Hello loved ones! I think a few of you may have viewed a slideshow I shared on facebook about this time two years ago, sharing the stories of three friends I made whilst backpacking through Tanzania - Nicholaus, Marco and Mapamba.

Please excuse any long windedness, spelling or grammar errors I’ve whipped this up in a bit of a hurry!

For anyone reading this that didn’t see that slide show, I shared the story of Nicholaus an inspiring young man I met who is Maasai. His community at the time I met them in 2010 were facing serious food shortage and poverty due to draught, reduction of their grazing lands and loss of livestock.

Nicholaus’ community had been totally neglected by the government and not received aid from other organisations as many other suffering communities had. But they stood strong and worked together planning for a better future as best they could. They began fundraising to build a pre-school in the community - unfortunately a bad person from the community ran off with half the money. It was not long after this that I met Nicholaus and helped his community buy the materials they needed to construct a class room in the village. However they were hit with another streak of bad luck – the truck transporting the materials was in an accident, and we needed to come up with the money for transport and replacement of some of the materials. – Which is when I called upon friends and family via that slideshow to see if anyone could help out.

You’ve prob already seen these pics they are from last time I was there, I haven’t re-visited the community yet, going out bush tomorrow! Exciting – I will be out of contact mumma, take note back to Moshi next Thursday.

Thank you so very much to those that were able to make a contribution. (Especially the anonymous donation of $500 whoever you are!) Great success! We finished the pre-school and with further fundraising both with in their community and back in Tassie we have gone on to construct a second class room.

I presented Paledo to the Sandy Bay Rotary club and by chance the international program director for Tasmania was there visiting, he got our contact details expressing that Rotary may be able to offer on-going support! YAY and HOORAY! I am back in Tanzania right now to get more photo documentation and to meet with the committee to discuss our vision and projects and to develop proposals for grant money from other organisations. So things are really starting to kick off for Paledo :D – Through this organisation we will now also be able to help Marco (the other Maasai friend I made) build a pre-school in his community. THANK YOU to everyone that made a donation to help make this happen!

Nicholaus asked me if I would help him co-found a NGO to help his people and other indigenous pastoralist communities and as we grow. We became registered as a legal NGO this year Dedicated to improving pastoralist communities livelihood and conserving and regenerating Africa’s precious ecosystems. Have a look at our website later ! www.paledo.org (Kindly made completely free of charge by Nathanael Jeanneret at One Tonne Graphic Designs.)

The other very exciting and wonderful reason I have returned is to help my dear friend Mapamba (or Rasta as the locals call him) establish an orphanage! Two years ago Mapamba (who grew up as an orphan on the streets) shared with me his dream to start an orphanage, “Even as a young boy I one day hoped that when I was big I would be able to help children.”

Shadrack, Mapamba, Exaud

Someone advised Mapamba a few years ago that if he wanted to start an orphanage the best thing for him to do was to talk to wazungu (plural for white people). Mapamba has never been educated but managed to teach himself English on the street.

Although he has talked about his ideas to many wazungu so far only one muzungu (singular white person) has been able to offer to try and help him get the ball rolling. – Unfortunately for him I’m not really the best muzungu that could have offered assistance, I’m not rich and didn’t have the first clue about how to start an orphanage (though it’s turning out to be pretty simple)

Mapamba – Followed by a crew of local kiddies. (Everyone in the area adores this man!)

With the excess money the slideshow raised Mapamba was able to rent a small and humble mudbrick single room house in the slums of Arusha, in which he took in 6 children, the money also went towards school fees and uniforms for the kids.

Benjamin

For 2 years we have continued supporting these children. Becoming registered as a legal orphanage proved to be quite difficult from the other side of the world with, Mapamba’s limited English and the difficulty we faced in trying to communicate. I’ve returned to finish writing a constitution with his input and the members he has recruited that share the same vision. We have met with a lawyer to undertake the necessary processes to become registered as a Non-Government-Organisation. Things are progressing well!

Moses

Perhaps the other wazungu Mapamba has talked to didn’t get the chance to spend enough time with him to really get to know him and the kids he is trying to help. Mapamba has an enormous heart and amazing drive and passion to help children.

He is very smart, motivated and has great ideas and goals to make his vision reality – he just needs a little help getting things off the ground. We’re fortunate to have been born into a society where the resources to help projects such as this are at our finger tips – literally in the way of computers and networking so I’m sharing his story again!

Mapamba Esther

It has been very wonderful to come back and visit with Mapamba and the youngsters. He has created a beautiful home for them filled with love and happiness. Seeing this has assured me that this man will indeed run a beautiful orphanage, creating a home and family for disadvantaged children and youth.

Mapmba has moved from Arusha to Moshi because the authorities were disapproving of him housing 6 children in one room that was only about 4m by 4m – They have upgraded to a better room in Moshi with a floor! However it is still about the same size .

Benjamin, Gloria, Frankie, Shadrack

We have just looked at a wonderfully, amazing, massive, magnificent house to rent and expand the orphanage! For just $50 per week we can start setting up a beautiful home that could eventually house 20-30 children. Though there is a slight set back - before coming back here I was not aware that rent in Tanzania needs to be paid up front for either 6 or 12 months. ANNOYING. I hoped I would be able to cover the rent for a place myself until we became registered after which we will apply for funding and assistance from larger organisations. But I don’t have the money we require for 12 month payment....

So here I am doing another shout out to see if anyone might possibly like to chuck in? The slide show I shared two years ago raised an amazing $3000, which without having any overhead costs made a huge difference to the lives of many children. Some people also expressed interest in providing on-going support, so I thought it might be worth trying our luck again! Having an established residence will also make things a lot easier when I return home and apply for funding from other organisations. Shadrack

To begin with the orphanage will depend on individual donations ,however our plan is to create a self sustaining home and family network for displaced persons.The property has enough land to grow veges, and host a cow for milking. Mapamba works a lot with ‘street’ orphans – typically boys aged 6-18 who have turned to the streets because the orphanages they were in were unpleasant or their families did not have the income to support them. For the older boys we are going to build a work shop on site and provide training in wood work and metal work. The boys will work together building furniture to be sold to support the upkeep of the orphanage and attain a skill they can take away with them when they wish to start their own family. We’ll also provide equipment for art, craft and music.

Dogo – perhaps we’ll buy them some better shoes than flip flops to work in!

Exoud

This is Gift the oldest boy Mapamba has taken in. He lived on the streets for 2 years before living with Mapamba. He describes the orphanage he was in as being like prison. Some mornings they were only given a cup of tea for breakfast and children were regularly beaten as punishment.

Gift describes an incident when a lock from one of the doors was stolen, Gift though innocent was blamed for the theft and beaten black and blue. The teacher yelled at him saying he would not stop beating him until he admitted the theft, Gift didn’t take the lock so never admitted it and copped a hiding. He left the orphanage after this incident and slept in gutters for the next 2 years.

Gift is Mapamba’s right hand man in providing care for the other children. He cooks for everyone, making sure lunch is ready on time for the children when they come back from school on their lunch break. He washes the clothes, keeps the room clean and shows such kind love and nurture to the little ones. He is beautiful young man wise beyond his years and wants to help Mapamba run the orphanage and create a home to raise children in a better environment than the one he grew up in.

With the kind help and IT skills of a work colleague Adrian, I have brought 5 donated laptops (thank you donators!) back for Mapamba to open a little internet cafe in Moshi, from which he will advertise the orphanage to tourists. We’re going to have a campground on site to make some extra cash. Mapamba does day tours for tourists passing through Moshi and Arusha - walks to waterfalls etc, so the internet cafe will also provide a good way for him to market his business, the profits of which he uses to help the kids.

Our vision: To see needy children nurtured, nourished, educated, and most importantly happy and loved.

Our mission: To establish a self sustaining home and family.

If you’d like to be a part of the network and give a donation (even just $5 -$10 would really help us!) my bank details are:

Annabelle Watson ~ BSB: 06700 ~ Acc: 10552578

If you are interested in providing continued support please do send me an email! ellebanna_11@hotmail.com or fbook message - I will keep you posted on our progress and send you a link to the website when its up and running.

Cheers All thanks for reading! Big love. See when I’m back!p.s maybe you might like spread the word and share this on your walls !? Any extra money raised after the rent is covered will go towards setting up and supporting the orphanage through the early and most difficult stages. And if there is a generous millionaire that happens to read this contact me for the long list of wonderful things I could put your spare money towards! ;)

For children – is our name, unless anyone can suggest another? Quick before we register.