Tanzania Partnership

On the road to Tungamalenga We are starting to plan for next summer's Journey to Tungamalenga! It will be a time to meet, live among, and get to know our brothers and sisters in Tanzania. Most summers, we gather to share stories of our lives, our communities, cultures, and our common faith. For two weeks each year, people from Shepherd of the Valley and from Tungamalenga Parish live, work and play bega kwa bega , or shoulder to shoulder. What can you expect to experience on this journey? At least 24 hours travel time from our departure in Minneapolis to our arrival in Dar es Salaam One ten hour bus ride from Dar to Iringa on a paved road, then a few days later, a six hour bus ride over rutted dirt roads to Tungamalenga Unpredictable accommodations -- sometimes the water runs, sometimes the electricity works Predictable, sacrificial hospitality, with clean beds and an abundance of delicious, healthy food The wonder of God's creation -- lions, elephants, zebra, giraffe, acacia ...

Words of thanks have been flowing from our partners in Tanzania as they have heard the news that Shepherd of the Valley's Walk for Water was successful. Thank you for your prayers and for all efforts for Mahove water project! We will keep on praying for you and for the whole congregation at Shepherd of the Valley for caring for the people of Mahove and for Tungamalenga in general. May God keep on blessing you! Rev. Lusungu Msigwa Bega Kwa Bega Coordinator for the Iringa Diocese, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania Rev. Msigwa accompanied Shepherd of the Valley members to Mahove a year ago, August 2010. He served as our interpreter and advisor as we worked with the people of Mahove and with the local government representatives to discuss the plans to bring water to the village. Hi to all SOTV. We are so thankful for all you are doing for Tungamalenga Parish. We know for sure that you also have many activities to do for your church ministry for your area. But we also know that if...

On the hottest, muggiest weekend of the year, over 100 people brought their buckets to worship, laced up their walking shoes, and carried water a couple miles. They walked to raise awareness and funds for a water project at Mahove, one of the village congregations of Tungamalenga Parish, our partners in Tanzania. The short walk to Hagemeister Park was a popular choice for families and younger children. Lots of walkers, Pastor Diane included, tried to carry their water on their heads and found it hard to balance. How do our friends in Tanzania make that look so easy? Inside, the Walk for Water vocal ensemble sang at every worship service. It was a song one of our traveling groups sang with the Tungamalenga Choir in Tanzania three years ago. Walk together children, don't you get weary Sing together children, don't you get weary Shout together children, don't you get weary There's a great camp meeting in the promised land. Walk and never tire, walk and never tire.... Ma...

This weekend Shepherd of the Valley is going to Walk for Water . Why? To bring water to the remote village of Mahove, one of twenty village congregations that comprise our partner congregation, Tungamalenga Parish in Tanzania, East Africa. Who are the people of Mahove? This is Mama Petro, the Bibi or Grandmother who had the courage and persistence to ask our partnership for help. Three years ago, SOTV members visited her village and she spoke of the need to bring a source of reliable, safe water to her village. She told us that she and the other women and girls would spend hours each day walking the mile and a half downhill to fill their buckets, then carry the water uphill. Pastor Naftal says she is as persistent as Esther, coming to the parish office to ask for water for her village. This is a Mzee, an old man from the village who heard the preaching of the Gospel and asked to be baptized. Pastor Randy had that honor during SOTV's August 2010 journey to Tanzania. This is Amina, ...

Luke & Micah add their coins to the Maji Money collection Week Three of Shepherd of the Valley's Vacation Bible School is complete, and the count is in: this week, children in grades Kindergarten through five collected an additional $777.97 in coins to support the Walk for Water to bring water to the village of Mahove. That brings the total collected by SOTV kids to over $3000! WaHOOOOOO!!! Thanks to all the SOTV kids and VBS staff for their amazing gift of love to our partners in Tanzania! Thanks to Mim, Jill, Julie, Jeannie and Pastors for your leadership. Walking for water in Tanzania is the daily task for many children. They are amazed and grateful that children in Apple Valley, Minnesota--half a world away--are thinking of them, praying for them, giving to support and help them. Come to worship this weekend and bring your bucket and walking shoes! You, too, can participate in our Walk for Water !

God of overflowing promise, you call for justice to run over like living streams, and made water a sign of your ultimate righteousness. Reborn through the bath of your grace, we hear with new ears the cries of our neighbors; parched hearts and arid earth plead for reprieve. Move us in our response to all who thirst, that we and they might receive your water, poured out for all, that none would be forsaken. Amen. ~~a prayer from Lutheran World Relief

While we at Shepherd of the Valley are preparing to Walk for Water -- raising awareness and funds to bring water to the village of Mahove, in our partner congregation of Tungamalenga, Tanzania -- our friends in Tanzania are continuing to fine tune the project plans, determining the best and most cost effective way to bring water to this village. It has been three years since our partners first identified the need for water in the village of Mahove as a priority for our partnership. Since then, the people of the congregation and the parish have worked their way through the levels of Tanzanian government, through the village elders to the ward officials, and finally to the Iringa District government's Water Engineer. Just two months ago, the plans to pipe water fifteen kilometers from a mountain spring to the village of Mahove [as was done by two nearby villages] were presented to Engineer Amos Byemerwa. [Engineer Byemerwa has been a valued consultant on several other water projects ...

Next weekend, July 16 & 17, Shepherd of the Valley will be conducting a Walk for Water to raise funds for our brothers and sisters in the remote village of Mahove, part of our Tungamalenga Partnership. We will walk to raise awareness and funds to support the life giving gift of water for these brothers and sisters in Christ. Today we received an email from Mfaume Kisakanike, who was an SOTV sponsored student in secondary school, a very bright young man who was raised by his grandmother after his father abandoned his mother and the mother married a man who did not want to raise another's child. After high school, Mfaume studied community development in college, and now he's employed and will be married in September. He still supports his grandmother financially. Mfaume writes: It is courageous and impressive when I read your past emails to me. It even makes me appreciate your great love that God imparted unto you and I can see it absolutely. Thank you for whatever you'v...

This is the month that the University of Mzumbe grants admission to students who have applied to its masters program. Our own John Mhekwa is waiting for news. John was one of the first six students sponsored by Shepherd of the Valley, way back in 2001 when he was a secondary student at Pommern Secondary School and when none of us had ever visited Tanzania. We first met John during our August 2002 visit. From that time, he has been a steadfast friend to travelers from Shepherd of the Valley. During many of our subsequent visits, John served capably as a translator. He was always a wonderful cultural guide, teaching us how to barter for goods in the market, getting us the best deals, accompanying some of us on solo trips from Iringa to Dar es Salaam, procuring a 'faithful' taxi driver when one was needed, making sure that we in our ignorance did not get cheated by unscrupulous business people. John did well in secondary school, and was admitted to Tumaini University. That year, s...