We officially closed the school for the 2022 school year on December 8 because the 9th is a their independence day and a national holiday. As with previous years the Christmas gift story starts sometime around October when we first start pricing items and getting the budget ready. This was the year that the Tanzania staff was supposed to take over the budget, purchase and putting everything together but maybe next year that will happen. This year we had 191 students that needed gifts. Unfortunately, the headmaster once again added some of those 191 the week we bought gifts so extra trips into town were needed to get the gifts for the extra students.

I huge thank you (as big as an elephant) to everyone who helped fund or provided items for the gift bags. Those groups who help by crocheting wash clothes, I am going to need you big time next year as we hopefully have 220 students. I also need people coming over to help get them all here, so if you were thinking about a trip now is the time.

This is my car on it’s first attempt to bring items from Moshi. The other vehicle belonging to the Bishop broke down?? (they were driving it when they got to the site) so we had a local small truck (they are really small with tires like those on a golf cart) deliver the rest. Remember we had 191 students this year to buy for. As with everything else in the world prices are going up here constantly. The bags were the biggest increase jumping from 12,000 shillings to 18,500 shillings. In all we spent around $22 per student up from $16 last year.

As in years past, I assembled every backpack and tested the zippers. I praise God because this was the first year I did not have to replace any damaged backpacks that were missing straps or zippers were bad. I also had to put the water bottle seal rings in place and attach the straw to each. Toys all had to be inspected and about 1/3 had to have some type of repair performed. Then you have to put into each the appropriate items for each class. So while Baby and Middle class get basically the same thing, Pre-Unity gets the larger bag and a bible story book. Standard 1-5 get different items based on the type of classes they have and Standard III gets a Bible. It takes about 2 weeks to assemble and test everything all while keep them separated by class in a very small office.

You do all of this assembly and test while being assisted (sarcasm voice engaged) by Buttercup and Maxi who always find the area you need to do the most walking through to lay down.

So the breakdown per class: Baby and Middle get 6 of the smaller exercise books, a small backpack (not pictured), one water bottle, 12 pencils, fingernail clippers (I am happy to say since we added the fingernail clippers I no longer see students trimming their nails with a razor blade), one toothbrush/toothpaste combo, one bar of soap, one handmade crochet wash cloth, one toy, 2 sharpeners, 2 erasers, one four color crayon set, one ruler, and two suckers. Pre-Unity class you change to a large backpack and add the Bible story book they use for devotions.

Standard I and II get a large backpack, 5 of the 2 quire exercise books, one of the smaller exercise books for them to do artwork in, 12 pencils, 5 pens, one ruler, 2 sharpeners, 3 erasers, 1 fingernail clipper, 2 toothpaste/toothbrush combo units, 2 bars of soap, 1 handmade crochet wash cloth, one toy, one tennis ball, one water bottle and two suckers.

Standard III get everything Standard I and II get plus an extra 2 quire notebook (they have an extra class), an additional 12 pencils plus a standard bible.

Standard IV and IV get the extra 2 quire notebook and an additional 12 pencils.

We had the Bishop for the local TAG church and the staff of our school pray over the gift bags for the students and the gifts for our staff.

The above is a slideshow so you can let it auto play or click the arrows right or left to advance or go back.

And we did not forget about our staff at the school.