Where is _____? John (name changed) was one of the first children that we met at the children’s home when we came. He was very sick—HIV. Even today he is about half the size of the other children. HE is not here because he was gone to vocational training school. He came to DBLCH to basically die. Neema and the staff loved him, got him on a special diet, and provided quality health care. Now, he is doing great. Where is ____? He is living his dream preparing for life in building. This is why DBLCH exists and what makes it unique and the best.
Hearing the children of Daily Bread Life Children’s Home sing that song as they line up greeting you to the children’s home is one of the greatest experiences of life. Bonnie and I traveled from Nairobi to Dar Es Salaam to Iringa on last Saturday and Sunday morning to receive this warmest and emotional welcomes. My how times have changed the Swahili greeting now to an English greeting. But, the drums have returned to the greeting song! In fact the resident children at Daily Bread Life Children’s Home are all now babies, nursery, and primary school age. This takes us back to the earliest days of DBLCH.
We changed clothes quickly on Sunday morning and headed for worship at Kidetete Church. The Bread of Life Secondary School Children worship there. Because it was a clear day, we worshipped under the mango tree where everything began: the children’s home, the church, the farm, the secondary school, etc. Here the vision was born!
Sunday afternoon we worshipped at Acts Fellowship, Iringa. Here we saw so many of the older DBLCH—college graduates, adults, working and serving. This was an awesome experience to see them as adults. As always, the worship was alive.
Mpeli, Neema, Bonnie, and I are spending our days planning for the future and addressing critical needs. We have established priorities for 2019 and 2020. We have established priorities into 2021. Daily Bread Life Children’s Home has a yearly independent audit that is submitted to the government. Again this year all is good.
Continuing challenges are providing quality education for the children, keeping pace with a changing Tanzania, and developing business for our graduating young people and sustaining the ministry. We want the best for our children however the government reminds us that they must live in Tanzania when they leave DBLCH.
Bread of Life Secondary School now has 110 students. It continues to grow. Now students are now coming from across Tanzania.
On the farm, under the leadership of Alex Mwaisumbe, a tomato cash crop has been developed, more milk for the children and selling, and more of the food is being provided for children’s homes and schools.
Newest project is a goat breeding project. After accessing the agribusiness market, goat breeding and selling is the way the farm is moving. Thank you to all who supported the farm through the Christmas catalog.