A Center for Accepted Children
The Emmanuel Center was founded in 2004 and started with just 12 boys. Over the past 7 years it has grown to help more than 20 boys from many different walks of life.
We give all the credit for our success to God. Without a relationship with Jesus, none of our boys would be where they are today. That is the focus and core belief of what we do here.
We believe through raising our boys in Love and retraining them to know of a Father that loves them, we can see them break the cycle of poverty and drugs that their families have known. Some of our boys are left orphaned from the AIDS epidemic and others have known neglect from other reasons.
We have become like a family here at the Emmanuel Center. We tell boys when they come with us that they can leave their shoes at the door and no one will steal them, and this is not a center of thieves. Those days are gone. This is a family.
We aim to give these boys a chance at education so they can finish school and obtain successful careers. Our little boys have grown quite a bit and some have even begun to attend boarding secondary schools. We are so proud of them. For those who aren’t able to finish school we are working on job training that will allow them to succeed well in life.
As we move towards the new year 2011, we are focusing hard at reconnecting families. This past year we have successfully replanted a child with his father and it is going well. His parents where only 16 when they had this boy, he grew up as a mistake and no responsibility has been taken for him. Growing up feeling rejected he ended up on the streets and on drugs. After we had him for over two years, we began slowly to reconnect him with his father and in January he moved home for the first time. We have done one follow up visit and it is going great. He is now 16 and finally home.
We have several more that are going to boarding schools. Their grandparents may not be able to pay for their school or even to take care of them, but we have encouraged the families to get together and pay for their food and house them for a couple weeks out of the year. So far our meetings have been positive with many.
A lot of our boys can’t go home, because for sure there is no home to go to. However, we will encourage them to visit living family members more regularly and to help in family farms and such as NORMAL kids would do during longer school breaks.
For a handful that have no one. My family will be their family and we will spend as much time together as we have with those who have no one. God’s family is huge and no child should sit alone on the holidays.
We are completely run on the generous gifts of people month to month. Thank you!
Our greatest needs for 2011 are for Educational Sponsors: $1500.00-$2000.00 per child, per year. This covers everything from school uniforms, school supplies, class field trips, school fees, etc. We currently have 18 children.
Our second greatest need is for rent for 2011. This will be our last year paying rent as we head towards building a permanent home for our center. The cost to rent is only $2000.00 for the whole year.
The monthly cost of running a center like this is about $2000.00 a month with the age that we have. When we had younger boys that weren’t able to do a lot of the work, it was $3000.00 per month.
Our most exciting news yet:
In late 2010 we hope to lay the foundation on our land, actual costs have not been calculated as of yet. However we estimate that it may be as low as $60,000.00 dollars to lay a foundation for our building.
2011: $40,000.00 for first floor
Early 2011: $40,000.00 for second floor
Mid 2011: $18,000.00 for a complete roof
Late 2011: plumbing and electricity for entire building would be $12,000.00
None of these funds have been raised at this point and we will be starting fund raising this month for the foundation.
Our boys range from ages 11-20. They are full of life and definitely a handful on some days, however no more than normal teenage boys can be.
I am so thankful to God for allowing me to be a part of these boys’ lives. I can’t wait to see eternity and how this all unfolds.
We are looking to start an orphanage for babies, girls and boys. We will be using the newer orphan village model and will begin building in 2012-2013 on our new site. While this is still a year away, we continue to pray for laborers here in Tanzania, as well as support to continue to reach this Generation with the love of the Father.
With thanks and love,
The Omari Family- Lewison, Jill, Enoch, Noella, Acacia and Jillian
These are some pictures of our schooling at home. We are working hard at getting them ready for school in December. Jill teaches science twice a week and loves it. Also we took a field trip one day, so the boys were so happy. Also there are pictures of play time.
