Starting with a very deceptive photo of a watermelon and cabbage in our Hope and Soul daycare store! I can assure you, both are an above average size (compared to UK supermarket standards) and provide enough watermelon and cabbage for all of our twenty two children and five staff for the week. Jenipha (our social worker) ensures she sources the very largest produce during the weekly market shop for the very best prices! So which is it, the watermelon is as small as a cabbage or the cabbage is as large as a watermelon. I promise, both are huge! Note to self: new picture needed which includes a child for comparison! On a more interesting note, the second photo showing Mama Zion with our wonderful new store room shelving unit was part of a very generous donation made by Australian friends of Hope and Soul and also included new furniture  and resources for our additional daycare children. Mama Zion our wonderful early years chef had her store cupboard shelving of dreams made and the biggest pot you have ever seen in order to be able to cook large quantities of porridge for so many hungry little ones!

On the 4th of March we were delighted to welcome Shannon and Lloyd from the UK - our spring Hope and Soul volunteers. They enjoyed an action packed schedule for two weeks including a  once in a lifetime four day Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater safari and plenty of time for singing, cuddles, teaching and renovation work at Hope and Soul daycare. A highlight for us all was taking a group of our youth boys to the waterfall for an afternoon adventure, they are an incredibly thoughtful and appreciative group, it is always a joy to spend time with them. An additional very big thank you to both Lloyd and Shannon for hosting fundraisers and also bringing over such wonderful supplies of donations for us. I particularly love watching the daycare children interact with visitors, wide eyed and cautious for a couple of days. Offering daycare places to children from backgrounds of such absolute poverty gives them a whole new perspective on life and exposure to so many new things. In addition, being little children they will never hide their reactions or feelings and that is why I treasure the precious moments of connections they make. I particularly love this photo of little G just looking at Lloyd in such admiration. I have no problem with them being cautious around new people for a few days but it makes it all that more special when little F nestles her head into Shannon knowing how authentic that love is. We are looking forward to welcoming more volunteers in June and we still have one place available for anyone who is interested please send us a message on social media for the details!

We very sadly waved goodbye to Shannon and Lloyd on the 18th of March and I got back to my normal routine of trying to keep on top of my charity administration workload, school visits, daycare shopping, distributing donations, Microfinance project business checks, counselling sessions and boarding school meetings!

I have two very special little stories from March, one of which I did share on social media but it definitely deserves a mention here as it really resonates with me. 

The Ruby Red Shoes… When I get to spend time with our young people I understand how much they value each and every little detail of our support. Being a teenager is (or was) a difficult time for all of us and being a teenager in Tanzania is no different. Sadly, in addition, most of the children we support have already had to cope with various childhood traumas. Then there are ongoing daily challenges such as parent addiction, HIV treatment following perinatal transmission, parental death, physical violence in school and more all before even considering the overwhelming poverty at home. On the 23rd of March when I met with Miss M wearing her beautifully kept ruby red shoes it reminded me of our little trip to the second hand market in January after I found her trainer soles had literally worn through to the ground. This is a teenager who owns only two pairs of shoes including her school shoes but she was ashamed to say anything or ask for help with a new pair. Now after two months of wearing them every evening and weekend after school, you can clearly see how precious these ruby red shoes are to her by how well she takes care of them even during the rainy (muddy) season. Just a pair of second hand shoes to anyone else, but to Miss M a shining pair of ruby red shoes that she feels comfortable and confident in. I think I will forever smile when I see her in them as it is a reminder of how every small detail of our support is life changing and confidence building for young people in such need.

On the same day I conducted an impromptu home visit to the home of one of our daycare children. She was born to a teenage mother and is now cared for by her grandmother, her grandmother being only in her early forties herself has a ten year old boy with special needs. In this small room with a rickety single bed and worn down foam mattress the grandmother cares for her own son and her three year old granddaughter. After receiving such wonderful donations from our visitors I knew exactly who the boys shirts, T-shirts and trousers should go to and I was delighted to see I had remembered his size well. Getting a picture of a little one who is constantly on the move is difficult but you can still see the joy in his face as him mother complimented him on how smart he looked in his new outfit.

Just two examples of single moments within one day, of course I have lots of difficult days and lots of itching in my seat administration days. Nevertheless all these days lined together fill me with confidence that although the work we are doing here in Tanzania may seem small compared to the huge global organisations, it truly is anything but small for the people it impacts. We are so incredibly proud of our small charity and the huge life changing achievements we have made possible. Thank you to all of you who make that possible.