February 3rd was a day of celebration for Jenipha our social worker as her dream came true - we bought a printer! After moving our office from a rented city location to the daycare and using local stationary shops for years for our printing and copy needs, it was finally time to purchase our very own. Jenipha had requested a printer during her last appraisal recognising its importance as a means to support our work efficiency, so she was all smiles when I told her today was printer shopping day! Jenipha is an integral staff member of our Hope and Soul team and is also a representative of our Tanzanian NGO Board alongside a number of other professionals. This February we met with the board for our Annual General Meeting prior to submitting our end of year report and accounts to the Tanzanian government in March. Due to the requirement of needing to be registered both here in Tanzania and in the UK we generally have two lots of work surrounding accounts, legalities, compliance and more and this is time consuming. There are however great benefits to having two teams when it comes to future plans and best practice because more minds provides more ideas, creativity, considerations and overall strength to the operations and outcomes of our projects.

February can often feel like a ‘check-in’ month after the busyness of January we take time to reflect on the new school starters, ongoing projects and beneficiaries that require additional support for the year and what that looks like in reality. Our Microfinance project that started in August of last year is an example of a venture that is quietly flourishing in the background of our daily activities. Six mothers qualified from a six week small business program led by a team of consulting experts, and at the end of last year four of the mothers self-identified as ready to start their proposed businesses. Now in February 2025 we are so proud to report that all four businesses are progressing well and following our first official follow up meeting this month the mothers were given cash books to start recording and hopefully recognise patterns of progress. The purpose of this project is to provide financial independence for mothers away from Hope and Soul assistance and it is a joy to see it working so well. Mothers having the skills and resources to support their families in a way that is sustainable and fostering the local economy. February is also a month for checking in on our new Secondary School starters, the majority attend boarding school but those who are studying locally we schedule visits to make sure they have everything they need and all the school contributions have been paid successfully. The step up to Secondary school is a big one so it was wonderful to see so many smiling faces and settled children during our visits.

On the 10th of February we held a parents meeting for the seven new children that would start at Hope and Soul Daycare the following day and then braced ourselves for a few tough days of tears (from the children not us!) as is expected with new children transitioning to daycare routine away from home. I spent the majority of the last two weeks of February at daycare supporting the staff with a few clingy and nervous little ones and even ended up with ‘little N’ in the office multiple times as she just could not cope with all the noise at playtime, who happily fell asleep as I worked on my laptop. On the 14th I had the crazy idea of doing little heart footprints with all of the children for Valentines Day - an idea that seemed simple enough in my head! The effort that went into creating these little masterpieces meant I was just not ready to part with them at the end of the day but we also made heart crowns so the children were very content with getting to wear those home! After just three weeks our little newcomers are all settled and smiles and I know it is because of our wonderful daycare staff who are constantly demonstrating such love and patience to all of our children.

Daycare, school and family visits, administration and repeat. I am personally very thankful that February has been a calmer month. It has not been without its challenges but the smaller ‘task list’ has given us space to work through the difficulties with patience and ultimately succeed in supporting our most vulnerable children in the best ways possible. ‘little E’ had a delayed start to boarding school because of family issues but she soared through her interview and Jenipha and I were incredibly pleased that we persevered and got her the very best opportunity. Less running around also means more time for cuddles and conversations, these are the moments when all the hard work makes sense and we can pause long enough to really see the positive and life changing impact our work has on so many precious little lives.