PROJECT REHEMA: Ministering to orphans of Tanzania

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
April 17, 2008

As a mother of three, one Sioux City parishioner's heart nearly broke when she discovered how a young orphan in Tanzania was being treated because she had AIDs.

The frail Tanzanian girl, Rehema, who had been kicked out of one orphanage after another, provided the inspiration for Project Rehema Ministries, Inc. Kelli Solsma, a parishioner at Sacred Heart Church in Sioux City, started the not-for-profit organization about a year ago.

Project Rehema's main goal is to minister to orphaned and vulnerable children of Tanzania by addressing their physical, educational, emotional and spiritual needs through the example of Jesus Christ.

It was during a two-week mission trip to Tanzania in 2003 that Solsma first spotted Rehema.

After seeing the girl at one orphanage, a few days later Solsma spotted the child at another orphanage. She inquired if the girl was Rehema and the orphanage's director replied yes.

"He said, 'She has AIDs you know, but don't worry I'm keeping her in a corner.' I said, 'Why?'" recalled Solsma. "I had to go into a little mini-seminar on AIDs - how you get it and how you don't get it. And she was just sitting in a corner, scared to death and not knowing why she was being excluded from everything and everyone."

By the time Solsma made it home, she discovered Rehema had been sent to yet another orphanage. That was three orphanages all within a few weeks time and she wondered just how many more moves the child encountered.

The good news was that the final orphanage, under the supervision of a woman known as Mama Lynn, accepted children with HIV and AIDs. That home would only last about a year, however, as Rehema died on July 24, 2004, at the age of 8. In Tanzania, one out of nine children dies before the age of 5.

On a mission

When Solsma went on the mission trip in 2003, it was her sixth trip to Tanzania. While the organization that she had made those first trips with was a medical mission, her involvement was always centered on the orphans.

"Project Rehema is basically what I have been doing for the last 10 years with a different nonprofit organization, but I'm focusing only on the orphan aspect of it," she explained.

Through this project, she said she hopes to "get away from the whole institutionalizing of children."

In the Tanzanian orphanages, it is typical for there to be two adults for 50 children. The country has 2.5 million orphans.

Setting up homes

"There is no one even there to bond with," said Solsma, who is the secretary at St. Michael Center of Holy Cross School in Sioux City. "I want to open up very small, modest homes and hire a 'mama' to take care of six to eight orphans. I want to make it as much like a real family as possible - like a foster-mother."

What does the "mama" get out of it? She gets a roof over her head, a small monthly salary, three meals a day and security.

"What do the kids get out of it? Everything," stressed Solsma.

The goal of her June trip to Tanzania will be to get the legal work in place in order to open the first home. She will make the trip with Deb Morris, a fellow Sacred Heart parishioner, who is vice president of Project Rehema.

"We already have someone in Sioux City who said when we open up the first home they will pay the rent," she said. "We've had one generous donation that is allowing us to move forward."

Others have chipped in as well. Pat Bartholomew, a member of Blessed Sacrament Church who has gone on a mission trip to Tanzania, held a fundraiser through Alpha Delta Cappa for Project Rehema and in March, Bishop Heelan Catholic Schools held a teachers versus students basketball game and donated proceeds for Project Rehema.

She also finds support from her husband, Jim, and her children.

Solsma mentioned Tanzanian laws regarding orphans are becoming more stringent due to some organizations that don't have the best interest of the children at heart. While those laws are needed, she said it does make it more difficult when people want to help.

Extended family

Along with establishing homes, she said another facet of Project Rehema is identifying children before they have to go to orphanages or foster homes.

In many cases, she noted that extended family such as aunts, uncles and grandparents will take in orphans but often they run out of money and resources to care for extra children. That's when they are sent to orphanages. The average annual income in Tanzania is $600.

Through trusted contacts in Tanzania, she hopes to identify families that are taking care of extended family members. She said by offering a little assistance each month, they hope that more of these families will continue care of the relatives.

"I feel the last 10 years I had with a different nonprofit organization, doing basically what I am doing now, was like a training ground," Solsma noted. "I learned a lot of what to do and what not to do. I am trying to keep my heart open to what God wants me to do - I know it won't be easy."

Additionally, Project Rehema's mission is to keep education a priority for each child, provide medical care for each child, engage in HIV/AIDs awareness, conduct annual mission trips and continue to work to change existing laws for adoption.

She said she hopes to take small teams to Tanzania by next year.

God calling

"There is not a doubt in my mind that this is a calling from God because when I went the first time to Africa 11 years ago, I was scared to death to go," she said. "I had three little kids at home. I knew God was speaking to me, but I was afraid."

At that time, her youngest was 2 years old and she had never left them for that long.

Solsma had been doing some serious discernment about making a trip to Africa when she attended Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church more than 10 years ago. Father Joe Dillinger's sermon was centered on how God calls each person to help others.

"God let me know very clearly that I was supposed to go to Africa to minister to the orphans of Tanzania," she said. "It was very evident and ever since that first trip it has been very evident that this is what I am supposed to do and I feel so lucky to have found my passion in life."

It was the example of Mama Lynn - whom Solsma has witnessed first-hand - that taught her one person can make a difference. Mama Lynn left the United Kingdom seven years ago to work with the orphans of Tanzania.

Making a difference in the lives of the orphans of Tanzania is what Solsma hopes to accomplish.

"As frustrating as it is sometimes, I will never give up on those kids," she said.

Anyone interested in more information about this project may contact Solsma at (712) 251-4759 or (605) 232-1010.