Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be afraid, because I am your God, I will strengthen you and I will help you too……
Isaiah 41.10
Maybe you remember how we looked forward to this year with concern last year…
And really: this year again there was no rice harvest in Tabora and the corn harvest was very poor for the second time. This is now our second year of severe shortages of staple foods. The rest of the situation hasn’t improved much since last year’s inflation. High gasoline prices are still driving up the price of oil, sugar, tea, flour, and so on. Medication remains expensive and we just didn’t know how or whether we could ‘manage’ it without letting our families down?
And lo and behold : we are almost at the end of another year: and miracle of miracles – we have been able to support all of our ‘families’, ‘single people’, ‘sick people’ and ‘dying people’.
The Lord stands by our side, just as you have stood by our side.
And so we were able to continue to support our weakest and poorest households, formally andand informally: Old single people, abandoned by their families and no longer strong enough to till a field on their own, look for water, collect wood, etc. Or widows who often ‘stay’ as the sole support of small children or grandchildren. Or children who are ‘orphans’, where there is no one left who feels responsible for these children. But also sick people where the families simply cannot afford the expensive monthly medication (epilepsy medication can cost over €30 a month per person……)
We also continue to care for 2 old ladies in our mini retirement home.
We have 9 children in our mini hostel (in my old house in Tabora) cared for by Mama Samweli as house mother, so that these children can continue to go to school and grow up in a safe, ‘normal’ family group.
Here is me with ‘hostel’ ‘trip’ : taking everyone to a swim in the only pool in Tabora
We were also able to support our breakfast group for 45 pre school children until last month. The boy is one of the children from the breakfast group. He lost his leg in an RTA and we got him some crutches for now until he is old enough to get a prosthetic leg)
We also still are selling subsidized whole grain corn flour to the poorest.
Our Irrigation’s Project for our rainwater collection ponds and the small market gardens has now been taken a step further with drip irrigation in the first 8 gardens (saves water and a lot of time).
One of us who needed more help last year is Beatus Chundu, a man in his 70s [photo below]. We noticed him 3 years ago because he could only buy half a kilo of cornmeal in the shop (his only food for 3 days – after he gradually sold a piece of clothing or household item in front of the shop each time…). Since we supported him with a monthly basic food package, he regained his strength and showed himself to be a very lively personality with a great sense of humour and great trust in God. This year, however, he needed an operation, which we made possible for him, but he recovered very slowly and with many complications. He has now developed a hernia, but the surgeon advises against further surgery. So, he struggles, and we now visit him more than twice a week to be able to support him
Christopher is another of our Familia Moja clients. He had reached a very important ‘milestone’ in his life: he turned two! As you may remember, his mother died shortly after his birth due to complications from her cesarean section, leaving his grandmother alone and penniless with 6 children under the age of 7. Since 50% of children without mothers in Africa do not survive early childhood, we had promised – with our trust in God – that we would provide baby milk as well as the basic food for the whole family (even though we had no money for it at the time ). 2 years later we see little Christopher (named by us because he was/is our Advent / Christmas miracle) and he is ALIVE! And all the other children too!
We are very grateful to the Lord, He has strengthened and helped us: another whole year and shown that we can really ALWAYS trust in Him. -No matter what our external circumstances tell us!
That’s why we wish you/all of you a blessed Christmas and HAPPY New Year and we also say to you: “Don’t be afraid…
With gratitude for your prayers and help
Ruth Hulser
On behalf of the FMCP-UK Trustees, we would also like to thank all of our generous donors who have supported us – concerts, tradecraft stalls, collections at funerals, other events and just straight donations. Without your generosity this work would not be able to contine.
May God bless you and may you have a very Happy Christmas!
Familia Moja Community Project 