Greetings to all the young folks at St. Anne and St. John churches, I was travelling 8 days and the day after I returned to Goma we had the terrible plane crash last week and then the week just sped by with craziness of it all, so I have been unable to send any posts, but now I am ready with a short story. I am sending a few pictures of the Ntoma Orphanage, which was the destination of my travels two weeks ago. You will see a bit of what it is like to live without parents or family to care for you.
I travelled over 2000 miles round trip by buses to bring a donation to the Ntoma Orphanage from the Harold Buhr Memorial. Of course the great plus is that the cost for just the bus fair which was 4 days of bus travel was around $30. For you from St. John, you know well Harold and Dorothy Buhr, for you at St Anne it is a joy to bring you a bit of the story of Harold and Dorothy. After a good and fruitful life together, Harold in a nursing home when I first arrived at St John, he died just a short time after I arrived. I found it to be a privilege to get to know this family as they travelled this journey of illness ending in Harold passing into the peace of the Lord. Dorothy and family decided to donate Harold's memorial monies to two orphanages, one in the United States and one outside the country. When Dorothy asked me about possibilities outside the US, I presented the idea of Ntoma Orphanage and it was decided to donate half of the memorial funds there.
I presented Ntoma Orphanage because it was a place I knew well, a place where I had visited a number of times for a period of 1 ½ weeks during the summer of 2003. I knew the stories of infants there and I had witnessed the good work that they were doing and I knew the plight of children there. I cannot tell you what a joy it was to be able to bring this gift and to again visit this orphanage in the northwestern corner of Tanzania. But to get to Ntoma Orphanage I had to arrive at Bukoba, Tanzania which is the center hub of business in this area of Tanzania, the bus terminal, the headquarters of the ELCT-Northwestern Diocese and also the place where I stayed for 3 nights during my trip.
To see a good view of the town of Bukoba go to your Google Earth and find the coordinates of 1degree20’09.38”S and 31degrees49’09.50”E and you will see the building in which I was staying at the ELCT-Northwestern Diocese headquarters. Go down to an eye elevation of 5000’ and you will get a great view of the buildings there. The acronym ELCT stands for Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania. The wagon wheel shaped building is where the many of the offices 
of the Diocese are located. The guest rooms are very nice and I even had hot water from the tap, the first since I left America over 2 months ago. Actually while I was gone I celebrated exactly two months of my journey.
of the Diocese are located. The guest rooms are very nice and I even had hot water from the tap, the first since I left America over 2 months ago. Actually while I was gone I celebrated exactly two months of my journey.
Here are pictures of the sleeping angels and some of the wonderful artwork that decorates their rooms. The environment is very pleasant as are those who work here. Next is a photo of part of the outside play area.
For one more site seeing adventure on Google Earth, go to 1degree19’53.37”S and 31degrees48’50.68”E and you will see the tremendous Catholic Cathedral being built in Bukoba. In Bukoba there is a Lutheran Cathedral and a Catholic Cathedral. I was in Bukoba in 2003 and the construction was under way. Included here you can see a couple of shots of the construction at that time. Unfortunately I was unable to have my camera along and so I have no update photos for you. I can say it is amazing and all done in a method of construction very difficult to our way of understanding. I enjoy watching the stages of construction happening there in Bukoba!!! I was unable to find Ntoma on the Google Earth so you have to imagine driving about 20 kilometres south and west to the area of Ntoma village.
There are 18 full time employees taking care of the children there at Ntoma. Also during the present time there are 3 Danish volunteers helping the work of Ntoma Orphanage for a period of 3 months. At this orphanage many children are able to return to some of their family after they reach the age of being able to function somewhat independently. The reason they are in the orphanage is that their families are so poor that they are unable to care for an infant. They have not the time or the means to provide for the needs of an infant. But many infants must later be placed in foster homes and some are fortunate enough to be adopted into loving families.
The director of the orphanage, Eva, was not present as she had travelled to Europe for her work, but the woman in charge during her absence, Xaverina, greeted me and gave me a wonderful tour and I got to hold some babies which is always a joy!! Also in this photo is Nicholas who is in charge of the Health Services Office of the Diocese.
Here is a photo of a child just about 1month old. His mother died at birth and then the family tried to take care of him, but he finally became so malnourished that at about 3weeks of age they brought him to the orphanage. He will be able to return to his family after about 1 year of age. Following are pictures of twins, a boy and girl, again their mother died at their birth. 
There was 
another infant as well, then some who were months older. Most of the children here are orphaned at birth by the death of their mother, but some are a bit older and have lost their mother or both parents to disease or accident.
The death rate for mothers is much higher than normal in developing countries because of the lack of the advanced medical care that we have for mother’s here in the United States. I have heard this story of mothers dying after the birth of their infants far too many times in Africa. It is one of the things that must improve for all mothers everywhere. 
Here is a photo of all the towels for each child in one section of the orphanage and another of the clothes line for oh so many diapers and clothes; every day to keep about 30-40 children dry and fed…oh my what a chore.
There are 18 full time employees taking care of the children there at Ntoma. Also during the present time there are 3 Danish volunteers helping the work of Ntoma Orphanage for a period of 3 months. At this orphanage many children are able to return to some of their family after they reach the age of being able to function somewhat independently. The reason they are in the orphanage is that their families are so poor that they are unable to care for an infant. They have not the time or the means to provide for the needs of an infant. But many infants must later be placed in foster homes and some are fortunate enough to be adopted into loving families.
The director of the orphanage, Eva, was not present as she had travelled to Europe for her work, but the woman in charge during her absence, Xaverina, greeted me and gave me a wonderful tour and I got to hold some babies which is always a joy!! Also in this photo is Nicholas who is in charge of the Health Services Office of the Diocese.
Here is a photo of a child just about 1month old. His mother died at birth and then the family tried to take care of him, but he finally became so malnourished that at about 3weeks of age they brought him to the orphanage. He will be able to return to his family after about 1 year of age. Following are pictures of twins, a boy and girl, again their mother died at their birth. 
There was 
another infant as well, then some who were months older. Most of the children here are orphaned at birth by the death of their mother, but some are a bit older and have lost their mother or both parents to disease or accident.
The death rate for mothers is much higher than normal in developing countries because of the lack of the advanced medical care that we have for mother’s here in the United States. I have heard this story of mothers dying after the birth of their infants far too many times in Africa. It is one of the things that must improve for all mothers everywhere. 
Here is a photo of all the towels for each child in one section of the orphanage and another of the clothes line for oh so many diapers and clothes; every day to keep about 30-40 children dry and fed…oh my what a chore. Hope you enjoyed your tour of Ntoma Orphanage and Bukoba, Tanzania. Until next time God Bless You!
