"The Happiest Day for Simeon and Sula"
Children's Book
Simeon and Sula Dolls
Purchase and help those who suffer
Hajiba (middle) widow who made dolls
Supporting the widows in Kenya
Simple Hope East Africa Director Charles Mpanda
Dedication of SHEA Food! Thank you Country Director Charles Mpanda for your help!
Building a bridge of love between our worlds
Hand in hand we help each other!
Matonyak Orphanage
Sharing Love with an orphan
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Thank you Oconomowoc Rotary Club.
We had a wonderful meeting with the Oconomowoc Rotary Club on Monday. They were so gracious with their time to let us speak about and on behalf of our non-profit organization.
Thank you Oconomowoc Rotary ~ you are truly a blessed group of community minded people.
Blessings and peace~
Thank you Oconomowoc Rotary ~ you are truly a blessed group of community minded people.
Blessings and peace~
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Beyond the borders
I had a wonderful opportunity to have tea yesterday with my wonderful partner Karen and our dear friend who is from Tanzania yet has lived here in Wisconsin for over 7 years. She had met another wonderful lady who has recently come here to the USA from the Congo.
Both Karen and I were so excited to meet our friend from Tanzania. We share so much as "dada's" sisters and understand each other even though we were born in different cultures and have all walked down a different path.....until now.
We had just settled in to have our tea and enjoy the wonderful cooked banana's and pasties that our dear friend Elli had made for us. The chai was wonderful! Francine (who is from the Congo) shared a bit of her story with us. She has only been in the USA for just 19 months. She was taken away from her home and her family to gain political asylum. She had been in a administrative position. Unfortunately, the "opposition" party did not like that she was doing this work for their government so they decided to make her life horrible. Francine has two children ( a son 17 yrs old and a daughter 4 yrs old) She had to leave with her oldest son and had no idea where she would end up. Her son was also being tormented by the military, in fact she shared with us that his wrist had been bitten off and is still not functioning properly. We could see in her eyes that she was a strong women...wanting only to care for her family and yet not being able to do so because of the unrest in her country.
I asked her where her daughter was and she said she had to leave her with her grandmother. Francine's Mom was safe in the congo...and she had no option to bring her daughter with her. If you can imagine, she is now in a country she knows nothing about. The education she had in the congo is not helpful here. We have technology ~ they do not. We have roads for driving ~ they do not. We have electricity ~ they have minimal. We have stores, groceries, cars, buildings. We have education for all ~ they do not. I think you can see where I am going with this. What she came here with was very little and yet a desire to better herself, keep her son safe and try to build a life with freedom. She explained that until she is able to work and earn a living, her Mom and daughter will have to remain in the Congo ~ without her. Can you imagine the emotional difficulties? Her daughter constantly asks her when will I see you mommy?? What can she say? One day.....One day...
So the four of us talked about the great things in the USA and yet our nation is so poor. Even in the midst of Francine's turmoil she had family, her church and the love of neighbors. Why? In these nations although they don't have "things" they have love and community. Everyone takes care of each other ~ when there is an illness, a death, sadness or happiness EVERYONE comes together! Nobody is better than their neighbor ~ everyone is equal. Elli explained to us that at a local church in Tanzania began its Sunday service by gathering all parishioners together. The Pastor would ask that if anyone was mad a another person in the church that they please take each others hands go outside to speak about their differences and come back into the church with a clean heart. Can you imagine? She said that it was amazing how this Pastor could see the hearts of all that were there changing...for the better.
What would our country look like if we had this kind of peace? Where people would put their differences aside, take each others hands and walk peacefully with each other? If materialism could be put aside, if Sunday's were made for family and friends, and everyone would gather for a big meal just because! Would this make us a stronger nation?
May your borders be brought down to open what really matters ~ family, love and friendship.
Blessings and peace ~
Both Karen and I were so excited to meet our friend from Tanzania. We share so much as "dada's" sisters and understand each other even though we were born in different cultures and have all walked down a different path.....until now.
We had just settled in to have our tea and enjoy the wonderful cooked banana's and pasties that our dear friend Elli had made for us. The chai was wonderful! Francine (who is from the Congo) shared a bit of her story with us. She has only been in the USA for just 19 months. She was taken away from her home and her family to gain political asylum. She had been in a administrative position. Unfortunately, the "opposition" party did not like that she was doing this work for their government so they decided to make her life horrible. Francine has two children ( a son 17 yrs old and a daughter 4 yrs old) She had to leave with her oldest son and had no idea where she would end up. Her son was also being tormented by the military, in fact she shared with us that his wrist had been bitten off and is still not functioning properly. We could see in her eyes that she was a strong women...wanting only to care for her family and yet not being able to do so because of the unrest in her country.
I asked her where her daughter was and she said she had to leave her with her grandmother. Francine's Mom was safe in the congo...and she had no option to bring her daughter with her. If you can imagine, she is now in a country she knows nothing about. The education she had in the congo is not helpful here. We have technology ~ they do not. We have roads for driving ~ they do not. We have electricity ~ they have minimal. We have stores, groceries, cars, buildings. We have education for all ~ they do not. I think you can see where I am going with this. What she came here with was very little and yet a desire to better herself, keep her son safe and try to build a life with freedom. She explained that until she is able to work and earn a living, her Mom and daughter will have to remain in the Congo ~ without her. Can you imagine the emotional difficulties? Her daughter constantly asks her when will I see you mommy?? What can she say? One day.....One day...
So the four of us talked about the great things in the USA and yet our nation is so poor. Even in the midst of Francine's turmoil she had family, her church and the love of neighbors. Why? In these nations although they don't have "things" they have love and community. Everyone takes care of each other ~ when there is an illness, a death, sadness or happiness EVERYONE comes together! Nobody is better than their neighbor ~ everyone is equal. Elli explained to us that at a local church in Tanzania began its Sunday service by gathering all parishioners together. The Pastor would ask that if anyone was mad a another person in the church that they please take each others hands go outside to speak about their differences and come back into the church with a clean heart. Can you imagine? She said that it was amazing how this Pastor could see the hearts of all that were there changing...for the better.
What would our country look like if we had this kind of peace? Where people would put their differences aside, take each others hands and walk peacefully with each other? If materialism could be put aside, if Sunday's were made for family and friends, and everyone would gather for a big meal just because! Would this make us a stronger nation?
May your borders be brought down to open what really matters ~ family, love and friendship.
Blessings and peace ~
Monday, February 14, 2011
Thank you Brookfield Wisconsin!
We had an awesome day on Saturday! The Brookfield Central Key Club did an awesome job getting the word out about our food "packathon" that was held at Brookfield Central High School on Saturday February 12, 2011!
Everyone that came to help us pack food did an awesome job!! There were hundreds of children and adults that helped Simple Hope!
We are humbled and blessed by your help!! Thank you a million percent!
Blessings and peace~
Everyone that came to help us pack food did an awesome job!! There were hundreds of children and adults that helped Simple Hope!
We are humbled and blessed by your help!! Thank you a million percent!
Blessings and peace~
Friday, February 4, 2011
A Rat in its Glory!!
I posted about my friend from the USA who became a missionary in Tanzania. I am blessed to speak with him almost everyday. He shares his stories of what he is seeing, experiencing and journaling. I feel so lucky because it is through his voice I hear the joys, sorrows and often time surprises!!
As you may know, my passion to feed the hungry in Tanzania has been my driving force from the beginning. I have found ways to do this by enriching people from the USA to help me to help others. We are so blessed in our world and the ones we serve remain often times without hope until our pallets of food arrive. They are then reminded that hundreds upon thousands of people truly do care and want them to be nourished.
Well, my friend was telling me that he had purchased a few grocery items from the local market the other day. He purchased a loaf of bread, some peanut butter and some fruit. He had put in a rather long day working to build a small building with the nationals who were assigned to help. It was HOT, extremely windy and he had been doing physical labor all day. After the sun was down, he began walking home. He was so tired, but happy. He had spent an incredible day doing something that was going to be a wonderful blessing to those in the village. He was flooded with recent memories of how he laughed with the nationals who were speaking swahili ~ yet they all spoke the same language. It was a wonderful day...with no breaks.
He had almost reached his room and he remembered the bread and peanut butter. He was SO excited to take a shower, put on his comfortable clothes and relax with a piece of bread. As he walked into his room he was greeted by a rat!! YES a rat..who had found his loaf of bread!! The rat WAS NOT in anyway going to move until he finished HIS dinner. My friend stared at him and with his generous heart allowed his friend the RAT to carry on and be nourished. He said it broke his heart because he was the skinniest rat he had ever seen.
Can you imagine the look on the rats face when he spotted that loaf of bread??? I am sure it is much like the children and adults we feed with our fortified rice meals. Their hearts begin to leap up for joy when they see the pallets of food arrive ~ it is heaven if only for that one meal.
I guess each and everyone of us can understand that when something or someone needs to be fed and we are already fed ourselves, we just let it happen. I am proud of my friend who just let his little rat friend enjoy his meal...for now his belly is fed too.
Blessings and peace
As you may know, my passion to feed the hungry in Tanzania has been my driving force from the beginning. I have found ways to do this by enriching people from the USA to help me to help others. We are so blessed in our world and the ones we serve remain often times without hope until our pallets of food arrive. They are then reminded that hundreds upon thousands of people truly do care and want them to be nourished.
Well, my friend was telling me that he had purchased a few grocery items from the local market the other day. He purchased a loaf of bread, some peanut butter and some fruit. He had put in a rather long day working to build a small building with the nationals who were assigned to help. It was HOT, extremely windy and he had been doing physical labor all day. After the sun was down, he began walking home. He was so tired, but happy. He had spent an incredible day doing something that was going to be a wonderful blessing to those in the village. He was flooded with recent memories of how he laughed with the nationals who were speaking swahili ~ yet they all spoke the same language. It was a wonderful day...with no breaks.
He had almost reached his room and he remembered the bread and peanut butter. He was SO excited to take a shower, put on his comfortable clothes and relax with a piece of bread. As he walked into his room he was greeted by a rat!! YES a rat..who had found his loaf of bread!! The rat WAS NOT in anyway going to move until he finished HIS dinner. My friend stared at him and with his generous heart allowed his friend the RAT to carry on and be nourished. He said it broke his heart because he was the skinniest rat he had ever seen.
Can you imagine the look on the rats face when he spotted that loaf of bread??? I am sure it is much like the children and adults we feed with our fortified rice meals. Their hearts begin to leap up for joy when they see the pallets of food arrive ~ it is heaven if only for that one meal.
I guess each and everyone of us can understand that when something or someone needs to be fed and we are already fed ourselves, we just let it happen. I am proud of my friend who just let his little rat friend enjoy his meal...for now his belly is fed too.
Blessings and peace
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