Tanzania Partnership

This post was written by Mollie and Lyn MacLean    Bibi Joan and family dressing Maasai style    Last week we spent four energy-packed days sharing our Tanzanian experience with twenty-five grade school students.   It was not only a culture camp for the students to get to know about four Tanzanian families (who we as adult leaders know rather well); but it was also a cultural experience for our students to get to know us, who are at least 50 years older than they are.   Bibi Mollie and the "Kahwage" family collect water   Each student was placed into one of the four Tanzanian families groups.   Each family group had a picture of the family and some items commonly found in the home of that specific family.   We talked about life in Tanzanian and life in that family:   what each family member does, how they dress, and the opportunities and challenges for each family.      Babu Richard and the "Kuyaa"...

Here's a quick glimpse of the fun we had this week! 24 Minnesota kids singing along with a video of our Tanzanian friends at the end of our weeklong Tanzanian culture camp.   http://vimeo.com/48088075   The song is about walking around the throne of glory -- singing, sitting, earting, greeting, dancing and jumping for joy in the Lord! Here is the original video of kids at Makifu singing the song. http://vimeo.com/47735479 

Suzanna, age 8 One of our favorite places to visit while in Iringa is Huruma Center, the orphanage owned by the Iringa Diocese.  Huruma means mercy. Right now there are about 34 kids at the center, with another 28 who live outside the center while attending schools.  Kids can come and go from this place -- some are dropped off or found living on the streets when parents or family cannot care for them, others leave the center when staff are able to locate other relatives willing to take them into their own homes. Shepherd of the Valley provides gifts to the center when we visit and at Christmas time.  I asked Mama Chilewa what the children need this Christmas and she immediately said, "a new set of clothing for each would be nice."  She explained that the children make do with hand me downs most of the year, but at Christmas she would like them to have something new. Can we make this happen, SOTV?  Sure we can.  Our Christmas gift funds fo...

All of our trips to Tungamalenga include some of the same things -- worship, celebrations, bus rides, preaching point visits, singing, dancing, relationship building.  And a partnership meeting. This year the partnership meeting was held on a Monday morning in the backyard of Tungamalenga Camp.  From Shepherd of the Valley, Kirsten, Judy and Sharon; from Tungamalenga, Pastor Naftal Ng'amillo, Evangelist Azuberi Mhema, Chairperson Hosea Visima, Evangelist George Kioniani, Treasurer Lukimbililo Mkuye, Evangelist Atuletye Msigwa (also known as Mama Neema), SACCOs chair Absalum Kilipamwambu, Daktari Barnabas Kahwage; from the Iringa Diocese, our interpreter Rev. Lusungu Msigwa. Pastor Naftal said the meeting would be short, just seven agenda items:  Mahove, scholarships, SACCOs, dispensary, goats, chapels, transport, and the new congregation.  Oh, I guess that's eight. Seven hours later, we had gone through a lot of business. We had a great discussio...

We've never had the chance to visit Ikwavila before this year.  We've heard of it, seen it placed on a hand drawn map somewhere out beyond Mahuninga and Mahove.  But until this year we had no way to get there.  This road is new. Last time I went to Mahove, we took the road to Mahuninga, turned left, and the road stopped at a bridge.  Now the road continues all the way to Mafinga, quite a ways away. Here's the chapel.  We were there on a Thursday, one of the days Bibi Sharon and Bibi Jude were at Ruaha on safari.  So it was me, interpreter Pastor John Mhekwa, Evangelist George Kioniani, and Pastor Paulo Massinga.  We arrived around 9 a.m. before anyone was expecting us.  The women insisted on going back to their homes to make us chai.  Sometimes chai just means tea, and sometimes it means breakfast.  We got the full service. They told me I was the first wazungu (white person) to visit their village.  So it was so...

Saturday, August 4, was a day of celebration in Mahove, Tanzania. Preparations were extensive.  The congregation had hired two technicians to make sure the water system was in top shape, all leaks along the line had been repaired. Outside the Mahove chapel, a canopy shaded the area where honored guests would be seated.  Tarps were laid down so that our walking would not kick up dust.  Chairs and benches had been brought in from the Makifu schools. Behind the church, a couple dozen women cooked for the anticipated crowd of several hundred people.  Mahove villagers had contributed a cow, several goats, a sheep.  Vats of rice were prepared, and bottles of Pepsi, Fanta and Sprite sat at the ready. Dignitaries from the Iringa Diocese arrived to officiate.  Second from left is the assistant to the Iringa Diocese Bishop, Blastone Gavile.  Pastors from the diocese, the parish and the preaching point were all assigned Bible verse...

Day #2 of Mahove actually began in Mahuninga with this beautiful child. It was Friday, and our driver Esau dropped Pastor John Mhekwa and me in Mahuninga so he could drive to the Ruaha National Park entrance and retrieve Bibi Sharon and Bibi Jude from their safari.  John and I soon met up with Azuberi Mhema, evangelist at Mahove, and began a "kuzunguka zunguka" or a walk about town. We stopped by the Mahuninga chapel and then dropped some gifts at John's sister in law's home.  We headed toward the primary school where we would locate the pipeline leading toward Mahove. Along the way, we met up with John's dad. Now, the water system that leads to Mahove actually starts farther up the road, beyond Kisilwa.  It leads from a spring fed river to an intake pipe leading into a storage tank.  In the photo above, the intake pipe is around the curve to the right (not shown), and the outflow is underground to the left. The pipe you see on the r...

Azuberi Mhema at the water tap outside Mahove chapel I spent three blessed days of my trip in Mahove, the Maasai village that was the site of our water project of the past year.  Day #1 was for a meeting with members of the water committee.  Maasai village elders plus leaders from the neighboring communities of Kisilwa, Mahuninga and Makifu who share this water system were in attendance. Our vehicle pulled to a stop just outside the chapel, just steps away from this water tap.  I can't describe the joy and relief I felt, seeing the water flow. In the shade, chairs were set up and people started assembling about an hour after the announced start time.  Throughout the day, as the sun and shade moved, the chairs did too. Mahove is a Maasai village, its neighbors are primarily from the Hehe tribe. The neighboring communities have used this water system for about thirty years before it was extended to the village of Mahove. The water c...

Reflections by Tanzania traveler Judith Anderson Out of great sorrow comes great joy.   Out of the great pain at the loss of children in the Idodi school fire came the great joy of water for many.   We always want to know why bad things happen and God does not give a direct answer if any. Chake Kuyaa When Kirsten went to console the mother of one of our scholarship students who had died in the Idodi fire she asked what we could do.    The Bibi (grandmother) asked for two things; a Chapel and Water.   A chapel first to pray in and a closer supply of water needed by all in her village.   Six years of hard work from the Mahove congregation and Shepherd of the Valley, the Chapel sits beautifully in the center of the village.   It has that same simple beauty you find in small country churches scattered across the USA. Steps away from the front door of this chapel you find two taps for water reaching out of the squa...

It's harvest time in Tungamalenga.  Everywhere you look as you walk through the villages, you see evidence of a pretty good growing season.  Corn dries in the sun, ground nuts are being shelled, tall grasses are bundled to use for roofing. Our first Sunday in Tungamalenga brought harvest offerings to worship.  Bags of corn, bags of rice, some small and others large, there was even a rooster hiding among all the bags. Members of the parish bring these harvest offerings each year.  The parish may use or distribute some items, but primarily they sell them to use the income for parish projects like roofing a chapel or an evangelist's home.  This is the harvest offering at Makambalala preaching point.  They are in the process of building a home for the evangelist -- they have been building for five years, have walls completed and have begun buying iron sheets for the roof, as funds become available. In addition to partnering wi...