Newsletter 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 of our life takes place in the outdoors, the chances of catching the virus are less than in the closed rooms of the European or American winter season.

Our Children

Currently we are taking care of 25 children. Since our Spring Newsletter we received one more girl. Thuraha* arrived at the age of 42 days and weighed less than 3 pounds. Her mother had HIV and Fungal Meningitis. She sadly died a few days after we picked up the baby girl from the hospital. Every one to two hours Thuraha* receives sterilized milk from the goats of our farm. She is daily gaining weight, which is a very good sign. Nonetheless we had to take her back to the hospital today, because she urgently needed a blood transfusion – she has anemia at a dangerous level.

We mentioned Carolina* in our last Newsletter. She is now one year old. Carolina tested HIV-positive after her birth. We are so very happy because her recent AIDS-Test brought a negative result.

Laura* who was born at seven months and had to be taken to the hospital in critical condition several times (we wrote about her in our Spring Newsletter of 2019) has grown to be a happy and healthy little girl of more than two and a half years. We will know at the end of this year, if
perhaps she needs glasses.

The older children give us a lot of joy. Our visitors are surprised because they can communicate with them in English. Their English is improving
from day to day and they even understand a little German. If we ask them a question in German, most of them answer in English or Swahili without the need to translate the meaning of what we said. Sometimes, after the evening worship, they can watch a short You-Tube documentary about the animal kingdom. Often, they cannot wait and start asking us during the day, if they will be seeing a video in the evening. They had a lot of fun and laughed about the hilarious behavior of a family of chimpanzees at Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania.

We expect to receive the official permit for our Primary School by the end of the year. One of the conditions of the Ministry of Education was the construction of the next four classrooms. This October the structural work was finished. In November we will start with the metal roof, followed by the plaster and the floor screed. Two classrooms had already been completed since the beginning of last year and would have been enough to
start the school for our own children. We will eventually have 10 classrooms for the Pre- and Primary School with a capacity for approximately 250 students.

The school permit is very important to us because six of our children will be going to school at the beginning of the next school year, which is in January of 2022. They will probably be advancing to the second grade, because they have already covered most parts of the materials offered in the first grade of Public Primary Schools. Currently we are starting to carry out interviews with potential teachers. It will not be easy to find the right teacher because all subjects will be taught in English. Aside from good job qualifications he/she needs to have an excellent level of English with correct pronunciation. Of course, a loving and caring way of dealing with the children is just as important to us.

Our Volunteers

We are very thankful for the support from friends and visitors. Francia and Jonathan, together with their son Lukas, decided to take two months of “Sabbatical” this summer in order to help us at Dunia ya Heri. Francia spent a lot of time with our children, especially those who needed special attention, whilst Jonathan concentrated on our EDP. Now we have a professional back-up system, which means that we do not need to rely on the usage of manual external hard-drives any more. At the same time we extended WIFI on campus and added additional surveillance-cameras in areas in which security is especially important.

Once again, we have two student volunteers, this time from Austria. Alexandra completed her High School degree at Bogenhofen Secondary School and Esther her Higher Secondary School Degree for Economic Professions.

For the coming year 2022/23 we already have a few applications.

Garden and Construction

Aside from the school buildings we decided to start with the construction of a workshop. Currently we are using a small room for the storage of all types of construction materials, machinery and one work-bench. The new workshop will have a room for a large circular saw and a planer, a separate storage room for paints and materials, a room for smaller machinery like a cross-cut saw, grinding and pedestal drilling machine. Additionally, we are planning one room for a professional corn-mill. Currently we have to drive our corn to a 7-mile distant village for grinding.

Since we completed the irrigation system of the farm, we have been able to harvest enough spinach, chard, basil, coriander, okra, tomatoes and eggplants to cover our needs. Of course, we are still depending on the purchase of additional fruits and vegetables from town. But we are continuing to experiment with a variety of foods in order to find out which ones will grow most successfully. We hope that someday soon we will be self-sufficient.

The construction of additional workers’ quarters for our employees on the campus of the farm is almost finished.Before the next rainy season we will extend further pathways for the children on the campus of the orphanage.

The Mission

As Seventh-Day Adventists we believe that Jesus Christ will return very soon and this world as we know it will come to an end. The Corona-pandemic and dramatic climate-changes are challenges that will most likely change the world in a way we could not imagine. Our politicians will not be
able to easily solve these problems. And day by day we are getting closer to some of the events described in the book of Revelation.

Therefore, we would like to do our part in proclaiming the “Three Angels Messages” – to fear God, to give glory to him (because the hour of his judgment is come) and to worship the God who made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

We have the goal to employ Bible-workers who will proclaim the “Everlasting Gospel” of the soon coming of Jesus in our neighborhood here in Tanzania. The yearly costs of one evangelist, including the literature which will be given away, will be around 2.300 USD.

Special Challenges

To finalize the construction of the additional school building with all the necessary furniture like chairs, school benches, chalkboards, desks and cupboards of the teachers’ office is a financial challenge we are facing.

We would like to thank all of our donors, companies, organizations as well as our partner “Restore a Child” sincerely for their help. We are grateful that despite of the Covid-crisis we have been able to count on your support.

Also a very special thanks to all who are remembering us in their daily prayers.

Best regards

Thomas Küsel, Vice Chair, Dunia ya Heri
Judith Klier, Chair, Dunia ya Heri

* The names have been changed.

Donations

Tanzania

DUNIA YA HERI African Family and Healthcare, P.O. Box 71573, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
NIC Bank Tanzania Limited, Kariakoo Branch, Dar es Salaam 
Account Number USD:  2000234853 
Swift Code:  SFICTZTZ
Intermediary Bank:  CITIBANK NEW YORK, Swift Code: CITIUS33

Within the US

Donations from US-citizens are tax deductible if they are given to one of the following None Profit - 501c3 Organizations:  

• our partners “RESTORE A CHILD”: http://restoreachild.org/donate/
• OUTPOST CENTERS INTERNATIONAL: http://www.outpostcenters.org/donate/

Please do not forget to mention the project name of »DUNIA YA HERI« on your check, transfer slip or the “ministry need”.

»Children are a heritage of the Lord.«
Psalm 127:3