The Musoma Children's Home

The Musoma Children’s Home is a children’s home in Africa aimed specifically at saving the lifes of children whose mothers have died at childbirth.

The children’s home is beautifully located at the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, a few kilometres away from the city of Musoma in Tanzania.  Here infants who have lost their mother, and who with great probability would die otherwise, are taken care of.

The children’s home is run in close contact with the local social services and in co-operation with the Tanzanian church, Evangelistic Assemblies of God.  The children’s home is operated as an independent unit and is wholly financed by voluntary gifts.  It serves the entire Mara district in northern Tanzania.  Lisbeth and Daniel Granlund, from the city of Vasa in Finland, act as managers for the children’s home.

Target group

Many African children loose their mothers at childbirth or shortly after.  When this happens the infant child’s chances at survival in the home is very small.

Without mother’s milk and the care of their mother the infant has no protection.  The sanitary conditions, diseases and the shortage of suitable food contribute to the hasty demise of the child.

The Musoma Children’s Home is constructed and built especially for the care of infants.  Here the children receive care, food and medical attention during the initial,  most critical period.

Objective

The objective of the work is to ensure the survival of the child who will then be re-united with its remaining family, to be raised in its proper environment without outside help.

During the time at the children’s home the contact with the child’s father and other relatives is maintained.

When the child reaches two years of age its chances of survival at home in the village is judged to be the same as for African children in general.  The child is returned to the village and its relatives.  Its place at the children’s home is filled by another infant in the same situation.  Hence, all children at the home range in age between newly born and two years old.

Lisbeth and Daniel

Lisbeth and Daniel Granlund have many years experience of Africa.  They travelled to Tanzania in 1979 as young missionaries to work for the health service of the Pentecostal Mission.  Ever since, their motto has been to translate the Christian message of love into practical acts of helping. 

After having spent a few years in the Tanzanian countryside working with healthcare, Lisbeth and Daniel came to realize that the children were the most vulnerable group, and then especially the small children.  This created the direction for their future lives and commitment in Africa.

They have now spent more than 20 years taking care of newly born babies whose mothers have died at childbirth.  Many are the children who they have saved and who have then been returned to their village to continue a normal life.

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