate outside at the park. The day was hot, but on the way home it rained very hard. We were glad we had nice weather while we were in the park.

Christmas in Africa

2009-12-29T01:31:00.000-08:00

The children received gifts like blocks, barbie dolls, cars, radios for the older kids, helicopters for the boys, and dolls for the younger girls. They all got a new pair of pajamas from teacher Maureen that look so adorable on them. On Christmas day, James, Maddy and I spent from 8:30 in the morning until 10:00 at night in the kitchen, with little break. We made homemade dinner rolls, apple pie, apple crisp, carmel apples for the kids (they have never had these!), potatoes and gravy, corn, Special K loaf (sort of) for us and we roasted 8 chickens for them. They are not vegetarians as we are, but we don't buy any meat for them. Since this was a special occasion we decided to buy chicken for them. It was lip smacking good I was told. And the carmel apples were a big hit.

Christmas Comes Early

2009-12-29T01:22:00.000-08:00

Christmas came early to Havilah. Ned Greene, the first director, came for a visit on December 17 - 20. The children were so excited to see him. Our older children remember him very well. The little ones somewhat and we have some that have never met him. But it was so funny. They ALL ran out to meet him, whether they knew him or not. He just enjoyed being around the children for 3 days. He took them for walks and hung out with them. He went to church with us as well. On Saturday evening Ned gave gifts to the kids. He brought each of them a homemade coloring book, with a special nickname on the front. He also brought some DVDs of cartoons, and some CDs with children's music. He bought them 3 new scooters, balls, and jumpropes. They are so much enjoying his gifts. James, Maddy and I enjoyed meeting Ned as well and hearing his stories and asking him questions about things they did when he was here.

Christmas Break

2009-12-14T04:19:00.000-08:00

The children are on a break from school (the ones who attend the primary school). Actually, their break began on November 22. So we decided to take them to town for pizza. We are trying to work on their manners around other people. They did very well and we were pleased with their behavior.

Yesterday we decorated Christmas cookies and Christmas trees. We also made some homemade decorations for the tree. I am not sure if they have decorated cookies before, but they really seemed to enjoy it, especially the little ones. We had frosting on the table, on the chairs, on them and even a little on the cookies! They are so excited and counting the days until Christmas. These are pictures of their trees. The first is House 2 and the third is House 1.

Busy Month!

2009-11-03T12:05:00.000-08:00

October was a busy month for us. On the 13th we celebrated Abdul's 7th birthday. The children have been busy visiting their families. On Sundays, Uncle James takes them around in the van to the families that live close by and the children have a chance to spend some time with their grandparents or aunties.

They have been studying hard in school and some of them are tutoring after school. We have divided the children that study here at our school into two groups. We have a morning class with the beginners and an afternoon class with the children that are a little more advanced.

Yesterday, we celebrated another birthday. It was the 8th birthday for Dorcas. It was a beautiful day so we had a picnic supper, complete with cake and ice cream. We played games like duck, duck, goose and relay tag. The children were tired out and ready for bed after they had played so hard and ate so much!

Trip to Wildlife Sanctuary

2009-09-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we all climbed in the van and went to the nearby wildlife sanctuary. The kids call it the zoo. Some of it is like a zoo, some of it is like a wildlife sanctuary. The kids love to ride in the van. Our van is a 10 passenger van. Today, there were 19 children and 5 adults! Too funny!

Picnic Supper

2009-09-20T10:29:00.001-07:00

We had a picnic supper on Saturday evening. We roasted veggie dogs, had potato salad, baked beans, potato chips and cupcakes. Yum, Yum! We all enjoyed ourselves very much!

Learning To Play Baseball

2009-09-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

James had a fun time on Wednesday, teaching the kids (mostly the boys) how to play baseball.

Yasini is a little slugger!

Making Cookies

2009-09-08T12:42:00.001-07:00

Today we made peanut butter cookies with the kids. Making them was fun, but eating them was more fun!!

Movie Night

2009-09-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening we had a popcorn and movie night in honor of Father Frazier. Since it was his last night before leaving we thought we would watch one of his favorite movies. The grownups enjoyed it as much as the kids and the popcorn was great!!

Farewell to Thomas and Evelyn

2009-09-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

It is with many sad faces that Thomas and Evelyn say farewell. They are going back to Germany after serving as the Directors for Havilah Village for the past year. We thank them for all of their hard work and for taking care of things at Havilah. The children will surely miss you!!

Pictures from their farewell pizza party.

Mission Group

2009-08-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

We had a mission group here in Havilah. They helped us to go forward with construction. We had a really nice time together with them!!! Here some pictures taken while they were here.

Activities

2009-08-04T10:07:00.001-07:00

We cleaned all water tanks, because we had problems with our water.

What can I say? The kids still love to play with water.

Kids in the Havilah van.

Thomas and Benny at Lake Duluti.

Ariel and Mariella Say Good-Bye

2009-08-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

On June 1 our volunteers Ariel and Mariella went backto America.
We say thank you very much for the nice time with you together!!!

Bye bye, Ariel and Mariella.. we will miss you!!

Havilah under construction

2009-05-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

House 4 almost done

Materu in front of the new administration building

Havilah busy busy...

What Has Been Done At Havilah

2009-03-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

On the road with our new van. We already found three new drivers.

30min from Havilah is a small stream.
What can I say, the kids love to play with water.

Here we share food with our friends from “Peace Matunda” Orphanage in Tengeru.

We had a special evening. All kids slept in the activity room.

We visited the family of Erik. They wanted to give us a present, but they had nothing. So they gave us the only thing that they had, a chicken. I didn't want to take it but felt obliged. Now we have a new pet in Havilah. I am always impressed because of the hospitality from the people here in Tanzania.

We had a nice evening in the gazebo with a big campfire. We all love the fire :-)

We had some swimming activities. It was really fun for all the kids.

WE HAVE A VAN !!!

2009-03-05T22:00:00.000-08:00

We have now our own van!!!! The kids and also the adults are very happy about it. It is very important for us, because now it is much easier to have outings with the kids and to go shopping.

It is a Toyota Hiace 4WD. We all love this car :-) thank you to all sponsors in Germany, Austria and USA.

Construction is going on

2009-03-05T20:59:00.000-08:00

Firs we have to by the material, this takes in Tanzania a long time..

Frazier and the Timberwomen, she was happy to sell us timber…

Materu, Frazier and Thomas waiting for the chipboard..

Here comes the sand..

Kitchen house 3 under construction..

TNG comes on the ceiling

Plastering...

Mamas also help to finish the buildings..

The entry from house 4

This is the digging for house 5

Snake Farm

2009-02-18T01:59:00.000-08:00

We went to the Snake Farm. It is near Havilah Village. There are many snakes, crocodiles, turtles and also iguana. It was really funny for the kids.

Marry X-Mas

2009-01-04T06:36:00.000-08:00

Days before Christmas we baked a lot of cakes, cookies together with the kids…

All children say “ Vielen Dank!!!” to our friends and families from Germany and Austria
for all the gifts to Christmas!!!!

Karen with her new pants …

Vivi with her new airplane…

Loveness and her new toys…

All children got a big sand box built by Julius!

Beni with his new outfit as a “strawberry” playing in the sandbox…

We had a great Christmas-Lunch in the gazebo with friends, neighbors and the whole Havilah family!
A lot of cake, chicken, cookies, rice, beans, soda, lollys… A lot of sugar!!!!

News from Havilah

2008-12-03T05:06:00.001-08:00

The Volunteers invited all adult to a very big and delicious thanks giving meal. Thank you very much to our Volunteers!!

We visited the grandmother from Lavu, it was a long walk. She lives in a very nice region.

The “University of Arusha” had a very big graduation party.

We had a big BBQ, the plan was to make it outside but it was rainy, so we eat inside.

Activities activities activities

2008-11-15T21:58:00.000-08:00

On Sunday 16th November Max Church (Director of ADRA ) invited all kids to a Water-Game-Party!
It was great! They played different games and had lot of fun in the pool!

…and we had “chakula kizuri!”…very good lunch!

The Children say “AHSANTE SANA BABA MAX” from ADRA for this wonderful day!

On this weekand we borrowed us the Van from ADRA so we drove on Saturday to a Seven-Days-Adventist Church in Arusha.

The children enjoyed it and it was a big blessing for us! All dressed up!

Our guard Julius cut Thomas hair!...we were all exciting!...especially Evelyn!
In the end, she was really surprised! Now, he looks really good!!!
(I should say…Evelyn told him before…either Thomas looks good or Julius can leave Haviliah! :-)

Once we had a “Pyjamas Party” with house two..…the girls slept in Evelyn `s bed and Thomas slept in the boys room…. We had so much fun! …Sereti, Jessica, Laiti and Diana…they got stickers and nail-varnish…they loved it!...like girls do… We, Thomas and Evelyn, we couldn’t sleep very well…sometimes the kids snored loud like old grandmothers and grandfathers! Incredible!

On Sunday 9th November we went on Safari with the kids from house 2 to the “Arusha National Park”! Everybody was exciting and happy!

Mama Joyce and little Simon

Even Mama Joyce and Mama Sarah! Lake Momela

Everybody was looking for animals!

We had lot of fun!
Praise the LORD! And THANKS to our German friends for this day!!! And baba Max for the Van!

Ventures with car

2008-11-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

Lake duluti

Some good friends from “Good Old Home Germany” and our STA-church in
Germany collected some money for our kids to do some trips with all children together…
So, we borrow a little bus from ADRA! …and our first journey was to the “Lake Duluti”.
All 20 children and 5 adults had space in this little bus !!! Praise the Lord!

Ariel scared on board!...

mothers on board..

Evelyn on Board!... hanging the feet in the water together with little Enoch!

“Arusha National Park”

Our second trip was to the “Arusha National Park” …. Safari!

Last Sunday on 02.11.2008 we went with the kids from house 1, and next Sunday
on 09.11.2008 we will drive with the kids from house 2!

Sometimes Karen have driven the bus ;-)

Everybody wanted to sit in the front!

Sometimes tree kids sat down on Evelyn`s lap at the same time!

They saw a lot of animals like this giraffe…

Some monkeys, some zebras, some pigs, some buffalo and many many ants
Which all bit the kids …..

On a wonderful place on a hill we had a good picnic!

….”…mmmmhhh…WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD!!!!”

All together!!!!....

Lake Momela… in the Safari Park!

We had lot of fun together! Praise the Lord!!!
The children want to say “ASANTE SANA”
to all who helped to permitted them to do these trips!!!
More will follow!!!...

New Directors, first Blog

2008-10-28T00:32:00.000-07:00

Hello here are the new Directors, Thomas and Evelyn from Austria and Germany. We are very happy that we are here with the kids. It’s really a wonderfull, nice and blessed place.

but we are realy sad about, that Ned and Emilys left us.. this is the last picture of them

“Don`t play with the water”….. a sentence which we often say to the kids!!..they love to play with water!

…So we had a small “water-battle”! It was so funny and all kids were very happy! Thomas, Evelyn, Ariel and Mariala were the chiefs!

Laughing children is a blessing!
Vero

Simon

Jacki

Lait

Seret

Deo

Playing together with Ariel…

“Fun time”….. a wheelbarrow full of kids

Some impressions to be together with the kids…
Evelyn with kids in haus 2

Thomas and Vivi

Evelyn and Viki

Two little monkeys from havilah!

New Directors Arrive!

2008-10-09T23:37:00.000-07:00

The new Havilah Village Directors have arrived safely and are finding their bearings here in Tanzania. Please meet Thomas and Evelyn Simader! Here are Thomas and Evelyn visiting the village home that two of our new children came from.
Here are Frazier and Lawrence at the same home (note the makeshift restroom facility in the background).

The following are just a sample of photos taken during the last few weeks.

Emily with the 'new girls,' Jessica, Diana, Lait, & Sereti
Dorcas, Vivi, and Jackie dressed up in traditional garb.

Meriella & Ariel with children all dressed up for church.

All kids enjoying the new picnic tables in the new picnic shelter!

Karen at the market with Ned.

Close up of Cory- he got to go to the market too that day!

This is Julius, the day watchman, and his family in front of his house. His mother (far right) has came to the house a few times to help out with the children when we did not have a house mother.

Ned and Emily will be leaving Tanzania in just 6 days. We are very excited to see friends and family but will dearly miss Havilah Village. We want to thank Frazier & Virginia and Global Vessels for the amazing opportunity they have allowed us here. We love these children as our own and are excited to watch them grow up in a home that is as blessed as Havilah Village. Good Bye for now!

House 2 Officially Opens!

2008-09-16T03:57:00.000-07:00

We recieved 10 new children in House 2 this past Monday and they are sure cute...among other things. We have been without e-mail for a week or so, but will try to get more photos of them posted very soon!

First thing we did when the children arrived was to cut hair and take baths!
The 'old kids' were outside pushing the 'new kids' on the swings so we ran out to take photos. This is Diana, being pushed by Yasini. Her little brother Deo is a thumb-sucker.

Group shot.

We went for a walk the first afternoon and paired each kid up with another from House 1 to show them the ropes; this is Eric trying to teach Kevin some of our favorite songs.

All 20 playing London Bridges- or something kind of like that.

The best part of the day was right before lights out; last time a mission team came from the States Mama Kim brought along cabbage patch kids for the girls and we passed them out to help ease the pain of having to sleep in those great big beds all alone. These were VERY happy little girls.
Diana- 5
Sereti-5

Jessica - 5
Lait- 3

Meet the Mamas!

2008-09-16T03:43:00.000-07:00

Mama Sarah is the mother for House 1. She has been here for about 4 months and is a fantastic mama. Her family comes from the Lake Victoria/Serengeti region of Tanzania and she has come to this side of the country looking for work. She reads Bible stories to the children almost every night, is a great cook, attends English classes every afternoon, and loves to eat cake.
The House 2 mother just arrived 3 days ago, meet Mama Joyce. We have known Joyce for several months because she has been working nearby at the Esther Daycare/Preschool center. She comes from the Lake Manyara region of Tanzania, speaks perfect English, and her father is an SDA pastor.

We are excited to have these two young ladies because they have enough energy for all of the hard work. We also think they are going to have a great time with Areil and Mariella.

MEET THE VOLUNTEERS!

2008-09-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

We would like to welcome two new volunteers from Andrews University! They arrived about 3 weeks ago and will be spending the next 10 months of their junior year here in Africa.

Ariel Ross (left) is from San Antonio Texas, she is studying Anthropology and International Development. We are going to take in 10 new children soon and Ariel is going to tackle the job of working in the second house to help train and teach the new, younger children.

Mariella Beazley (right) is from Vancouver Washington, she is an aeronautical engineer and airplane pilot! Mariella will continue to help out in the first house and will take over teaching and preparing those children for the first grade. We are happy to have them here! Another new addition: Please meet Loveness Tumaini. She is six years old and a real sweet heart. She fits in really well with the House #1 Gang and we are very happy to have her.
Dorcas and Karen: These girls are the old timers around here, but we thought they looked so great in their school uniforms that we wanted to share a snap shot. School started Sept. 8th and they were happy to go back and leave the home school 'baby class' behind.... well, at least Karen was happy to go back!

Abdul, Vicotria, and Vivi: Hey! What about us? Don't you want to take our photo too?!?

Photos From Other Outings

2008-08-31T06:55:00.001-07:00

As we have said before, the children at Havilah love any chance they get to take an outing... especially if it involves getting in a car! This group photo is from Easter. We were invited to go into Arusha and have lunch at Mama Rhoda's house. She had a TV AND served the kids soda, so it was a real treat!

We also took a trip to the nearby Snake Farm. Yep- snakes!
This particular snake is harmless, but even so Karen was the only child brave enough to hold it.

Here are Yasini and Enoch watching an Egyptian Cobra dancing, just like in the cartoons.

The girls taking an afternoon walk. This is something we try to do every day. This photo is from Frazier's visit back in February. We took the kids (via mini van) to a wildlife sanctuary where zebra, ostrich, water buffalo, and exotic birds are grazing just 30-50 yards away.

ALL DRESSED UP!

2008-08-18T02:46:00.000-07:00

Everyone loves Sabato and the opportunity to put on their pretty dresses!

Here is Ned with his mapacha (twins), Vivi and Vicki

Friends holding hands on the way to church.

Karen recieved this beautiful 'gowni' when the student group from Tacoma Academy came to visit...and she loves it.

Of all the children, Vivi has the biggest heart for her brothers and sisters. Here she is giving a tired Enoch a lift home from church.

House 1 Gang: All the kids, Ned & Emily, and Mama Sarah

CREATIVE ATTEMPTS

2008-08-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

It has been a good 8 months or so since we first broke into all of the wonderful arts and crafts supplies in the 'Activity Room' here at Havilah Village. These photos are from the very early days.... when we had to learn how to put our fingers in the little holes AND keep our fingers bent in order to make the scissors cut anything. We learned what glue is, how to trace our own hands, and much more.

(Here are Dorcas, Vivi, and Abdul concentrating on cutting a straight line!)

At first they were so timid and would not try any of the crafts themselves, "I can't do it, I don't know ho," they would say. I finally decided to leave them in the activity room alone to be free with all of the supplies...even the glue. It worked well because they all became really excited about their own little creations. When they drug me back into the room to show me what the had done I discovered that they had indeed found their own creativity, and had literally glued it all over the walls!

(This is one of Jackie's most common mischievous little expressions.)

Abdul Rabi and Eric wearing their new pipe cleaner spectacles.

Karen sporting hers...

Cookie Monster

2008-08-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

This in Enoch (Enochi). Global Vessels brought a mission group to Havilah to continue work on the next two children’s homes, and among them was Enoch’s sponsor from the U.S. She brought him the new sweatshirt he is sporting in this photo. He has no idea who or what a cookie monster is, but is very proud of his new clothes all the same!

Field Trip Anyone?

2008-08-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

This is Dorcas…waiting by the front gate. The other day I came outside and found her dressed in her American pants (otherwise known as jeans) and school shoes; she was carrying in her bag a pair of pj’s, a toothbrush, and a hair brush (which is an essential item for a girl with a bald head).

“Dorcas, where are you going,” I asked.

“America. You are going to call Uncle (who is our cab driver), he is going to take me to town, and I am going to get on a big plane to go to America.”

I was pretty darn cute, but at the same time we felt for her because we know what it is like to really want to get up and go somewhere...anywhere;

So- we made a field trip to near by Lake Duluti!

Very First Boat Ride!

Dori, Erick, Victoria (Jackie & Enoch in back)

Karen, Ned, Yasini (Singing Row Row Row Your Boat)

View of Kilimanjaro from the water.

Abdul, Vero, Vivi

It was quite an ordeal to reach the lake, it involved two Dala Dala rides (the local bus) and a lot of walking. But it was well worth the trouble to see the children running toward the water screaming "ona, maji kubwa!" (Look at the big water!) The largest body of water they had seen was the mud puddle that formed in the road during the rainy season, which is not nearly as exciting... or clean.