STEMM as an organization has always been firmly committed to following the leading of the Holy Spirit as regards our ministry. No better example of that commitment exists than our commitment to care for the orphans of Tanzania. So as you will see, it is always through the persistent prompting of God through the Holy Spirit that we came to dedicate ourselves to an ever increasing dedication to these children.

Since STEMM began its ministry in 1997, we were only peripherally aware of what at that time was a relatively small orphan problem. Little did we know that within the next five years due to HIV/AIDS the orphan population would explode throughout Africa including Tanzania. However, God actually planted the seed for our orphan ministry during our first official STEMM trip in July of 1997.

STEMM First Involvement in Orphan Care

Accompanying us on that inaugural journey was a young lady. During her first trip this young lady had a vision that STEMM should become involved with orphan care. My initial response was that STEMM as an organization in its infancy already had its hands full with our medical and educational endeavors. However, because of her persistent pleading, we eventually agreed to visit an orphanage in a town called Moshi. After traveling for over an hour we then spent several hours trying to locate this orphanage and were unable to do so. Then as a “last ditch” effort decided to pray about it. We held hands in our vehicle and asked that if God wanted STEMM to become involved with orphan care that he would need to lead us quickly to this orphanage before we had to return home.

Within minutes of our prayer we stopped at a stop sign and a nun approached us and knocked on the window of our van. This was quite a shocking event, as culturally Tanzanians, and women in particular, are very reserved and rarely bold enough to initiate conversation. As we spoke with this nun, we found out that she had spent time in the United States in a convent, and as we spoke with her further we expressed our desire to visit this particular orphanage in Moshi. She stated with glee that she knew exactly where it was and had always wanted to go there. She climbed in our van and showed us exactly how to get there. When we looked around to speak with her further we realized that she was nowhere to be found. With the orphanage we met several children that touched our hearts incredibly, and so the seed was planted to consider trying to help these unfortunate children.

Nearly a year later I was in the town of Moshi once again, I remembered my promise to I made to that young lady that I would visit the orphanage during our next trip. I asked everyone around me how to find the orphanage, as I could not recall how to get there. Once again no one had heard of the orphanage and had no idea how to get there. As I was walking out of the hospital, I became quite distraught at the thought failing to find the orphanage.

Remembering our answer to prayer previously I pleaded with God that if He really, really, really wanted STEMM to be involved in orphan care could He please help me find a way to the orphanage. Miraculously and unbelievably within seconds of saying Amen, a woman in a nun’s habit came running across the parking lot and said to me “Aren’t you Dr. Meyer who I took to the orphanage last year?” I almost fell to my knees thinking that within minutes of prayer on two separate occasions God had selected the same woman out of 40 million people to take to the orphanage. I recall quite specifically wanting to speak at greater length with this woman who was obviously an answer to prayer. When we got to the orphanage, I thought I would be able to get her contact information so that we could stay in touch but surprisingly as I looked around for the nun she once again had vanished into thin air.

As a logical person I can think of no other explanation but that God had sent an angel to us on two occasions to confirm his desire for STEMM to be involved in orphan care. At that moment in time we made an organizational decision to include orphan ministry under the umbrella of STEMM ministry activities.

From Dream to Reality

At that early moment in STEMM’s history a delightful young man named Brian Singer, who had spent three years in Tanzania in the Peace Corps, brought to our attention a group of orphans that were basically living in an abandoned tavern, sleeping on a cold cement floor. STEMM immediately became involved and spent an entire trip refurbishing these squalid conditions into a functioning orphanage. STEMM painted, bought beds, blankets, clothing, and food for a group of seven children that were near starvation. Through our association with the orphanage we have now seen over the past nearly ten years multiple children who had no hope of any meaningful existence become educated, loving, and well adjusted human beings.

STEMM’s Continued Care

STEMM continues to support this orphanage financially, logistically, and most importantly, emotionally. Our involvement with the orphanage has lead us to become involved in multiple other orphanages throughout the Arusha region. Wherever an orphan need has existed that has been brought to STEMM’s attention, we have done all that we can to address that need.

It became very obvious to STEMM that the current exploding orphan population would be unable to be accommodated by the current small poorly equipped orphanages that we had been partnering with to this point. A dream was then born for STEMM to actually use our experiences and resources to develop an exemplary facility to care for these misplaced children. In 2005 STEMM made a strategic commitment to build and operate an orphanage that would function more like a home than an institution. We have since that time developed our dream of the STEMM’s Children’s Village that will ultimately provide loving family care for nearly 200 children. To read more about this vision and soon to be reality, please visit the Orphanage Page of our website.

We at STEMM are continually humbled by God’s calling of us to do His work in Tanzania. His prompting and guidance in bringing us from a point of no involvement to profound engagement with His children who are orphaned in Tanzania is a great testimony to the faithfulness of God and the hearts of the people involved in our ministry. We thank Him for His incredible love and guidance as we continue in this awesome work.