Tanzania Partnership

One year ago, Shepherd of the Valley and Tungamalenga Parish celebrated together the precious gift of water arriving at the village of Mahove. What a miracle it was! Lives of the village girls and women changed overnight -- from hours of daily trips four kilometers to the nearest water tap to having water just a few steps from your own house. It was truly cause for celebration. This year, we visited Mahove and fulfilled a promise we made last year -- that we would walk the 6.8 km pipeline from the juncture at Kitalingolo, where the pipe attached to the existing system's main line, through the village of Mahuninga, through cornfields and backyards, to the bridge and then up the hill to Mahove village, where the line continued around the village with taps or spigots at six locations. We had walked most of that pipeline a year ago to inspect the work completed, and found the system in good working order.  We wanted to see how things had been maintained after the first yea...

To get to Makifu Parish, you need to drive west from Iringa about 90 kilometers or about two hours.  You'll need a Land Cruiser and an experienced driver for a safe, comfortable ride. A coaster bus will work as long as you stick to the roads, and it will take an extra hour. You'll drive through Tungamalenga Parish -- the villages of Idodi, past the turn off to Kitisi, through Mapogoro, and then you'll see the two cell towers at the edge of Tungamalenga.  Keep driving through town, past the market and the camps.  Just after the bridge the main road continues to the right, headed toward Ruaha National Park.  You'll take the left turn. A little ways down the road there's an elephant crossing.  It's not marked of course, but you can see a wide clearing where the elephants come from the park in search of water. My driver Esau, who is also a qualified game guide, says that elephants return to the same places for water, even places their herd visited a hundred y...

A few years ago, Shepherd of the Valley's theme for summer youth mission trips was "Get out of the boat." It was a reference to the story of when Peter and the disciples were in a boat during a storm, and Jesus walked toward them on the water, then commanded Peter to get out of the boat and come to Jesus. Somehow, Peter had the courage to trust his Lord and stepped out of the boat, and walked toward Jesus. On the water. Then he must have realized what he was doing, and he had a moment of panic.  The moment he stopped trusting, he began to sink in the water. Even then, Jesus reached out and saved Peter. This is Pastor Madembo, the new pastor of Makifu Parish in Tanzania.  He's wearing the "Get out of the boat" t-shirt that our youth wore a few years ago.. In our travels to Tanzania, we don't get out of the boat as much as we get out of the BUS. A coaster bus like this will comfortably seat about 20 passengers.  We often squeeze in...

Today we're back in Iringa after five days in the village and on safari at the  national park.  Here's a short round up of the memories we've made... Most of the group spent Wednesday afternoon through Friday morning at Ruaha National Park, enjoying the comforts of River Lodge and the amazing sights of the game park. Photos coming soon.... Kirsten spent those days in Tungamalenga and Makifu.  A meeting with the health care committee, hearing plans for the dispensary expansion to a health center within the next couple years, and hearing the dream that someday it will be a mid size hospital for this growing area. Barnabas Kahwage, clinical officer at the clinic, gave us some of the best news ever:  as a direct result of SOTV's Mbu Project which provides mosquito nets to children under age ten, in order to prevent malaria, this year the clinic has seen the fewest cases of malaria in children in anyone's memory.  Barnabas says that together, we can "kick mala...

Today was a beautiful day here in Iringa, Tanzania. We drove out about 45 minutes to the Isimila Stone Age Site, where we could see stone tools and learn a bit about the history of the Iringa area.  Then we hiked around the site for a couple hours, taking in the amazing site of stone pillars rising from a dry river bed.  Just wait until I get home and can post pictures -- amazing views. It felt great to take a morning to just enjoy being outside, with great company, appreciating creation in all its beauty and vividness. After lunch, we toured the Ilula Hospital, owned by the Iringa Diocese.  Shepherd of the Valley members Randy and Kari Hurley and Lyn and Mollie MacLean have been involved in supporting and upgrading the facility for the past eleven years.  Many changes have come to Ilula, and the new nursing school is the next thing that will be operational -- this fall or next. I was grateful for the rest between days of meetings and visits, and grateful for...

Yesterday we visited Huruma Centre, the diocese orphanage whose name means mercy.   We played with the children, spoke with Mama Chilewa who runs the place, and we learned about the many challenges here. Our youngest travelers really shined during our visit. Micah, 13, was playing catch and showing kids all kinds of fancy moves, catching around the back, under legs, from behind.  Rheis, 13, told the children how he had started making wristbands to raise funds for a gift during this trip.  Rheis ended up raising $450 and he is considering several needs that the orphanage has -- a bike for a student whose secondary school is far from the home, a milk goat or two to help boost the children's nutrition, boys' clothing which is needed for growing kids. The children at Huruma Center listened to Rheis tell his story, and cheered when he told them that he had also made some wristbands for them. In our visits to Tungamalenga and Makifu last week, Pastor Naftal was eager t...

I'm back in Iringa after a week in Tungamalenga and Makifu Parishes, awaiting the arrival of the rest of the group this evening. There are so many great stories that will come out in the coming weeks, but for now, here are some highlights. Tungamalenga and Makifu are operating as fully independent parishes. Pastor Naftal Ng'amillo remains lead pastor at Tungamalenga, while Pastor Nejabel Madembo leads Makifu Parish, and Pastor Paulo Masinga serves the Maasai and Barabeig mission fields in both congregations. The Mahove water system installed a year ago is working "no problem" according to the congregation members.  We'll be walking the water line to inspect and determine what maintenance is needed next week.  So far, we've heard of two issues:  an elephant knocked over the water tap at the end of the line, where the goats and cattle had been watered; and some children lifted a heavy cover off one of the joints, damaged the release valve, causing some le...