Well - another week seems to have passed me by since I managed to sit down and write my diary! Sorry if there are any avid readers out there!

The D&V bug has now finished thank goodness....it got staff, kids, volunteers and my family....but everyone seems fine now (except my husband Ben of course - but he is a man so OBVIOUSLY has to have it much worse than everyone else!!)

So Baby Home News.....

Davey now walks and is very proud of himself.

Yunisi continues to thrive at Bethany Orphanage and is very happy.

The Preschool is amazing and the children are all developing so well. The evenings are much quieter now as they are all worn out from a hard day at school! They have been on many trips out - the latest being to visit some local pigs for their topic on 'Farm Animals'.

Lauren is now happy and healthy again. Her Father continues to visit her regularly and adores her.

Tumaini is gaining weight well - but still tiny and great for cuddling!

Aika is becomming a real little personality - so funny and naughty and cute!

I have asked my staff to really work with Katy each day and I think she is really benefitting. They are doing music and singing and masage and she is really enjoying this attention.

The babies and special needs children are also getting daily massage which they really love.

Sammy is now standing up and very close to walking!

Mary (Leila) is now able to sit up and we hope to have a court hearing very soon to complete her adoption.

Juma's Dad and family returned to visit Juma today and I had to break the news to him that Juma has got some brain damage - we took him for a Brain Ultrasound last week. It was the hardest thing to ever tell this wonderful man as he is already the sole carer of Juma's 13 year old sister who has severe Cerebal Palsy. I am not sure why, if there is a God, he works in such a way? This poor Father adores his children - but is not able to work and care for them alone?
I bought his daughter a whhelchair last month when I first met her - but it is too big for her and her posture is not at all good in it. I have paid for Juma and his family to stay in a Guest House tonight so that he can meet my sister Karen tomorrow. She is arriving in the morning from the Uk with her children and my Mum and (although she doesn't know this yet!) I hope she will be able to help us to fix the wheelchair so that she can sit properly in it - and advise her father on some other issues - feeding, physio etc.

We are going to get 3 new toddlers sometime very soon. They are being transferred from Musoma Orphanage (as their age limit is 2 years and these children are turning 3 soon.) I have just been to our carpenter to get a few more beds made to accomodate them!

VOLUNTEERS TAKE NOTE:

We are having a few issues with Volunteers and Immigration - so if you are coming to volunteer - PLEASE make sure that you have a CTA Business Visa and that when you enter Tanzania they stamp it correctly. Some have been stamped with 'Employment Prohibited' which is causing some issues! Basically - we seem to get different answers from Immigration and the Tanzanian Embassy whenever we ask them about the visa required for a Volunteer. Today's advice (from the big man in Mwanza Immigration) is that volunteers need a Continuing Temporary Assignment Visa (a CTA Business Visa). It costs $100 US and lasts for 2 months - but you can renew it (and pay a further $100) for further 2 month periods.

That's all the news for today....

Well - both Chloe and I will go to bed exhausted tonight after another busy weekend!

Lauren, thankfully is now out of hospital and is doing much better.

Many of the other babies unfortunately now have a tummy bug though - as do many of the staff - so we are very short staffed - and Chloe and I are having to try to cover shifts as well as complete all our daily jobs.

We are using LOTS of nappies with so many poorly tummies!

A new volunteer arrived today for one month - welcome Mathilda.

Amos is settling in well - he has the most adorable little smile and loves to be cuddled.

Mary's Uncle came to visit this afternoon - he was knocked down by a car last week and needed help with his hospital bills. This is a common occurance here in Mwanza -the streets are dark, pedestrians wear dark clothes and there is no street lighting....however excitingly - street lights are currently being erected from the airport into town so I hope this will save many lives....of course we never have any power to make them work!!

I received a call from Benedicto's Mum (the baby we were supposed to receive on Friday) - Benedicto's Dad just died so she and Benedicto now have no support network at all. I will work with Social Welfare to try to convince them to let us help this young Mum and her baby - at least for a few months.

Baba Haji is now getting very sick and I don't think it is fair to keep him working at the Baby Home. He wants to work - but at this stage in his illness he needs to be resting. We will continue to support him financially - but are planning to stop his shifts from July. He will be free to come and do some simple gardening on the days he is feeling well but he will not be comitted to anything. He is very keen to find an adoptive family for Haji and wants this to happen before he dies. He adores his little boy and wants to know that he has a happy future ahead. We both have someone special in mind - watch this space.....

Oh - and we have a new (and not very wanted) addition to the Baby Home! It is a long story - but my phone was stolen in town last month and very annoyingly - all my numbers were not stored anywhere else! I know which group of street sellers stole it and so me and my friends have all boycotted their stall for a few weeks! I think they have done very bad business because of this and so today - they brought me a 'sorry' gift.....a live goat!
Now - those who know me will know that I 'don't do' animals! Babies yes, children yes, even some adults are ok - but animals - NO!

This goat bleats alot and winds up the dogs - Ceaser and Womba. He / She (how do you know what sex they are?) is white and so we have called him 'Mzunga' which means 'white person' in Swahili! It amused me anyhow!

I tried to be nice to Mzungu as I wanted to take a photo of him - but he attacked me with his VERY sharp horns! So now me (and my bruised and cut right arm) are certain that we do not 'do' animals!!

Mzungu looks kinda cute hey?......





.....but babies are cuter and they don't butt me! (well, not so violently anyhow!)

Oh - I just read the news about Zimbabwe and am so upset. Zimbabwe is a beautiful country full of amazing and loving people. Living there started my love of Africa and the children I cared for there are the love and motivation behind Forever Angels. I am distraught at what will become of these wonderful people.

Today was a VERY busy day! April arranged for the Toddlers from Pre-school to go on an outing to a local restaurant. They are learning about 'clothes' in school this week - so they all got new party clothes to wear and made hats to complete the outfits. They went in a bus, had a wonderful lunch, did face painting and games and had cake and sweets. The kids all had a wonderful time. Thank you April so much for all your amazing work with Pre school.

Here are some photos of the kids ready to go....



Zawadi


Molly


Gracie


Joseph



and of Pre School with our new tiled floor!





Meanwhile - Chloe and I spent 4 hours at hospital trying to discharge 2 babies who we'd been asked to take to Forever Angels.

One is a 4 month old boy called Benedicto. His Mum is only 16, an orphan herself, has no milk and is very sick. She loves her son, but can not care for him.

The other is a 10 month old boy who we have called Amos Isaac Ebenezer. He was found on the street 3 months ago bruised and beaten and has been in hospital ever since waiting for his family to be traced. This has still not proved to be sucessful - so today he came to Forever Angels.

Amos


Getting them out of the hospital with the correct paperwork took 4 hours....and then, we were told by the Social Welfare Officer in town that we can not take Benedicto and that his Mum has to care for him herself. His young mother has no idea what she is doing and has no means to feed him. Benedicto has already been admitted to hospital 5 times in his short life - for malaria, poisoning and stomach problems as he has been fed porridge from birth.
I am not able to override Social Welfare decisions and we have to stay on good terms with them. Friday afternoons are never really a good time to get problems resolved at Social Welfare so I gave his mother some money to buy milk and told her to call me if there is any problems over the weekend. She is going to go back to Social Welfare on Monday to ask for help - so we may care for Benedicto yet?

Sometimes it is very hard to see babies like this. With his Mum he will inevitably die. She begged us to take her son - and yet we do not have the power to say yes.

I also got a message from Social Welfare in Dar to say that some children from Musoma are being transferred to Forever Angels. I do not know when or why, or even how many....but I guess we will one day find out?

Lauren is back in hospital. She has e-coli which has an incubation period of about 7 days...meaning she caught it is hospital. She is on a drip and is doing ok - but she really is too small to be suffering like this?

Well - my husband has actually had a free weekend for a change and managed to put new photos of all the children in their profiles...please take a look to see how our angels are growing up.
Thanks Ben - and sorry to everyone else that it has taken so long!

Lauren is now almost fully recovered and is back to her smiley, happy self. She will be coming home from hospital on Monday.
My own little angel, Leila (Mary) is now sick with pneumonia but she is at home with me and is still as happy as ever!

I have got a few cute photos I've been meaning to put up for a while....

Fun at the Baby Home....









Very cute....





Tired after a hard days play!....

Here are the promised photos of yesterday's pre-school 'Body Art' session - SO messy but such fun!!

Felista


Omari


Adamu


Esther


Jack




Sophia


And the final masterpieces.....

Today was a happier day all round.

Lauren is doing SO much better which is a huge relief. She is just too tiny to be sick? She was finally diagnosed with malaria which I am quite cross about. I know sometimes catching malaria here is inevitable - but it really doesn't need to be. In almost 2 years we have only had 3 cases of children catching malaria at the Baby Home - and 2 of those have been in the last month! I showed my staff again today how to check that the mosquito nets are properly hung every night and we have had a carpenter come in to put plastic 'flaps' at the bottom of all the external doors in the hope of keeping mosquitos out.

Anyhow, Lauren smiled at me this morning and looked so much better which I am thrilled about.

When I got home I had a wonderful surprise as Salum was at the Baby Home for a visit! His Dad still works for us as a Night Watchman and every day when I ask him how Salum is doing since he left Forever Angels, his face lights up and he smiles a huge grin and tells me that they are both so happy!
Today I saw for myself what a good job he is now doing with his son. Salum is exceptionally healthy looking, he clearly adores his Dad, and most of all - he is very happy.



Now that is a Forever Angels success!

Tomorrow I will post some photos of the Pre school class - today they were in the garden body painting on huge peices of paper. What a mess....but what fun!

Oh - and I have just set up a new fundraising page for all our supporters who shop on line! If you buy anything on line....flowers, car insurance etc - please do it through our Forever Angels site and we get money donated to the Baby Home.

http://www.simplefundraising.co.uk/3914/

Lauren has been admitted to hospital today. When I saw her this morning she had fever and was very dehydrated. I think she has pneumonia but we have not had an actual diagnosis yet.
She is on fluids though so I hope we have caught whatever it is in time. It is so hard to see these tiny ones so sick.

Katy is also still not well. She is really struggling to eat and every mealtime is a battle. She is not gaining wight properly and I think if she was in the UK she'd have a feeding tube? Poor little thing is very frustrated and her posture is getting worse. I am hoping we will get a proper chair for her soon so we can at least work on her positioning. I am really looking forward to my sister Karen's visit at the end of this month as she is going to help do some training with Katy for my staff.

That's all for today - I am tired and need an early night.

Well it has been a busy week at Forever Angels.

The Pre school is now in full swing and the children are getting used to their new routine. They are all loving Preschool and it is such an amazing addition to the Baby Home. Thank you SO much again - April and Regina.

We have received two new children in the last 2 days. On Thursday - Issa joined Forever Angels. Issa is about 3 years old and was left on the street. He was very unhappy for a few hours when he first arrived but now he is smiley and confident and ruling the place along with Joseph!!



Today we received 10 month old Felista. She was left with a neighbour by her Mum who never returned about a month ago and has spent a month in hospital. She is a very happy, smiley and chattery little girl.



That brings our total to 37 children - our highest number yet. It doesn't usually 'feel' like there are that many children at Forever Angels though - they are always split into 3 groups (tiny babies, big babies and toddlers) and they are generally separated so it usually works well.

37 is a LOT of babies though!! I was waiting for my son Barnabas outside school today and I tried to remember all 37 children. I got to 34 without a problem and then struggled to 36 but I could not remember the 37th child!! Anyhow - driving home it came to me - Jack! How I could forget this little bundle I will never know. He is ADORABLE!
Jack has the softest hair imaginable and I can't bring myself to cut it...it is just SOOOO lovely.



Anyhow - this week....as a hint to me from my staff - they have started to braid his hair!! It is a good job he is young enough not to remember this!!

Due to a few volunteers dropping out at the last minute - we are now in need of volunteers during our (usually!) busiest month!

If anyone wants to come to volunteer at Forever Angels - or knows anyone who might want to volunteer - PLEASE ask them to contact me at amy@foreverangels.org

We have spaces available from today up until August 1st.....

This morning Forever Angels Baby Home Pre-School opened....

The toddlers had a wonderful morning playing with playdough, glueing and sticking, singing songs and doing a treasure hunt based on the theme of 'Colours'.

Molly (my adopted daughter) and Beth (who used to be 'Asha' at Forever Angels and who was adopted by Mark and Jo Topley) also came and will come every day to Pre School.

Thank you SO much to April (our Volunteer) who has done an AMAZING job setting it all up and to Regina who she is teaching to later take over.





















A great day was had by all......and we can't wait for tomorrow.....

WOW - Today my Mum arranged a 'Bag Pack' in Morrison's Supermarket today to raise money for Forever Angels and she just told me that they managed to raise £1,500!

THANK YOU SO much to EVERYONE who helped today - to my family (including my Grandparents!), the Forever Angels UK Trustees, past and future Volunteers and everyone else.

And - Mum - what can I say? THANK YOU!

Another week is over and things at the Baby Home are fine. We have had SO many ill children this past couple of weeks with coughs and colds and fevers and conjunctivitis - but we treated them all at home and they are all now over the worst of it.

Tumaini is SO adorable - I DO love the tiny ones!!

Seba, Omari and Maggie are now toddlers....well, Maggie is, but Seba and Omari do not seem to be coping too well yet so are in a 'transitional phase' between baby and toddler!

The Pre-school is 'officially' opening tomorrow - I really must say a HUGE thanks to our Volunteer - April for all the hard work she has put into the setting up, planning and organising of it. I know the children are VERY excited.

Pascal's Dad came to visit today - he is supposed to be taking Pascal home this month and was VERY keen to which I am thrilled about - but his new wife is due to give birth any day and he is also due in court for a bus crash he was involved in - so we have persuaded him to take Pascal in July instead. Pascal was our 4th Baby Home child - but our first actual 'baby' and I totally ADORE this little man! I am delighted that he will return home to live with his family - but I will miss him SO much!
Here is a few photos of ..... Pascal through the ages....