Our Story

Neema House is an interim care home that was built to serve orphaned, abandoned, and at-risk children ages 0-5 in the Geita Region. It was opened in Geita Town in June 2013 and was initially set up to serve up to 20 children at a time. Since then, Neema House has expanded its facilities to include separate baby and toddler homes, thus increasing capacity and improving quality of care, as well as developing a classroom space for the children, an outdoor classroom space for community outreach trainings, and a family home for older, school-aged children who have not been able to be placed with family. Neema House is the only home in the Geita Region serving children under the age of five.

Neema House works in connection with the local hospitals, clinics, and government social welfare offices to identify children in need and ensure their care and safety. While at Neema House, children are provided food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education, and love. Day-to-day care of the children is provided by Tanzanian caregivers to help ensure that they are raised in their Tanzanian culture as much as possible and therefore more easily reintegrate into homes in the community.

Though many children are orphaned due to AIDS, TB, other diseases, or abandonment, most children have extended family in the area who often have no knowledge of the child. Neema House is committed to maintaining and developing a relationship with any extended family these children may have in the hope that as many children as possible may reunited with their families. Children who do not have any known family will remain in the care of Neema House until further long-term plans can be arranged to ensure the child's care and safety, ideally through fostering / adoption.

Neema House was designed with the purpose that people from the Geita community will experience the grace and abundance of God through tangible acts of love and service. It seeks to be involved in the community and a partner with social welfare to address the needs of children in the Region of Geita.

Since its conception, Neema House has developed a greater focus on community outreach to support children in their homes and prevent the need for out-of-home placement whenever possible. In 2016, Neema House implemented the Maisha Matters Project in Geita to address the problem of infant malnutrition and death following the death of the mother (often in child birth), when a mother is unable to breastfeed (often as a result of HIV or other illness), or in other cases of severe malnutrition due to lack of appropriate food, nutrition, or simply due to lack of nutritional knowledge. This program combines milk support, parent education, and empowerment of women through business set-ups for long term sustainability and often successfully prevents the need for out-of-home placement of children. Upon request of the Geita Regional Hospital, this program has been expanded to support all children under age 5 who have been diagnosed with severe malnutrition. Neema House offers emotional support and parent education while children are hospitalized and then continues with supplemental nutrition and education following their discharge.

No matter in what capacity we are involved, Neema House always desires what is in the best interest of each child.

Our Objectives

At Neema House, we seek to care for children when they are most vulnerable, to ensure their health and well-being, and to develop long-term plans for a safe and loving home in the community, preferably with family. When children are found abandoned or at risk of safety, we offer residential care on an interim basis until other long-term plans can be made. Neema House focuses on family reunification first and, when that is not possible, completes the necessary processes to make children available for adoption.

When possible, however, we seek to offer support to families in the community to prevent the need for out-of-home care, particularly in instances of maternal death or severe malnutrition and health concerns. This support could include: infant milk formula support, nutritional counseling and support, parent / caregiver education and training, provision of mosquito nets, assistance with business start-ups for long-term sustainability, medical assistance, or other follow-up support.

Through this support, we strive to meet our overall objectives at all times while working with families: reduce poverty and hunger; reduce malaria and other diseases; reduce infant mortality; improve quality of life; improve education and life skills; and improve family nutrition.

Our Team

Cheryl McFaddin, Executive Director

Cheryl is a Licensed Master of Science in Social Work with 21 years of experience, most of which has been in child welfare and mental health, including running two homes for children ages 0-12. Cheryl has experience as a social welfare officer in America and England and also spent 5 years working in the emergency room of a children’s hospital. She took over as Executive Director of Neema House in 2014 and has been instrumental in the development of all programs, policies, procedures, and staff training.

Lucas Matumba, Assistant Director

Matumba has a Bachelor Degree in Sociology and has been working with Neema House as Social Worker since March 2016. Matumba was integral in performing investigations to search for family for all new children; coordinating family reunifications, and doing follow-up safety visits. He helped grow Maisha Matters and is leading a new health education outreach program. Matumba was promoted to Director of Community Outreach in March 2020 as he oversaw all outreach programs for Neema House Tanzania.

In January 2021, Matumba was promoted as Assistant Director and now oversees all Neema House programs and day-to-day operations.

Amina Suka, Office Administrator / Finance Assistant

Amina has a diploma in Business Administration (Accounting). She joined us in June 2023 and is responsible for managing the day-to-day finance operations as well as all accounting records and reports. Amina liases with government offices and helps address any concerns and ensure Neema House remains in compliance with regulations. She works in connection with the Business Officer to keep all financial records up to date. She also manages the needs of the office to help things continue running smoothly.

MJ (Mussa Japhary), is our Maisha Matters Social Worker. He facilitates the weekly trainings, visits every family at home to assess the home environment and level of need, and liaises with hospitals and nutritionists for new referrals. He also helps connect all Maisha Matters kids with necessary medical testing, specialist referrals, and health insurance, as needed. MJ works with our nurse and Business Administrator to create a holistic approach of support for each individual child.

Luvinga is the social worker for the children at Neema House. He works with social welfare for all children placed and discharged from our home. He searches for relatives of all children who are placed and, if found, works toward plans for reunification. If there are no relatives, he works with the commissioner's office to identify adoptive families. Luvinga completes follow-up home visits monthly for every child that is reunified. He also works with our nurse to ensure all the medical appointments for children at Neema House, particularly any that must regularly attend the HIV or TB clinic, are completed.

Agnes magendela, Administration & Business Officer

Agnes has a Bachelor in Business Administration. She started working as the Finance Administration and Business Officer for Neema House in April 2020. In this position, Agnes works as one of the accountants for all Neema House Tanzania operations. However, Agnes also spends much of her time doing home visits and working with the Maisha Matters families to discuss their financial situation and possibile business opportunities for the sustainability of their family. When needed, Agnes assists families with business-start ups and completes follow ups to offer support and encouragement for their ongoing success.

Monica Mathias, Health Worker

Monica started at Neema House as a childcare worker but was quickly promoted to a Supervisor because of her strong work ethic and commitment to the children. After discovering that Monica has a Certificate in Nursing, she was promoted a Nurse / Health Worker for all of our programs. She received additional medical training from a Physician's Assistant from America who spent a year at Neema House. Monica oversees the health needs of all children in our residential care facility as well as through our outreach programs. She is passionate about advocating for the needs of children and educating caregivers on health and nutritional needs of their children.

Leticia Jiteleja, office & education assistant

Leticia has worked at Neema House since 2018 as a child caregiver. She was promoted to the position of Office and Education Assistant in April 2023. Leticia spends her mornings teaching in our preschool classroom and works in the afternoons to help maintain Life Books on every child, keep photos up-to-date, and create a unique curriculum to educate Neema House children on life skills, fine motor development, and critical thinking skills in order to better prepare them for school in the future.

We employ over 40 employees including our caregivers, cooks, social workers, health educator, accountants, other office staff, & security guards. All employees receive a salary, social security, health insurance, annual leave, and regular trainings.

Our Story

Our Objectives