I finished my previous newsletter with a note about travelling back to the UK in September, I am pleased to say the trip back to Tanzania at the beginning of October went well. The time at home provided an opportunity to send out a number of postal updates to sponsors which is a task that takes a couple of days to prepare lists, write envelopes, print newsletters, order photos and then a huge game of matching everything together. Sending postal updates is something I have taken pride in doing as regularly as possible since starting Hope and Soul but we have now reached the bitter sweet point of needing to transition all our updates over to email. The workload on my side is not a problem because I view it as the least I can do for such generous and supportive sponsors and donors but the issue is the cost of posting. We now have an increasing number of International donors adding significant cost and its not financially sound for us to continue when we can use the funds for such precious work here in Tanzania. I love to receive your messages and pictures when your sponsor child photos arrive in the post and it pains me to stop such a special service but we will do our best to make you feel equally valued through email updates.

I arrived in Tanzania with half a case of my personal things and two and half cases of donations! The Amazon Wishlist request that I shared on social media was incredibly successful and it has been a joy to share the majority of the gifts with the children at Hope and Soul daycare. I had an incredible donation of ‘thats not my..’ books from a family who were reluctant to part with such a precious collection but they were so proud to see photos of our children enjoying the donation and they are a current favourite at story time. If you purchased from the Amazon Wishlist and/or gave donations this year we can not thank you enough. It is not always possible to share pictures of where the donations end up but thats because often they are given to the people in greatest need where it is not appropriate to take photos. For now we look forward to continuing to share photos on social media of the daycare toys from the Wishlist which are proving very successful.

October is my preferred month to start Christmas shopping! Arusha is a busy and fast growing city but it is not built to manage the increasing traffic levels, combined with the amount of motorcycles, tuk-tuk’s, pedestrians, cattle and more on the roads it is chaos even on a good day. December when schools are closed and many people travel to visit extended family the population of the city feels like it doubles! Trying to do Christmas clothing shopping and new academic year uniform shopping in December takes all the joy out of the ‘most wonderful time of the year’ so we start early! The orphanage children are priority for getting new clothing and so I take two or three at a time to choose an outfit from the large range of clothing in the central market. It is a definite highlight of the year for the children who are fortunate enough to receive clothing and shoes and it is a joy to watch them light up when they find that special fit. Thank you to everyone who has donated to our Christmas clothing appeal to buy a new set of clothes for a child in need if you would still like to donate you can find the link in our Instagram bio @hopeandsoultanzania.

The end of October saw a joyous graduation celebration for our Hope and Soul Daycare teacher Janeth. She finished her one year of training back in May but since working with us from the opening of the daycare it was a real treat to attend with Zena and Rose (Hope and Soul Daycare staff) and Jenipha (Hope and Soul social worker). The Daycare team grow closer to each other and stronger as a team everyday so sharing the celebration with them and Janeth’s family was a delight.

The rent on my house finished at the end of October and following the break in during August it was definitely time to move. I was very proud of myself for finding the cardboard box seller in the central market and then after five car loads and two trips in the ‘guta’ (a motorised tricycle which is a common form of transport in East Africa used for transporting large items) I was finally in my new home! Praying that I will have peace in what I hope will be a safe new space. We are now well and truly in the run up to Christmas although with current temperatures of 26°c to 29°c as usual it does not ‘feel’ very festive. Having said that, valuing the real meaning of Christmas hope, joy and love in the birth of Jesus I am finding contentment to be in a place where we see the little things mean the most.