Hope for Tanzania

As we said earlier, we have met some wonderful, inspiring people in our time here, and we would like to highlight some of these people in our blog posts. Today we will be starting with Michael Medoth, and his orphanage. 

Michael Medoth

Michael owns an orphanage called Osiligi Orphanage. "Osiligi" in Swahili means hope, which is exactly what he gives the children that live there. As a child, Michael was forced to live on his own. With almost no help at all, periods of hunger and cold, and practically no schooling. Michael raised himself the best he could. His dream was to someday have an orphanage so that no child would ever have to go through what he went through. Today, Michael's orphanage is doing well though he needs help building a new orphanage so he can take in more kids. The children all love him. When he comes to see them, they yell "Baba! Baba!" (in English, "Daddy! Daddy!"). He is a very important and crucial part of all their lives.

There are currently seven children living there, and they all have different background stories. Some were abandoned, like Robert and Kelvin. They are brothers who were found extremely malnourished living in a hole in the ground. Some, like Shadrake, lived with relatives because they had been kicked out by a new step father. Sadly, this is often the case here. Some of their parents couldn't afford them, and some had parents that died because of HIV or AIDS.  The first wave group had the opportunity to travel to some of the villages where some of the children were found. Volunteer Emilee Eddings said, "It was really humbling even being in the areas because of the types of houses that they live in. Dirt floors,magazine walls, a curtain for the door...It just makes me so grateful to have a good house and a good, whole family." 

The children with some of the neighbor kids

Michael has such a big heart, and a real desire to help kids in need. He is an amazing Christian man and believes that his children at the orphanage should believe in God as well, because God is the reason they all came together.You can tell the kids love each other and they are their own little family.

Michael has created a website for the orphanage. This is the link to website. If you are interested in learning more about these children please visit this site. 

http://www.osiligiorphanage.org/