Hands of Mercy

Hands of Mercy, Mwanza
Originally uploaded by An Smith.

Every morning we wake up around 8am, make tea and toast with PB (sometimes we splurge and walk to the duka for eggs and fresh chapati and fry em up) and then we walk the twenty minutes to Hands of Mercy to see the kids. We spend two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon playing basketball and soccer, supplementing their school with english and math lessons and most importantly - giving hugs when necessary. (Trust me, they need lots of hugs!).

They have a 'mom and dad' (who also have four of their own including a newborn) and they run the orphanage.. you can imagine trying to care for almost forty children with the help of a few volunteers and a few staff who help with cooking and cleaning. Not an easy task! (Um, actually I guarantee you that you can NOT imagine it. It's mad chaos!).

Eighty percent of the kids at the orphanage were left without parents because one or both have died (or are very sick and living) with HIV. In other cases their parents may have abandoned them (simply because the expense was too high to care for them) or they were orphaned for other reasons. The kids range from 3 years old to 14 (and ps - I am in love with all of them).

I can honestly say that the kids seem to be really happy and they are lucky to be in the care of the people who run Hands of Mercy. The place is full of love and full of fun!! They do need a lot of help though (and yes, here comes the final plea for donation money)... the kids are currently are sleeping four or five to a bed so a few more bunks and mattresses are a must (especially for the older kids as they get bigger), the mozzie nets are getting a bit tattered, they all share clothes and desperately need new ones and they barely have enough money to manage the food bill each month. We're talking basics.. no meat or veggies either. Toys? They don't really have toys... We also are in desperate need for paper, school supplies, crayons, pencils, books.. not to mention more practicle things like shelves so they can all have a cubbie for 'their' school stuff, and a door to keep the girls room locked at night (!!), new flip flops and meds for the skin infections (so contagious I even got some on my chest - right at head on lap level), electricity is a dream, a chainsaw to made chopping wood easier.. I could really go on and on with this list and I'm sure I'm barely even touching the really important stuff.

So.. there is now an organization that you can donate through Canada and get a tax receipt for.. www.hopewithoutborders.com You need to specify that you are donating to "Hands of Mercy" in Tanzania (it is not an official project).. let me know if you have any problems and let me know the amount and if you have a preference for what you would like to provide the kids with because Denise and I can still call the shots on the money expenditure. For example, $1200 is enough to buy the kids rice for a YEAR. Flip flops cost $1 each.. you get the idea !

ps - if you've sent me money already I'll gladly email it back to you and you can get a tax receipt if you want!!

Asante!