JBFC's Year in Review

2013 has been an incredible year at JBFC. We've grown and changed, while staying true to our mission... ending poverty one child at a time. Here are some of the highlights from our year.

We couldn't have done any of it without all of you. Thanks for all of the love, support, and prayers over the last year. We will need all of that and more in the year to come. We have big plans in store for 2014 and we will make sure we keep you informed of all that's going on in Tanzania, right here on this blog. So stay tuned...


In 2013, JBFC expanded our campus and got a bird's eye view of all that we have done in our village of Kitongo, Tanzania.

Thanks to some generous friends we added a dining hall big enough for our entire school community, where we served 200,000 meals in 2013.

Our students at Joseph & Mary School continued to excel, outscoring the rest of the students in our district.

And to keep our kids making the grade... JBFC launched Book by Book to build the JBFC Library.

We said farewell to old friends...

George & Connie

 

 

 

 

Kayci Hebard

And said hello to some new ones...

Seth Diemond

 

 

 

 

Melinda Wulf

We had more guests...

 

 

 

 

doing more things....

 

 

 

and raising more money and awareness about JBFC than ever before.

 

Nina's Share the Joy of Reading Project

 

Emily's Art for Africa Project

We swapped letters with our new pen pals in New York...



Exchanged art with some talented girls in Tulsa...

... which was featured in a local art show.

We flexed our creative muscles in other ways...

... learning drama and taking to the stage.

Thanks to our Permaculture partners, JBFC's farm is growing more fruitful and efficient by the day, providing our campus with most of our food needs and saving the organization money.

And we expanded our campus restaurant, Papa's, so we can serve more customers, help train more underprivileged youth, and continue to make JBFC more self-sustaining.

We partnered with the Walkabout Foundation to give some of our handicapped students some new wheels.

We saw more smiles...

 

 

and had more laughs...

 

than one year should be able to hold.

But 2014 promises to be even better.

For more information about JBFC and its mission, please check out our website.

For more pictures from JBFC, please visit our Facebook page.

And don't forget we're on Youtube, releasing monthly videos to give you more insight into what's happening in Tanzania.

Christmas in September: the Makings of a JBFC Holiday Card

Editor's Note: JBFC's Christmas card should be hitting mailboxes soon. This is the story behind the holiday cheer and just what it took to recruit Santa's little helpers.

"Girls, we need all of you to wear red for a Christmas card shoot."

Their puzzled looks said it all-- why are we talking about Christmas in September?

Despite the confusion still written all over their faces, they agreed (one of the many reasons I love my girls - they're always up for anything) and got all dressed up. Here they came, all 43 girls, in a sea of red.

They gathered on my back porch and the adults proceeded to try to make a triangle on the steps. Our attempt at a Christmas tree was fairly slow-going, shuffling giggling girls into order from tallest in back to shortest in front.

 Then, as it goes in a photo shoot, the camera came out... and all of the smiles disappeared.

Elisa Masso, a talented volunteer who is our current resident photographer, was perched on a table at the top of the stairs to get a bird's eye view.

No laughs... And no smiles.

This just wouldn't do. We needed a little holiday cheer.

So, what did I do?  Hopped up on the table to give Elisa rabbit ears.

 

Of course, it wasn't the rabbit ears that made the entire group burst into laughter. It was the fact that at any moment, we were going to come tumbling down from our wobbly table. But, after a few quick snaps, and a very careful dismount, we had some of the cutest group pictures we had taken in a while.

And, then came the silly small group photos.

We decided to "wrap" Esther, our youngest girl, up as a Christmas gift. As the youngest and the smallest, Esther, is the true baby of the family - used to being picked up, carried around, and basically getting her way (known to be tad bossy, too). But when I picked up and put her in this Christmas box, she looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

Why do I have to wear this funny Santa hat and sit in a box?

Despite little Bhoke (Santa's helper on the right), trying her hardest to make jokes and telling Esther in Swhili "do like this" and copy her big goofy grin - Esther wouldn't crack a smile.

Which just made the rest of us laugh even harder... and Shida and Bhoke, as Santa's helpers, look even more adorable.

It wasn't until we had Salome play Santa...

That we got a legitimate smile out of Esther (seated on left, first row). But I suspect it's because she thought presents were involved.

Try as we might to explain, and try as we might to show them the outcome of a hilarious photo shoot, our girls may never understand the craziness.

But, nonetheless, the photos are adorable and we hope that they bring you all a little more joy this Christmas season.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

*A big thank you to Elisa Masso at www.elisamariephot.com for her beautiful work!










Chris Gates is the Founder & Executive Director of JBFC.