News and Events
In late May 2008, Tiny Tim and Friends Board Members - Betty, Kris, Colleen and Molly - spent three weeks in Zambia, helping with the Tiny Tim and Friends project. Here are some of our unforgettable moments.
The Tiny Tim and Friends Outreach Program has grown tremendously this year. A team of 4 to 5 people go out into the compounds, talk to the parents and caregivers about the dangers of undiagnosed HIV infection and the importance of having their children tested, getting the legal consent signed and then testing the children. Any children who are HIV+ are then enrolled in Tiny Tim and Friends ARV Program and treated and supported free of charge. On our first trip with the Outreach Team we tested 50 children in Lechwe Village - about an hour’s drive from Lusaka, and next to the beautiful Lechewe Lodge. The people seemed very hesitant at first, but after talking and singing with the team, all the children were tested and happily, not one was HIV+. Dr. Tim gave Kris, Molly, Colleen and Betty small jobs to do, but we really felt like we were saving the world!!
Dr. Tim and Molly examine children at Lechewe Outreach Clinic
Corpmed Medical Center has kindly donated the use of two of their offices to Tiny Tim and Friends two afternoons a week. Any TT&F patient or family member can drop in during that time to be examined and receive their meds. We were able to help in our small way each day.
Corpmed Medical Center, Tiny Tim and Friends office
Rev. Zimba’s Transit House is a meeting place for the Tiny Tim and Friends Woman’s Group. They meet twice a week to learn the skills of painting note cards, crocheting beach bags out of plastic bags, tie-dying material, sewing clothes, knitting door mats. The women sell these things and use the money to buy more supplies. They are excited about the prospect of becoming self-sustaining and earning money for their families. We hope to sell some of their products here in the U.S.
Tiny Tim and Friends Women’s Group
Nehamiah House is a transit home for 46 children, run by one woman, who also sponsors about 150 children with their school tuition. Most of the children living at Nehamiah House are orphans, but the hope is to find a family member who would take them in. Tiny Tim and Friends has been able to test each child for HIV and give them clothes that were donated.
Nehemia House children
The Jon Hospice Daycare is one of our favorite places and is where Tiny Tim and Friends first started working, almost five years ago. The children are between 4 and 8 years old, all are HIV+ and come from the surrounding, very poor compounds. We were able to put on a grand party for them, with abundant food, wild dancing and singing, and gift bags consisting of socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hats, hair jewelry, stickers, crayons, spinning tops, etc. One of the biggest treats was handing out teddy bears knit by the Mother Bear Project knitters to each child.
Tea time at Jon Hospice Daycare
St. Thomas school is on the outskirts of Lusaka and is desperately in need of help. The walls are made of bamboo curtains, dirt floors, no plumbing or electricity, no separate rooms for each class - only cardboard partitions, few desks - only wooden planks, no lunch program of any kind. Three hundred children attend this school, half in the morning and half in the afternoon. The Tiny Tim and Friends Outreach Team has been gradually testing each child for their HIV status. We were able to bring them books and pens and put on a party for them one day, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a school here in the U.S. would want to adopt St. Thomas as a “partner school?”
Molly with St. Thomas children
Children In Crisis Center at the YWCA in Lusaka takes in children who have been sexually abused in their family situations and tries to find them a safe home. As a result of this abuse, many of the girls, even as young as 8 years old, are now receiving Tiny Tim and Friends medications and support for their HIV infections. We were able to give them books, pens, teddy bears and clothes.
Our three weeks went by all too fast. Everyone agreed that the Tiny Tim and Friends team in Zambia is doing a fantastic job of helping the poorest and most vulnerable children and families. But there is much more to be done and with the help of all of our donors, much more will be accomplished.
More pictures …
Tiny Tim and Friends Women’s Group outside of transit house.
Kris and children outside of transit house.
Men’s bathroom at St. Thomas school
Nehemia House
Betty handing out books for children at Nehemia House
