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Serving vulnerable children and empowering families in Geita, Tanzania

Neema House Drop In Center

We believe that every child deserves to be raised in a loving family

Neema House Drop-In Center is a licensed child care facility that opened its doors in June 2013. We provide residential care for children who have been abandoned, abused, or have no known relatives to care for them in cases where the caregiver is mentally ill, hospitalized, or arrested. Neema House is committed to providing the best quality interim care for children while also seeking to help return children to families in the community, either through reunification with biological families or through adoptive placements.

All children at Neema House Drop-In Center are placed by the Social Welfare Department, either through the Town Council, District, Regional, or Hospital offices. Neema House gathers as much information about the child as possible at the time of placement, and then seeks to locate and/or make contact with family members to begin exploring options for long term sustainability in a home with family.

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Our Homes

Toddler home

Our toddler home was the first house built for Neema House kids and it was opened in June 2013. This home is for children ages 2-5 years old. We have separate bedrooms for our girls and boys. We also have a two separate play rooms for the kids to engage in different activities with the mamas throughout the day!

 

baby home

The baby home was completed in December 2017 with the help of Capital Drilling here in Geita. Most of the children that came to Neema House during the overwhelming growth we experienced in 2015/2016 were infants or children under 1 year old. We needed a new home with enough space for these babies to crawl, walk, and play as they are growing. We are so happy to have this extra space for our smallest children. Babies remain in this home until they are two years old and then they transition to the toddler home.

 

preschool

Once the new baby home was completed late in 2017, we started renovating the old baby home into our new preschool classroom. Our preschool program began summer 2018 and is for our 3-5 year olds who attend a couple hours a day, 5 days a week. They spend their time learning their alphabet, counting, working on their fine motor skills while also learning to follow instructions. The kids love learning through play and we are excited to see our preschool continue to develop over the years. 

 

Family Home

Our family home opened in December 2019 for children ages 6+ who had not been adopted or able to return to family. A mama lives in the home with them 24/7, teaches them chores, takes them to town and church, and helps them with their homework. The children attend school at Waja Primary School in town. Though some of the older children have been able to be reunified or adopted after moving into the family home, others might need to remain until they are 18.

Maisha Matters

‘Maisha’ is the Swahili word for ‘life’, 

it matters

The Maisha Matters program empowers Tanzanian families to care for their children. We provide life saving milk support and partner with families to assist them in long-term, sustainable success.

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 In April 2016, Neema House Geita partnered with Forever Angels Baby Home in Mwanza, Tanzania to implement their evidence-based Maisha Matters Program in Geita Region.

Maisha Matters was implemented with the goal of serving at-risk, starving babies whose mothers  have died in childbirth or are too sick with HIV that they are not producing milk to sustain their child. Previously, children in these circumstances were placed at Neema House on a temporary basis to help ensure the children’s health when it was felt that the circumstances were life threatening or the family had no other options. However, our desire to keep children out of institutional care by helping their families to raise them in their own communities. 

The Maisha Matters program allows us to support children suffering from severe malnutrition while also empowering their families to care for them at home. 

Here's how...

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Nutrition

We start by providing infant milk formula for the baby on a weekly basis and train the caregiver on hygienic milk preparation to combat the risk of malnutrition. If a child is older than a year but suffering from severe malnutrition, we offer support in the form of powdered milk and peanut butter.

 
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Life Skills Training

We work with families to teach or improve basic life skills, including advising families about: business techniques, financial matters, child care, and improved farming techniques.

 
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Education & Training

We educate caregivers on issues regarding nutrition; health; basic first aid; the importance of clean water, hygiene & sanitation; and child development, including information about children with disabilities, as well as maternal health. We also support families with other health referrals & resources and mosquito nets if needed.

 
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Follow Up & Monitoring

Families come to Neema House weekly to receive formula and trainings. We weight children every week to ensure they are gaining weight and monitor their ongoing health. We also try to complete one home visit after the family has completed the program.

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Medical Support

Sometimes malnutrition co-exists with other health conditions that have either contributed to (i.e., cleft palate, tuberculosis) or resulted from (i.e., liver damage) the malnutrition. In these instances, we work with the family and consult with doctors to help address these additional concerns holistically.

 
 
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Business Planning / S

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When families lack financial resources to care for their children, we counsel them with business planning, supplies, or skills training so they can run a small sustainable business to provide for their whole family on a consistent, long-term basis. At times, Neema House assists in the purchase of the initial capital for the new business, for which they must pay back 50% of the invested amount. At other times, the family will be provided with a resource, such as a bag of clothes, to sell then use to purchase supplies themselves. If a family has sufficient resources at home that are going unused (i.e. livestock), the family will be counseled about how they can better use their current resources to improve their financial situation. In all situations, we seek to empower rather than enable families.

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Meet Pendo

Baby Mariam was referred to us for support through Maisha Matters after being hospitalized for severe malnutrition. Mariam’s father had three wives, and her mother had disappeared with over a year earlier. When she returned, Mariam was so ill that she could not lift her head. Her mother then left the home again, but another wife, Pendo, agreed to care for Mariam and began bringing her to weekly Maisha Matters training. Within 6 weeks, Mariam had gained 4 kgs (8.8 lbs).

Pendo had some previous training to be a seamstress but had not ever finished her course. Neema House helped pay for three months of training so that she could then open her own business to help support herself and Mariam. Since then, Pendo has repaid the entire cost of her training and started her own business. Mariam continues to be healthy and happy at home with her father and Pendo!

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Meet Greyson

Greyson (age 1 year, 8 months) was referred to Maisha Matters by Geita Regional Hospital for concerns of severe malnutrition. At the time he weighed 5.97 kgs (13.1 lbs). After working with him closely for a couple of weeks, Neema House staff recognized possible signs of TB and took him to the clinic for testing and medication. Within 6 weeks of treatment and nutritional support, Greyson had gained 3 kgs (6.6 lbs). He has now regained strength to sit and play and has even begun walking and catching up on other developmental skills.

Cleft Lip / Palate Repair

Meet Mary

Mary was 10 years old when her father brought her to Neema House seeking support for her cleft lip. Because of stigma and bullying associated with her cleft lip, Mary was unable to attend school or interact with other children. We assisted Mary in getting surgery to repair her cleft lip and it changed her life. Mary is now accepted by the community will be able to go to school. Her outlook on her future has changed from despair to hope.

 
 

changing lives through surgery

In 2020, Neema House was approached by government officials asking if we could assist children with cleft lips and palates. Children with cleft lips and palates often have difficulty breastfeeding or eating, which can lead to other health complications and malnutrition. After investigating resources, we began partnering with Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT), a hospital in Dar es Salaam that offers free cleft lip and palate repair to children who meet the health qualifications.

Neema House Tanzania now works to help ensure the nutrition and health requirements of a child so that they qualify for the cleft repair surgery. We pay for the necessary medical tests prior to the surgery and transport costs to and from Dar es Salaam. After surgery, we will do follow ups to the family's home to ensure that the child is contiuing to heal well.