Meghan with Baby Amani getting into the Christmas Spirit....and Liwida opening her gifts



Santa Sanj with Connie.... and even Aza smiled all day!





A few of our 'Flown' children came back to spend Christmas with us.....Seba and Omari, Kevin, Rosie, Imani, Dotto and Bahati, Maggie and Haji all came with their families to celebrate with us and it was AMAZING to see them all looking so happy and healthy and clearly attached and in love with their families.

Omari and Seba

Maggie and her beautiful family

And, a bitter sweet moment to the day was saying 'Goodbye' to Lauren who went home to her Father after the party! We have cared for Lauren at Forever Angels since she was a tiny 1.2kg baby - and now she is a happy, energetic and chatty two year old. She will be dearly missed at Forever Angels but we are thrilled that this little girl now has her loving family to care for her. Goodbye Lauren - we will all miss you.

I seemed the spend the entire party talking to families so I didn't take as many photos as I had planned...but many other people did so I will add more tomorrow....Merry Christmas.....

This last year, we had 6 children adopted into new families and 12 children were reunited with their biological family. We have helped many severely sick and abused children recover and have seen them become lively and happy children. And we have even saved a few lives.

All of this care costs a lot of money - way more than I ever envisaged. But then again, Forever Angels itself is so much bigger than I ever dreamed! None of the work we do here would have been possible without you - our supporters and friends. Thank you all so much!

While I am on 'Thank You's....I do have a few more to say....

Thank you to my wonderful Trustees in England - especially my sister, Karen, and my Mum, Val, who dedicate so many hours to Forever Angels and who, without their passion and hard work, our work here would not be possible. Thank you both from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you to my amazing Staff - especially Lilian and Josephine our Assistant Managers who do such a great job and who truly care about and love our children. And thank you to all the fabulous Volunteers who have given their time and energy and love to make Forever Angels a wonderful home to so many needy children.

Thank you to my sister Zoe and her children Cameron and Sadie for moving out here to Tanzania and being such wonderful support to us as a family, as well as at Forever Angels.

Thank you to my friends out here in Tanzania (and all over the world - you know who you are!) for being constantly inspiring and encouraging, especially on the busy days, or crazy days, or heartbreaking days.

Thank you to Rob and Liz and everyone else at Bugando Hospital who have cared for our sick babies this year....many going WAY above and beyond normal duty to save our children - thank you!

Thank you to my wonderful Manager/best friend/saviour/strength - Meghan. Without you Forever Angels TRULY would not be the wonderful place it is, and I would not be (in any way!) sane! From the bottom of my heart - Meghan - there really are no words.....thank you!

And to my family - to Ben, Barnabas, Tia, Molly and Leila....thank you so much for being my every day - thank you for sharing me with so many other children who need me, and thank you for being the best family anyone could ever wish to have.....I love you all.

Thank you to my Dad - where ever he may be - for he is still my strength and inspiration. I love and miss him every day.

And lastly - thank you to each and every one of the 102 children who have been part of our Forever Angels family. They are all amazingly resilient, wonderfully loving and truly amazing little people and I adore each and every one of them. They are the reason I smile each day.

Thank you.....and Merry Christmas to you all.

I just wanted to post these photos of Amina and her new adoptive Mummy, Babette. They have been a 'family' now for a few weeks and it sounds like they are doing wonderfully and really enjoying getting to know eachother and love eachother.

I wish you both a wonderful Christmas together - what better gift?

It seems to have been a quiet few days (although I should know by now that is not a good thing to say out loud as it never stays that way for long at Forever Angels!!)

Our babies all seem to be growing up so fast. Already our newest twins have doubled in weight and are over 3 kilos each!

The Big Babies are all starting to take their first steps - Margaret, Yusuphu and Evie are among them.

The Toddlers are all getting excited about Christmas and Charlie must ask me a hundred times a day what we are going to eat on Christmas day and whether he will get a sweet!!

Elizabeth seems to be having quite a good week. She is drinking well and seems confortable.

Ernest has his good and bad days - on good days he is great fun - but on bad days he is in pain and life just seems too much for him. We have been desperately trying to diagnose him with something - but the Doctors are still at a loss. The latest ideas are Thalassemia and he is almost certainly severely anemic though we are not sure why.

I just want to thank Liz and Rob Peck SO much for all their support and care with our babies....especially Ernest. They are off home to America for a few months holiday today and I just wanted to let them how how much I value their (almost daily!) support and advice with our babies. Right up until Rob boarded his plane - he was sending me advice about Ernest! Thank you guys - we are going to miss you.

Meghan is now back from her (well deserved) holiday back home in the States. I am thrilled to have my best friend and Manager back and the children and staff are equally as delighted - Welcome Home Meg!

Thank you to one of our past Volunteers - April Maciborka - for arranging a 'Silent Art Auction' in Canada in January. Please see our 'Fundraiser' page for more details.

Thank you also to Erika Lowe for all the work you have been doing in the UK for Forever Angels....you have saved me literally hours and hours and I am so greatful. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

One year ago today, Forever Angels lost one of our most active Trustees in a tragic accident......and I lost my Dad.

Not a day goes by that I do not think of him and love him and wish we could turn back the clock.

Not a day goes by that I do not question why.

But, also, not a day goes by that my Dad's inspiration, influence, support and encouragement isn't seen at Forever Angels Baby Home.

By Dad was a major influence in my life and in all the choices I have ever made.....but he was also a huge part of Forever Angels and he always will be.

Dad - I love you and miss you more than words can say.....today more than usual, you are in my every thought.

I hope you are looking down on us all and smiling.
I love you. Always and forever......

Your 'Poppet' Amy

I just wanted to write to say how incredibly touched I am at the generosity of people who read my Blog. It has been just four days since I asked if anoyone could help with the postage of sending Christmas gifts to our Baby Home children and the response (from friends and total strangers) has been just amazing.

I have had offers from people wanting to fund the entire amount, to people giving their pocket money for the week, to people asking everyone they know to give £10 - I am just so greatful to each and every one of you. And it is such proof that the Forever Angels babies touch the hearts of so many people all over the world. I ADORE these babies....each and every one of the children who have been cared for at Forever Angels will always have a place in my heart. People tell me how wonderful I am for doing the job I do - but I am the one who feels blessed. These children are truly wonderful and every single day they can make me smile and 'laugh from the belly' as my dear friend would say. I am just so thrilled that they also touch the hearts of others because they truly are such wonderful and deserving children - and could bring out the Christmas Spirit in anyone.

We will, for sure, now have enough money to send the Christmas gifts for our children - but if everyone who pledged is still happy to help us - we will also be able also buy and ship more than 300 other Christmas presents for equally deserving children here in Mwanza AND pay for a wonderful Christmas dinner/party for the Staff and Children at Forever Angels (including hire of a Bouncy Castle and 'Slip and Slide' for the day!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you SO much to each and everyone of you who responded to our email. We truly appreciate it and there are going to be lots of very happy children this Christmas in Mwanza!

Thank you to Nathalie Liefhebber and Urban Mangement Consultancy.
City Beautiful
Impuls partners
LoosVanVliet
The Kell family
Louise Willis
Orla Gavin
Nicki Campbell and her incredible family and friends.....

Here are a few photos of our beautiful children getting into the Christmas Spirit too.....thank you Line for your stunning photos!

Last year we had amazing support at Christmas from a variety of schools in England who collected Shoe Boxes filled with Christmas gifts for our Baby Home children.

DHL shipped these out for us (Thank you so much) and we ended up with so many lovely gifts - we were able to split them up and give them to over 400 orphaned children in 5 different orphanages....so as well as making our own Forever Angels babies very happy indeed at Christmas - we gave Christmas cheer to many other needy children too.

This year we have had similar wonderful donations of shoe boxes but we do not have anyone to ship them over to us and they are all sitting in my Mum's house in Cheshire...... Since time is of the essence right now, a speedy service like DHL would be fantastic but we do not have the funds to pay for this. The cost will be about £500 to ship over a huge box of toys and sweets for our chidren ...... but we can not warrant spending Baby Home running costs on this.

If anyone knows anyone who would like to help us this Christmas by paying for the shipping costs - you would be making lots of wonderful children very happy indeed this Christmas....

Please contact Amy on amy@foreverangels.org

I thought I would add this photo to my diary today! This is a daily sight at Forever Angels - a days worth of washing!!



What news do I have today.....?

The new twins are doing really well and are ridiculously cute!

Ernest is still not well and having fevers every day. I have an appointment to get a heart Echo done on Thursday to see if that is the problem as his heart appeared enlarged on a recent x-ray. I wish we could just get a diagnosis for him as he does suffer poor thing.

Elizabeth's shunt appears to be working - but to me it is draining too fast? Her head is very, very sunken now where all the fluid has drained away and it makes her look very sick. Mind you - she is drinking well and did not have fever today so fingers crossed she is feeling better with such less pressure in her head.

I am trying to arrange our Christmas party at the moment and so far, it looks like we will be cooking dinner for 400 (yes FOUR HUNDRED!) people! I like to invite my staff and their families to share Christmas with us, as well as all the families of the children in our care....and apparently - that is how many people it comes to!
It wont be traditional turkey and roast potatoes (we'll probably have no electricity anyhow!) but will be making Pilau rice and slaughtering a few goats! I have also booked to have Mwanza's only Bouncy Castle and Slip and Slide so it should be a fun, if exhausting day.

Mathias is going home to live with his Dad on Friday, and on Saturday, Imani is going home to her Mum, ChaCha. Then next week, Lauren is going home to live with her Dad and siblings. It is wonderful that these children are all getting their families for Christmas.

I think that is all the news for today.....