News

11. November 2024
Dear Friends, As always, the most important thing first – and that’s our children:   Our Children Our 4 new childrenIn the late afternoon of August 9, visitors from the social services brought us four siblings: the oldest is 6 years old, twins (a girl and a boy) who are three years old, and a girl who is just 10 months old. We were told that the mother had a drinking…
30. June 2024
Dear Friends, we are literally drowning in the rain. Continuous heavy rain has set in, unlike anything we’ve experienced in Tanzania before. Dry places have turned into raging streams, fields have been flooded, foundations undermined, and many of our villagers’ huts are standing ankle- or even knee-deep in water. Fortunately, the damage to our property has been limited…
25. November 2023
Dear Loved Ones, We would especially like to dedicate this newsletter to our children. They continue to bring us much joy, although they are sometimes associated with some concerns, echoing the saying: “Small children, small problems; big children, big problems.” Raising so many children responsibly is certainly not easy. However, the joy to see their positive…
16. July 2023
Dear Loved Ones, our rainy season, which typically lasts from April to June, is gradually coming to an end. This year we had a decent rainy season again. The roads are in a disastrous state, but the local farmers are looking forward to a likely good harvest. A SMALL MIRACLE The children like to help with the preparation of the dishesIn January, we received support…
16. March 2023
Dear friends of Dunia ya Heri, We are a little late for our autumn newsletter, but we still hope that you will be able to receive it in due time before Christmas. First, we would like to give a voice to some of our employees. Omary Abdallah is one of our gardeners. Despite his Islamic background, he decides to participate at our regular morning worships. He often has…
12. March 2023
Dear friends of Dunia ya Heri, Yesterday we returned from a Sunday excursion. For some time we had promised to take our children to the city, crossing with the ferry instead of the bridge. We did not want to delay our promise much longer and took ten of the oldest children in two cars to Dar es Salaam. A lot of what they saw was attentively commented: the large ship…
28. November 2021
Dear Friends, COVID is changing the world in a way we could never have imagined two years ago. We are thankful that the situation appears to still be under control in Tanzania. One does hear about cases of Corona-deaths and people who get infected, but the situation is not comparable to that of many other countries with an extremely high number of incidents. Since most…
17. June 2021
Dear Friends, we received your feedback with the suggestion to reduce the length of our newsletters in favor of some additional photographs and graphic material. In this newsletter we will try to follow your valuable advice. Our Children Henry* has been with us since the end of December. He was four weeks old when he arrived. His mother simply disappeared from the…
30. December 2020
Dear Friends, Once again it is time to give you a report of our orphanage project in Tanzania.  A Short Review More than five years ago we started with the construction of the Dunia ya Heri orphanage. Now, as we are looking back, we are filled with tremendous gratitude. At the offset we would have never thought to be able to reach the point where we are at now. It is…
Premature infant
3. September 2020
Dear Friends, A Time of Crisis The rainy season, which lasts from April to May has come to an end. Our worries, to be cut off from Dar es Salaam due to the bad road situation, fortunately did not come true. The road was fixed on time.  The building of "A Heart for Children"Tanzania has also been affected by the Corona crisis. So far no quarantine has been put into…
2. January 2020
Dear Friends, As autumn is arriving and the days are beginning to get cooler, in Tanzania spring time and summer draw near with temperatures of around 85 degrees Fahrenheit – with a fair amount of humidity. With the beginning of fall the time has come for a short summary of the most recent developments of “Dunia ya Heri” – the Land of Blessing.  Again we would like to…
9. July 2019
Dear Friends, OUR CHILDREN ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT TO US One usually does not encounter dark, grey, almost depressive winter days in Africa – the continent of sunshine and warmth – but the description is valid for the day on which several medical doctors were fighting for the life of a young woman. She came to a hospital in Dar es Salaam in order to give birth to her…
24. December 2018
Dear Friends, For „Dunia ya Heri“ a busy year is coming to a close. Instead of a lengthy Christmas report of the construction progress we would like to send you photos of our dear children. All the sacrifices and the many hours of work are more  than worthwhile to us when we look into the happy faces of our orphans. We thank God for the blessings we have received this…
20. November 2018
Dear Friends, “Almost a little too much.” This actually should be the headline of this newsletter. You could also say: “God is good!“ Building or finishing four buildings at the same time, indeed, is quite a challenge. Especially, if one keeps in mind that we have not commissioned a general contractor but handle everything ourselves—with brick layers and other…
18. April 2018
Dear Friends, Time is flying. Several months have passed once again since we last reported about Dunia ya Heri. First of all, we want to thank all those who are supporting us—in regard to the building projects and in regard to our regular ongoing expenses for the running of the orphanage. We started Dunia ya Heri in good faith, hoping that the necessary support would…
24. November 2017
We are always careful to keep our running costs as low as possible. In this context, we were bothered for a long time that the weekly fuel consumption had reached an almost unbearable level. We had to run our gasoline generator almost constantly to fill our two water tanks of 5,000 and 2,000 liters capacity. Nevertheless, our gardeners were more concerned with running…
19. November 2017
Since the beginning of August or the end of September, two volunteers from Germany have been helping us with our varied tasks with the children. One of the helpers, Fleur Igler, came to us with the help of the "Weltwärts" program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). This program is taught by ADRA (Adventist Delevopment and Relieve…
2. November 2017
On Friday, October 20, we received our youngest one! The Baby was not older than three weeks. Unfortunately, it had been abondened by his parents/mother. The first week it had spent in a hospital where it was treated for malnourishment. Now the little boy has found his new home. He is developing great and has already gained some weight. Smiling doesn't seem to be hard…
2. November 2017
Dunia ya Heri: Now officially open The main purpose of my trip to Tanzania in June 2017 was the festive inauguration and official opening of Dunia ya Heri, our African orphanage. Representing the German association, Gerhard and Christel were accompanying me. Of course, we were especially excited to see our new children which have been accepted since our last visit—and…
30. August 2017
30. August 2017
Pumpkins in Austria help orphans in Africa Actually, they did not want to kill two birds with one stone. They did not want to kill animals at all. On the contrary. They were concerned with the creation of a flowering meadow in Burgkirchen, Austria (near Braunau am Inn) to support the important and increasingly difficult task of feeding of bees and other insects during…
2. December 2016
Dear Friends, December has arrived and with it, some very exciting news from the coast of Tanzania. Our last letter went out about six months ago – a lot has happened since. Work crews have been busy with the finishing touches on the first building including putting up shelves, painting the…
19. October 2016
First Home for Children Almost Completed Dunia ya Heri two years later by Gerhard Padderatz Tanzania’s coastal region south of Dar es Salaam (“house of peace”, 4.3 million inhabitants) is characterized by its wild beauty (picture 00). Image 00 No hotel high-rise…
15. June 2016
Ihr Friends, Almost 5 months have passed since we officially reported from "Dunia ya Heri" last time. On the one hand we do not want to bother our supporters too much with information, on the other hand many of you will wonder what has happened in the meantime. Our goal is still to pick up the first orphans in late summer of this year. With your help, we have come a…
15. March 2015
In Africa, seeing people cook on charcoal under the open sky is a regular occurance. While gas is expensive, bushes and trees are plentyful. Because people are used to cutting trees and processing them to charcoal, properties with an abundant populations of trees tend to lose them over time. This was confirmed by the former owner. It was therefore important to have our…