April 26 Newsletter

What's for dinner?

You might wonder what it is like to feed 74 children and the scheduled staff on a given day at Sonshine. It involves thoughtful planning, careful preparation, and a lot of teamwork. Providing healthy, nutritious meals has been a Sonshine commitment since its founding in 2005. Raising up children to become Godly, world changing leaders involves the daily provision of healthy food along with abundant Sonshine love. Many children have been rescued from extreme poverty. The very existence of plates, utensils, and more than one food item per day were an unknown concept to most of the children rescued into Sonshine.

The ministry strategically buys the items it can't produce on its own, sometimes in bulk, balancing cost and quality. The daily mealtimes are a joyful occasion from pre-prep to cooking to serving to celebrating and to clean-up. Everyone participates. Everyday seems like a special, big family gathering around the kitchen and in the dining hall. Pictured above is Naomi (age 10) enjoying a sahani (plate) of mchele (rice), maharage (beans), karrot (carrot), mboga (vegetable), and chungwa (orange). Thank you for helping make these healthy meals possible.

To see more photos of kitchen life, click here.

An excitement can be seen in every child when they connect with their sponsors. It is a beautiful sight to see their eyes light up and joyful expressions upon their faces. The positive impact on the lives of the children by their sponsors through these connections is incredible. Sonshine does its best to accommodate time zone differences and the busy schedules of participants on both sides of the call. WhatsApp is a convenient application to use. Sonshine staff with phones frequently use it for their communication. Don't let language be a barrier. Tanzania requires students to learn English and there are Care Givers, Social Workers, and young Sonshine adults available to help. Please let us know when you would like to arrange your next caring connection. It will be fun.

An overflowing crowd lined the pitch on Saturday, April 4 at Sonshine FC’s home field to watch an exciting, friendly match between the Sonshine FC Nyeusi (Black) and the Sonshine FC Nyekundu (Red). In international football parlance, a “friendly” game is a non-competitive exhibition game played outside of formal soccer competition. The result of the game has no effect on the standings of the teams in either a league or tournament. Because they are “not competitive”, they are known as friendly games. The respective sides wore their new practice jerseys for the first time, donated by an excellent premier, youth soccer club in the Pacific Northwest, USA.

The sides played thrilling football, battling back and forth in the first 45 minutes with the Nyekundu (Red) netting a stunning goal before the half ended. In the second half, the Nyeusi (Black) continued the build of their first half momentum and were quick to equalize through great teamwork and a cheeky finish. The second half concluded in regulation with the sides drawn 1:1; both sides celebrating the outcome. The results are even more impressive when one considers play involved a barely-fully-inflated ball, small, somewhat shaky lacrosse goals, and hazardous out-of-play ball retrieval through barbed wire fence to the neighboring property.

Photos from the Friendly

> The weekend arrival of the Big Brothers from Dar

The sound of the motorbike carrying two passengers into Sonshine as it sped through the gates was followed instantly by a roar of joy from all the children playing at the front of the property. The raucous cheering and ensuing sprint to greet the just arrived was louder and faster than eye or mind could imagine. Was this great excitement a response to a surprise call for ice cream? No. It was due to the arrival of big brothers Andrew and Joshua home from college in Dar es Salaam for the Easter weekend after a 10-hour bus ride and a morning, motorbike pick-up by Steve at the King'ori bus station. The cheering and roar of delight brought an unforgettable memory. Pictured below left is Andrew (age 20) hoisting Jayson (age 4) into the air as the arriving Andrew is surrounded by his Sonshine family. (Andrew was age 6 when he arrived at Sonshine in 2013.) Appearing below right is Joshua updating excited and inquisitive Sonshine siblings about college life in the big city and the amazing things God is doing in their lives.