June 1st started with ‘pick up day’ for nine of our boarding school children studying at the same school. It means two trips up and down the dirt track and then drop offs in four different locations, with a couple of stops on the way to buy essential underwear, slippers and snacks needed for a month of holiday at home. June 2nd a delivery of birthday cake for Abbi who humbled us with her birthday wish to have a new school uniform, her generous sponsor made sure she got to go Birthday shopping the very same day.

On June 4th we were delighted to welcome Eden from the USA who has given up her summer to volunteer with Hope and Soul for two months. This is her third trip to Arusha and so although she spends most of her time with us she has also been busy with some of her own projects. She collected an incredible amount of donations prior to her trip including water filters, homemade blankets and a huge collection of toys and books for our new Hope and Soul daycare. We are so thankful to have her and she has already been such a blessing to our young people who love spending time with our visitors. My original plan to open the daycare in June was in true Tanzanian style not successful and Eden has been supportive and understanding throughout the delay as we try to find a suitable building and manage the registration process (spoiler alert: We found our perfect house and will be opening our gates at the beginning of August!!). Eden has also organised her own outreach visits to maternity departments at local government hospitals to give gift bundles to new mothers including blankets, clothing, lotion and more which has blessed a great number of women who are often without even clothes for a newborn baby. The list of 'daily activities’ we have completed this month alone is a very long list! We love having Eden with us on this ongoing journey.

June is a long school holiday lasting four weeks which means it is a good time for our secondary school students to have tuition sessions and catch up on subjects that are proving difficult. This summer instead of sending our children to tuition centres we enlisted the help of two of our Secondary graduates fresh out of the education system. Victoria and Emanuel together with their summer students Fadhili and Lucy attended the office every morning for three hours of one to one tuition which proved to be fruitful on both sides. We are so pleased with the success of our older Hope and Soul generation supporting the younger. This is something I have dreamt of and it is so wonderful to see the reality of those who we have faithfully supported for a number of years using their skills to help the next generation.

I had a wonderful home visit to the family of Zuena, Murusali, Halima and their parents on June 13th. Hope and Soul built a house for this family with the funding support of volunteer Katie from the USA back in July 2022 and they are such a deserving and hard working family. Murusali and Halima are currently in boarding school, so it was wonderful to visit with all three children at home during school break. Zuena who is in her final year of Primary School told me she had the top grade in the whole of her year group during the mock exam. Murusali who is in his second year of Secondary and sitting his first National exam this September told me his mock exam was ‘somehow easy’. Halima who is now starting her second year of college was fourth in her class of eighteen for her end of first year results. Now, I will be the first to say, it is not all about grades and as a charity we understand that children have different academic abilities but what is so evident with all three of these children is that they are constantly trying their best and making the most of this opportunity. The parents are continually thankful for all that we have provided and continue to provide and I left that day feeling extremely content with the progress that Hope and Soul has enabled within this family.

On the same day I got a call from Mama Mwana to say that Mwana was very sick and had to be admitted to hospital. Our little Mwana is incredibly bright in school, talented in colouring which is her most favourite activity and loves her big sister as you would expect from most seven year olds. However she also has Type One Diabetes which is managed with insulin injections. Hope and Soul supports Mwana with her education needs but also more importantly this year we paid for one year of medical insurance which we plan to continue to support. This is a cost which is way beyond the reach of her single mother who sells peppers in the local market. Normally a hospital admission would be a huge financial burden for this family who would need to collect funds from extended family and friends. However this day was different, Mama Mwana was calling only to let me know what was going on but she also exclaimed that she could not believe she was not having to pay for the care Mwana was getting and thanked me again for this vital provision. I hope you understand these life changing provisions you incredible Hope and Soul supporters and sponsors are enabling! 

I loved this photo of Jenipha our social worker, looking beautiful as she always does enjoying a rare little ice cream treat while we waited for way too long to get keys to view a potential daycare building.

On the 17th of June we welcomed Donna and Caroline to the volunteer team for a non-stop incredible three weeks with us in Arusha. Volunteering with Hope and Soul is an opportunity to meet with so many of our incredible Hope and Soul beneficiaries and spend time with them. Caroline and Donna included volunteering, a four day safari and a Kilimanjaro hike into their three weeks. We made food deliveries to the community, played team games at the orphanage, uniform and shoe school shopping, home visits to meet beneficiaries, card games at the orphanage, bubbles, balloons, daycare teaching and so much more. Games at the orphanage is always a fun one for me when I have helpers, for two afternoons we split the children into three groups and we each led three different games. I loved hearing which game they liked the best and why, of course Johnny cheated in all three games and also seeing their eyes light up as they master different tactics.

June 19th we found our daycare house! This is one of our most exciting projects as a charity. After supporting Cherish Daycare last year for a little over six months we learnt multiple aspects of running a daycare and decided we would love to open our own. We are so excited to be well into the planning process of how we can support the children we will soon be welcoming. There are a lot of daycare centres in Arusha but they are normally run as a business for profit and parents pay a fee like in private schools. However our daycare will not have a monetary fee so that we can nurture the most vulnerable children in the community. We are so excited to have finally found our house that will soon be known as Hope and Soul Daycare.

The end of June included a few very emotional days on my side returning children to boarding school. I have the privilege of getting to live in Tanzania and so my relationship with our children and young people is very personal. I am known as Mama, Sister or Auntie to all of our beneficiaries and being part of big life milestones is always an honour and something I feel very deeply. There are continually so many little moments that are precious memories and this month has been packed with them. Fadhili teaching Eden Swahili as we trail around town buying school materials. Edgar ordering chocolate cake and donut for breakfast so that he can share with me. Lucy proudly presenting her home package to her teacher on returning to school after finishing all the questions with the support of Vicky’s tutoring. The back to school treat cinema trip with my older boys who are always proud to have a photo with me and so thankful and helpful. I could continue but you might never read an update again they are so long! It has in summary been a very blessed month with our visitors and lots of wonderful evident progress. I can not say it enough so please let me say again, thank you to each and every one of you who make this possible. Each and every day we thank God for you and your generosity.

Please remember on the UK side, if you are living in the Portsmouth area we are still offering Afternoon Tea packages which are great for your summer events with 100% of the profits supporting Hope and Soul. Send us a message on social media if you would like more information…