As promised here are previews of the Forever Angels Christmas cards - there are a number of different designs and they are all VERY cute. Thank you SO much to April for doing this, and to Karen and Val and AFIZZ in the UK who are currently arranging the printing of them.

I will put a proper order form on the website soon but PLEASE do not buy any other Christmas cards this year and order some of ours instead!

Well, we have had a busy few days and no internet so I have not been able to keep you all updated.

Firstly - GREAT news for my family.....Leila (Mary) was officially approved for adoption in the High Court on Tuesday - so she is now legally our little girl. We are all utterly thrilled!

We also have GREAT news for Tumaini (big Tumaini)as a family have chosen to adopt him and he should be going home with them in a few weeks. He is so happy about this!

We have appointed a part time nurse at the Baby Home. Her name is Mukya and she works in Neonatal Intensive Care at the main Government Hospital. She will come 2 mornings or afternoons a week to check out all of our children, to do medicals on our new children and to assist with our tiny babies.

Speaking of tiny ones....Remi is doing really well. She is so beautiful! She wasn't strong enough to feed all her milk with a bottle so she now has an NGT tube in. I have been doing training with all my staff this week about how to feed her with an NGT tube and today I had training at hospital myself so that I can put a tube in when necessary. Remi pulled hers out at 3am this morning!!

We have got a lot of 'bugs' going round the Baby Home. A lot of strange fevers, lots of flu and conjunctivitus! Somedays it seems never ending!!

Meghan is settling in really well and is slowly taking over the teaching at Pre School. April leaves next week and we will all be SO sad to see her go. She has been a truly AMAZING volunteer - working SO hard and developing SO much for Forever Angels - we will miss her a lot. Her lastest project has been taking photos for a Forever Angels Calender and for this years Christmas Cards. They are VERY cute!! If you are interested in buying either - please send me an email. I will put a 'preview' on the website very soon.

We are busy preparing for our Forever Angels 2nd Birthday Party on Saturday....the children are VERY excited that they will be getting cake and soda and balloons - I can't wait to see them all jumping on the bouncy castle.

Today we received another tiny Angel.....a premature 28 day old baby girl called Remi.



Remi Prisca was born 3 months premature on July 28th 2008 to a Mum called Salima Juma. Remi was born at home and weighed only 1.25 kg. Her Mum brought her straight to hospital where she was treated for infection (a risk to all premature babies) and given heat therapy as she was very cold (34.5 degrees)

She was admitted the the neonatal Intensive Care Unit which has a lot of machines and monitors and drips and probably looks very scary for a new Mum. It appears that Salima told one of the other 'Mums' in the Unit that she would not be able to afford to pay her baby's medical fees here and then she left and has not been seen since.
This is such a sad situation as the medical fees are in fact free for a newborn baby.

We are trying to trace Salima Juma but it is a very common name and I do not think we will be sucessful. Maybe though, this Mother did not want to be traced as she did not complete the paperwork required to admit a child to hospital?

I have spent the last week visiting Remi in NICU and trying to 'wean' her off breast milk and tube feeding and onto drinking formula milk from a bottle.

This morning the Doctors needed her bed so decided to discharge her. She no longer has an NGT tube so I am really hoping that she continues to take her bottle well and does not get too tired to feed.

Remi is a very pretty little baby who is 28 days old now and weighs 1.49kg. My husband has already told me I can't have this one - though I DO love the timy ones and she reminds me SO much of my youngest child Leila (aka Mary!)

Today one of my staff, Selina, went into labour at work! Her baby is not 'due' until November, but women here generally have no idea when their babies are due!
I took her home to get her clinic card and then to the hospital so we are now all waiting for news....

We finally got a quote for Solar Power at the Baby Home. This will give us lights at the Baby Home throughout the night in case of a power cut, but also in the Bethany House, Volunteer House, On Site Managers House (meaning we can still work during a powercut!) and some external security lights.
The cost is going to be £6,400 - so if anyone knows anyone with some spare change lying around who would like to help us with this - please direct them to me!

Take a look at our Project Proposals for details of this and our other ongoing projects.

Two years ago today - little Yunisi came to live at Forever Angels and we 'officially opened' as a Baby Home. So much has happened since that day!!

In the following 2 years we have cared for 64 babies and toddlers at Forever Angels Baby Home, as well as training our 6 teenage Orphanage Leavers from the Bethany Orphanage.

During this two years - I am happy to say that 12 of our children have returned home to live with their biological families, 4 of our babies have been adopted into new familes and 3 children have gone to live in Orphanages for older children. I see and hear from most of the families of these children and they are all doing really well.

Adoption seems to becomming more common in Tanzania right now and we have prospective families for a number of our abandoned children - so hopefully quite a few of our babies will soon go to live with their Forever Families.

A number of the babies we received when we first opened are now reaching 2 years of age and will also soon go back to live with their fathers in the next few months.

We continue to have a wonderful set of relatives who visit every week or every month and are really trying hard to make plans for the future so that they will be able to take their children home.
Forever Angels has been able to employ a number of these family members so that they are able to visit their children every day and really get a good attachment to them.
We have also been able to help a number of family members try to dig themselves out of poverty. We have helped some families start up small businesses, build houses and buy land for farms.

Sadly, we have also had 4 of our little babies die. I think those days have been the hardest 4 days in the past 2 years of Forever Angels. None of these babies came to us healthy and none were at Forever Angels for more than a couple of days but their loss is still huge. To Nyanda, Eamon, Adella and Mse - we will never forget you and we will love you always. Rest in peace with your Mum's.....

In the past 2 years my staff have grown from strength to strength. They are now an amazing bunch of people who clearly love these children and even opt to spend their days off taking the babies to church, or out for dinner or even for 'sleep overs' at their house! Two years ago I remember worrying so much about the care these babies will get as my staff had no experience or qualifications....now though - they are all wonderful! Thank you all!

We have also had some amazing volunteers over the past 2 years. These wonderful people give their time, love, and skills to come to Forever Angels to help it develop into something even better. The love they show our babies is so amazing and I am SO greatful to every single one of you. Some come for just a week, others have come for 5 or 6 months...but all of you have been wonderful and much appreciated. Then of course there is Chloe who has been here for 2 and a half years and who I am utterly indebted to and who is just truly amazing in her dedication to Forever Angels and our children.
Thank you so much.

I also need to thank the 'hidden' Forever Angels staff in the UK. Our Trustees and Friends of Forever Angels who raise funds, organise fundraising events, do our accounts and run our UK Charity....thank you so much. My Mum and Dad and UK family need a special mention as they work SO hard (with already very busy lives) to support us and make Forever Angels run so smoothly. It has been wonderful this year for both Val and Dave and Karen and my nephews Max and Sam to be able to come out to Forever Angels for long periods of time to really see what all their hard work is for. Thank you all so much.

I must say a BIG thank you to everyone who has supported Forever Angels in the past 2 years. To people who donate monthly and sponsor our babies, to those who have arranged fundraising events, to the people who send us clothes and blankets and toys and to every single person who has read our website and tried to help in whatever way - big or small. Without you all - Forever Angels simply could not function and these children would not have the love and care they now receive. Thank you so much.

I need to thank my friends out here too....and of course those who are far away but still so dearly missed and loved (you know who you are!). Living overseas is hard at times and your friends take over a role which back home your family would play. We have an amazing bunch of friends who are so supportive of our lives and give us so much encouragement and love and 'time out' - thanks guys!

And lastly I need to thank my wonderful husband and children! Ben - I love you and although you get the brunt of my frustrations and anger and rarely get chance to see the Baby Home yourself - you continue to support it, me and our family. Thank you.
And to Barnabas, Tia, Molly and Leila - you are the MOST wonderful children in the world. You have to 'share' your Mummy's love and time with so many other children and you never once complain. I love you all so much....(to the moon and back Barna!)

When I had my 'vision' for Forever Angels - I did so because I love children and hate to see anyone suffering. I did so because I believe that all children deserve love and care. I still see so much suffering every single day living here in Tanzania and often feel so 'small' because we just can not help everyone - but I also see our wonderful Forever Angels children, some of whom have suffered immensely in their tiny lives - but who are the happiest, most loving and caring children I know.

When you walk into Forever Angels you do NOT see 'abused, neglected, abandoned and orphaned children'. That IS who we care for - but within days of their arrival, sometimes even minutes or hours - this 'label' no longer fits these children.
Our Forever Angels children are loved, well cared for and very happy. So I think my 'vision' has been realised.

I don't think I knew quite how hard the work would be running a Baby Home. Or how emotionally draining I would sometimes find it. But I also don't think I really realised what an amazing place Forever Angels could ever be. And it truly is amazing. This is only possible because of our wonderful staff, volunteers, supporters, donors and of course, children. So thank you, thank you, thank you so much.....and Happy Birthday Forever Angels!

I forgot to metion yesterday that Bahati came with ChaCha yesterday to visit Dotto and to visit all of his friends at the Baby Home. It was SO lovely to see him again. He is a happy and well adjusted little boy who clearly loves his Mum and siblings. He was full of smiles and chatter and it made us all so happy to see him so well cared for and loved.

Today a new volunteer arrived - Meghan. She will be with us for 5 months and will take over April's role as Primary School Teacher so we are all very excited to have her here. Welcome Meghan...

Tomorrow 4 of our volunteers leave. Hayley has been with us for 3 months now and has been such a WONDERFUL help to us in all aspects of the Baby Home. Hayley was with me when Mse died and has been through a lot during her time in Mwanza - but she has been a wonderfully enthusiastic volunteer and always willing to do any jobs. Thank you so much Hayley - we will really miss you.
Mara, Kath and Maura are also leaving after 3 weeks with us. They are all Peadiatric Nurses and have been wonderful at the Baby Home and also helping with Mayega and Mse when they were in Intensive Care. Thank you for your help and welcome back any time....

The babies all seem well again now - except Juma who has some fever.

Mayega and Theo are drinking well and putting on weight each day which is great.

I think we will get a new baby girl next week - a tiny premature baby weighing only 1.3kg. She is in Intensive Care at the moment and is still being tube fed but should be discharged next week. I am going in to see her each day to feed her and get her used to a bottle. She is very cute and reminds me a lot of Leila (Mary) a year ago.

Forever Angels is 2 on Friday! So much has happened in those 2 years! We are celebrating with a big party on the 30th of August and will be getting a Bouncy Castle for the day!!

That's all for today I think....

Today I spent 6 hours with 2 very hardworking Social Workers, trying to find the 'real story' behind one of our babies - Felista. Unfortunately - it will not be a happy ending for this adorable little girl.

As far as we had been told - Felista was an abandoned child and recently she was identified by a newly approved adoptive family for adoption. For this adoption to go ahead - Social Welfare need to get a 'Police Abandonment Report' stating that the child has in fact been abandoned and no family have been found.
And in order for that to happen - Social Welfare or the Police need to make some attempts to find the family. In the past - we have really struggled to get them to do this - but today they were most helpful.

We knew the name of the lady who found Felista.....'Felista John' and we knew the area she lives. However - it soon became clear that trying to find someone of this name in Mwanza is a bit like trying to find someone called 'Tom' in England. There are lots!

After lots of false leads, climbing lots of very big hills, driving up very bad roads, attending Village Council Meetings (and a lot of cursing)...we finally found the Mamma who found Felista. We listened to (and believed) her story that a lady who she vaguely knew had simply left Felista in her garden and had never been seen since.
However - when we managed to trace this lady and her family - it emerged that there is more to the story than this.

Basically to cut a very long story short....Felista John's husband is the father of Felista....so she is an illegitamate child. Her Mother had been threatened by Felista John and so left the baby at Felista's Fathers house (the Mamma to 'found' the baby) and ran away.

We finally discovered all of this late in the afternoon and sadly, what it means is one of two things:
* Felista's family are known by name and could be arrested for Child Abandonment and then forced to take her home when they obviously do not want her and will not treat her well .... OR .....
* The paperwork to do this will be too difficult and Felista will spend the rest of her life in an orphanage.

This is what Forever Angels really wants to avoid. MOST children in Tanzanian Orphanages have some family members alive who 'could' be caring for them but who choose not to. These children are never able to be adopted (unless the family agree in which case they could be charged with Child Abandonment!)but they will also never return home. At Forever Angels we take a LOT of time to make sure this does not happen. We actively encourage family members to visit and track them down very quickly if they miss a visit! Most Orphanages do not have the time or resources to do this and so most 'orphans' remain in institutions for their entire childhoods.

For Felista - this will now probably also happen. She is a beautiful little girl who deserves a family who love her. She came very close to getting that but it seems it is not to be?

I WILL try to fight this - for Felista's sake and for the handful of other children at Forever Angels in similar situations. Social Welfare did a lot of work today but their findings leave them at a dead end which no one seems willing to question?

Elsewhere in the world an 'unwanted' child is also grounds for adoption and foster care. Here it seems that the family who do not want a child are either put in prison or forced to take the child back?....are either of these options really in the best interest of a child?

Sometimes days like today make me feel pretty helpless. For now - we can just smother Felista in love and care at Forever Angels and hope that the attitudes within the Social Welfare system one day change and put the child first?

Well - these last few weeks it seems that we have gone from 40 babies, to 41, to 40, to 41, to 40 and I think we are back at 41 now!?

We had a new child - but very briefly! Four year old Anthony came to Forever Angels on Tuesday afternoon after being found on the street. He was a very well dressed, clean, healthy and clever little boy and I hoped that he was just lost. He was extremely confident and talked none stop - and settled into life at Forever Angels without a question!!

Thankfully his Mum and Grandma came the next day to collect him! He had just got lost after all but by the time his family had made a report at the Police Station, Social Welfare had closed for the day.



Anyhow - Anthony was a very sweet little boy and we wish him all the best with his family.

Today we received another little angel. Jessica could be anything from 2 months to 6 months old - a very malnourished and a tiny little thing! She weighs only 3.2kg - but is very alert and otherwise healthy. She was brought by a Mamma called Teddy who was attending a funeral yesterday afternoon and when she got back home she found Jessica in her house!! We hope relatives for her - but if not she will be available for adoption. She is a BEAUTIFUL little girl and looks SO much like Lauren.



Apart from that things are good. We have a lot of volunteers right now who are all a tremendous help to us. We do have a funny 'fever bug' going round the children - no symptoms - just fever for 24 hours?! It is peculiar.

Forever Angels is almost 2 years old! We are having a Birthday Party to celebrate this on Saturday 30th August. It is also a joint birthday as my little girl Leila (aka Mary) also turns 1!!

She is now doing so well and is a healthy and happy little girl..... not quite the tiny, sick thing she used to be.

I realise that Ben and I have been a little slack in updating the volunteer page with recent volunteers.....I am so sorry!

We value every single volunteer who has come to Forever Angels and you are all a huge part of giving these children a happy and loving life.

If you have volunteered at Forever Angels and I have not got a photo of you on our website - PLEASE send me a quick email to remind me!
Thank you!

Sadly, at 2.30pm on Saturday afternoon, our Angel Mse died in Intensive Care. He was cuddled by Hayley and I until he took his last breaths and he is now at peace with his Mum.

He is being buried today by his Grandfather and we are having a small service at the Baby Home on Monday at 12pm.

It is always so sad to lose a baby, but Mse was suffering a great deal and we can all know that he was truly loved in his short life.

Goodbye Mse....we will remember you always and you will live on in our hearts through your twin Mayega.

Sadly we have no longer got Internet connection and it has been SUCH a busy week that we have not been able to go to an internet cafe yet! Sorry to anyone who have been emailing but I have not yet checked emails and will not be able to until next week. And sorry for not updating my diary before now..... So, lots to catch up on... Here goes.....

The twins:

Mse and Mayega were in Intensive Care in hospital for a week. Mayega got stronger and healthier and was discharged home yesterday. He is still a tiny thing, but he is now drinking well and I am sure he will be fine.
Mse however is still very sick. His breathing is very poor and he is not tolerating feeds well. The Intensive care Unit has a virus (something like MRSA) and many babies are dying so they are wanting to close....but many babies (like Mse) will not survive outside of the unit. It is very unlikely this little boy will survive anyhow but we will continue to fight for him and are at the hospital with him each day to ensure he is being fed.
The babies Grandfather is visiting the babies every day and is such a sweet man.
Please keep Mse in your thoughts.

Last week, we had no tiny babies and now suddenly I have 3!!

Goodbye Pascal:

My beautiful little man, Pascal, went home to live with his Dad on Wednesday. I have cared for Pascal at Forever Angels Baby Home since he was 9 days old and he will celebrate his 2nd birthday next week! That is a LONG time to care for a child and then to say Goodbye! I know I am not supposed to have favourites - but I did, and Pascal was it! He was our first 'baby' at Forever Angels (the 3 children who arrived before him were all toddlers) and he has always been the cutest, sweetest, and funniest little boy imaginable. Every single morning, Pascal and Haji would be in my Office, helping (!?) with my morning jobs and following Chloe and I around. He was my little angel and I will miss him SO much.

Pascal's Mum died in childbirth, leaving his young Father unable to cope. Pascal's Dad has visited him every month for the past 2 years and I have no doubt that he cares about Pascal. He has spent the last 2 years trying to find a new wife so that Pascal can return home to him. His new wife has just given birth to a baby girl so they felt ready to take Pascal home. I am happy that my littl man a family of his own at last and although I can not imagine Forever Angels without Pascal - I will continue to support him in his family and will remember and love him always.

Goodbye Pascal....we love you.


Volunteers:

We have LOTS of volunteers right now which is great. They are being an amazing help as we have so many staff on Maternity Leave and with Mse in hospital, we need someone to be with him every day too. Welcome to Lucinda from the UK (who did some amazing fundraising - thank you!), to Mara, Kath and Maura from America (all Peadiatric Nurses which is wonderful!), to Brad and Andrew from Canada, Vera from Germany and Hannah and Carl from the UK.

Pre-School:

April continues to do a SUPERB job in the Preschool and her ideas and enthusiasm is just wonderful. The children have all changed and grown up since attending the school each day and they are learning SO much!
Today April arranged to take 14 big babies swimming which they all loved and then the toddlers all made 'pizza faces' which they will eat tomorrow.
We will miss April SO much when she leaves in a few weeks.....THANK YOU for your amazing work.

Christmas Cards and Calenders:


That's all for now....I STILL have no internet so will have to get Ben to upload this at work...