Bud's Blog http://www.gerladina.com/blog Gerladina Orphanage & Education Centre Wed, 21 May 2008 22:42:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 en CHRISTMAS DAY 2007 http://www.gerladina.com/blog/christmas-day-2007/ http://www.gerladina.com/blog/christmas-day-2007/#comments Wed, 21 May 2008 21:53:07 +0000 kim http://www.gerladina.com/blog/?p=43




]]> http://www.gerladina.com/blog/christmas-day-2007/feed/ Gerladina Update http://www.gerladina.com/blog/gerladina-update/ http://www.gerladina.com/blog/gerladina-update/#comments Thu, 11 Oct 2007 01:40:00 +0000 kim http://www.gerladina.com/blog/gerladina-update/ Welcome Lin, Lesley, and Patricia to our Gerladina family! Thadeus ensures us that all 9 children are healthy and happy in their new home. With their beloved house mother loving them , and them thinking of Thadeus as their father they now have a sense of family. This is something they never would have known without the centre. A difference has already been made in the lives of these children. They have safety, a bed, food to eat, opportunity to an education, health care and the knowledge they are part of a loving family. The land for the permanent centre has been fully paid for now and we are so thankful to God for that! We are now ready to start construction of the centre and are so very eager to accomplish this for this children.

Thadeus has completed his employment with World Vision and is now working full-time at the centre for the sake of these orphans. He is now looking outward to the community and sees so many more orphans and vulnerable children in such dire need. If you have ever thought you would like to help out, this is the time to reach out and touch a child’s life. We in North America are so blessed and I feel it is our responsibility to help those in need. I ask you today to please help a child who has so little; an orphan who has no one in life. Help Thadeus to reach them so they may join the Gerladina family. God Bless

]]> http://www.gerladina.com/blog/gerladina-update/feed/ July 11,2007 http://www.gerladina.com/blog/july-112007/ http://www.gerladina.com/blog/july-112007/#comments Thu, 12 Jul 2007 01:20:24 +0000 kim http://www.gerladina.com/blog/july-112007/ Thadeus arrived in Bukoba on Monday and we are thankful that this time he is there to stay. He has been transferred to Bukoba so will be living quite close to the centre. Much has happened since his visit in April. At that time he found a property to house the permanent orphanage. He made a downpayment on it and we are only $1,000 short of having the property completely paid for. He has plans for there to be 5 houses on it with 20 children living in each for a total of 100 orphans. It is so wonderful to think of changing the life of 100 children. Also at the centre will be schools, a church and possibly a medical centre. He reports that the children are all happy and healthy. Two of them have been registered at school, and one in pre-school. It is our hope that someday they will be able to attend school right at the centre. Thank you all for your donations as they make it possible to change lives forever.

The Children in their New Clothes
THE CHILDREN IN THEIR NEW CLOTHES

]]> http://www.gerladina.com/blog/july-112007/feed/ Easter at the Center - by Thadeus http://www.gerladina.com/blog/easter-at-the-center-by-thadeus/ http://www.gerladina.com/blog/easter-at-the-center-by-thadeus/#comments Sat, 14 Apr 2007 18:37:52 +0000 kim http://www.gerladina.com/blog/easter-at-the-center-by-thadeus/ MY VISIT TO THE CENTRE

I arrived at the Centre at 9.30 pm after a long journey of about 39 hours drive from Dar es Salaam to Bukoba. I was very tired the time I arrived but the welcome I received from the children in the Centre made me feel well instantly. It was very exciting to me as it was my first time to see them in our Centre. I moved from here and there to see how things are arranged. Every child was very anxious to show me where is sleeping.

How is the place, is it good for you? I asked Evodius who is almost 9 years old.

Evodius- This place is very good.

Why do you say is very good? I asked him again

Evodius- I used to sleep down on grass, now look, we have new mattresses, new blankets and new bed sheets.

In the next morning some children woke up very early at around 6.30 am, one of them was Revinius. I was very inquisitive and asked him, why do you have awaken up so early?
“Is this early?” asked Revinius. At home we used to wake up earlier than that for casual labor. This gave me a picture of child labor.

These comments from Evodius and Revinius encouraged me on what we have decided to do. I saw the value of what God has enabled us to do.

On Saturday I went to visit the area where we are looking for the plot for building the centre, this took us from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm. I did this to see if there are other good plots aside from the one we saw in my last visit to Bukoba. The owner of the first plot had not yet arrived from Dodoma and we are expecting him to arrive today. By Friday I will be certain of which plot we have identified as the best and its costs.

In the evening I went to visit the grandmother of Evodius, Revinius and Veldiana. Below is the photo showing that grandmother standing with her grandchildren in front of their house.

Grandma and Grandchildren

LIFE IN THE CENTRE

LIFE

These are the children in the centre on Easter

bedrooms

Life in their bedrooms

GISELA

Gisela on her bed

boys

The boys bedroom

fullteam.jpg

The full team at the Centre
At the back from Left is Jovitha who is dealing with logistics and children health issues, at the middle is Eugenia, the house mother and right is Florida who is dealing with the general cleanliness of the centre.

houserear

Rear of the house …. look at all those tiny shoes

housefront

Front of the house

houseside

Side of the house

love

We love each other

dance

Easter celebration - We danced together

eating

We ate Easter dinner together

]]> http://www.gerladina.com/blog/easter-at-the-center-by-thadeus/feed/ Move In Day - Happy Birthday Gerladina http://www.gerladina.com/blog/move-in-day-happy-birthday-gerladina/ http://www.gerladina.com/blog/move-in-day-happy-birthday-gerladina/#comments Fri, 16 Mar 2007 02:55:31 +0000 kim http://www.gerladina.com/blog/move-in-day-happy-birthday-gerladina/ HAPPY BIRTHDAY GERLADINA ORPHANAGE AND EDUCATION CENTER

Today is the first day for the Gerladina Orphanage and Education Center! The first 7 children officially moved in today. They will each have a single bed with 2 sheets and a blanket for likely the first time in their lives! Today is also my birthday … so from now on the Gerladina Center and I will celebrate our birthdays together. It is truly amazing how God is working in this project. I see amazing examples day after day that totally overwhelm me.

Thadeus was not able to make it to the center for today but asssured me that the house mother would get the children all settled in. He is planning to travel there in a few days. For the time being it is a long journey for him to get to the center, which is in the area he was born and raised, but he will be moving there full-time in the near future.

I mailed a HUGE box of clothes for the children today …. hope it doesn’t take too long to get there. Also included some coloring books, crayons, pencil crayons, blank paper and envelopes so the children can write or color something to send to their sponsors. Postage was crazy expensive though … may have to find a better way to do that.

So it was a very exciting day …. i can picture the children bedding down in their own beds and having real meals.
First thing to do is to get the 2 older children registered in the closest school. It is so exciting to know we are making a real difference in the lives of these children.

]]> http://www.gerladina.com/blog/move-in-day-happy-birthday-gerladina/feed/