Our latest news...
January is our busiest month as a charity with the new school year starting, one of our main within Hope and Soul is to ensure across all our projects equal access to education and where possible high quality education. I will tell you that I have struggled with being so far away from Arusha at this time of busyness and sadly no amount of prior well made plans could have secured a hassle free month for our social worker Jenipha. She has in all her wonderfulness risen to the challenge and worked incredibly hard with only video calls and WhatsApp messages for moral support. I have said it before and I will say again, Jenipha is the reason that I can confidently leave Tanzania and know that I will return in a few months to the very same charity being run at the very same high standard. She is an incredible God given blessing to me and to the charity and to everyone that she meets.
So what can I possibly need to update you on? Well this will be a much shorter update than usual but we do have an important event to share with you and we would love to have your participation and support. On Saturday March 2nd we will be hosting our very first Quiz night with two incredible prizes to be won. Please reach out on the number below or send a message on the Hope and Soul website as soon as possible to secure your team a table…
I have been very blessed to spend time with family and friends in January but equally committing long hours to working incredibly hard on all the administration work that comes with running a charity. I really do learn everything as I go but I feel the more I know the less I know and I have to schedule walks and trips to the gym within the day to make sure I keep a clear mind for what can become a very overwhelming workload. I do however feel very grateful for my incredibly supportive parents who I get to stay with during this time and the Hope and Soul trustees that stick by my side through all my big ideas and keep my feet firmly on the ground.
Jenipha and I communicate on a daily basis and I have still felt very much part of all the ongoing activities in Tanzania, she sends me photos of the children which are incredibly special and it has been a true success that all children have either started or returned to school as planned with all the correct school uniform, stationary and boarding school supplies. We still have children that have school needs requiring sponsorship and so if you or anyone you know would like to learn more about what sponsorship through Hope and Soul involves, please do reach out.
On the 18th of January we celebrated the incredible feat of Matt and Leroy successfully reaching the top of Kilimanjaro in aid of Hope and Soul. A trip that was postponed due to the pandemic but the committed friends were faithful to complete the incredible challenge and proudly stood at the summit in Hope and Soul T-shirts!
If any of you live in Portsmouth you may have seen that we had an almost two page spread in The Portsmouth News on the 23rd of January. It was surreal having a long phone call conversation with the very kind reporter who then told me that I could not read the article until it was published and then picking up a paper on the evening of and seeing such a generous and thoughtful account of our story so far. It is still available to view online if you didn’t get a chance to read it..
Lots of people have asked how it feels being in the UK and if I am looking forward to going back, the question is still a little strange to me because I view both here in the UK and Tanzania as home so I always feel like I am ‘gong back’ whichever way I fly! I know that I am here in the UK for a purpose and so I currently feel content to focus on that purpose although it is not all as picture perfect and fruitful as I imagined. I have a faith which guides my heart to have hope in things unseen (Hebrews 11:1), what a great name I was given that I would be reminded daily to hope!
“Hope” is commonly used to mean a wish : its strength is the strength of the person's desire. But in the Bible hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised and its strength is in His faithfulness. This is easy to type but often in all honesty extremely hard to believe when it can seem like nothing is working out as planned. It has been a tough month but Hope and Soul has never been a result of my own strength or works. The miracles of provision that I have seen in the past are what makes for an even greater story that glorifies the God who has the very best plans. For those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:31). So how am I feeling? Expectant and hopeful and alwaysbthankful for the small things, the big things and everything in between.
Thank you with all my heart,
Lots of love from Hope xxxx
