Tanzania Partnership

Just one month ago, this is what the Mpalapande Primary School looked like.  The walls were nearly completed up to the rim beam. Look at the amazing progress made by December 14, when a delegation from Bega Kwa Bega and the Iringa Diocese went out to inspect! Here's the report received from Julia Hubbard, our connection in the BKB office. The BKB Office [Julia Hubbard, coordinator for BKB/SPAS, and Rev. Lusungu Msigwa, coordinator for BKB/DIRA] along with Amos Mkuyu [Iringa Diocese construction project manager] and District Pastor Ambrose made a visit out to Mpalapande today.  The Ruaha road is still alright, so we made it out there in not too much time.  As you can see from the photos, SAMA is making good progress, so much so in fact that they are requesting more funds to continue the work.   We had a short meeting after touring the site where Pastor Eva Msigwa as well as several  [elders  of the]  Masai were present alon...

We received a fabulous report today from our Bega Kwa Bega friends in Iringa, Tanzania.  The first phase of the Mpalapande Primary School is almost complete! Above, the foundation and walls are well underway. By the end of the week, we expect to have the rim beam and three additional rows of brick atop the walls. We're grateful for the photos and report provided by BKB Program Coordinator Julia Hubbard and for the oversight and assessment provided by our Iringa Diocese officials, Rev. Lusungu Msigwa and construction project manager Amos Mkuye. We just got back about from a quick trip out and back to Mpalapande.  We arrived when it was just starting to roast, and yet the laborers were still hard at work.  As you can see from the photos, they are just finishing up the bricks for the walls of the 3 classroom building.  They plan on completing the rim beam later this week and then a final 3 rows of bricks before beginning framing next week. We a...

It's almost Scholarship Month! Each November at Shepherd of the Valley, we raise funds for our Tanzania Scholarship Program. Since 2001, Shepherd of the Valley has provided scholarship support for Tanzanian students who would not otherwise have the opportunity to attend secondary school or college. It is a blessing to watch these young people take that opportunity and step into lives of service and leadership in their communities. Here are a few of the lives your gifts have touched: ·         Joakim attended secondary school, overcame debilitating migraines, and graduated at the top of his class. In college, he studied medicine and then worked for several years as a clinical officer (equivalent to a physician’s assistant). Now he’s back in medical school, just one year away from his MD. ·         Asia is the first Maasai girl from the village of Mahove to complete all six years of secondary school, and s...

Last week, two truckloads of people drove from Iringa to the site of the Mpalapande Primary School. they were there to select a contractor for the project. One car carried Bega Kwa Bega representatives Julia Hubbard, Russ Hilliard and Jo Whiting, along with Iringa Diocese officials, including General Secretary Nayman Chavalla, BKB DIRA Liaison Rev. Lusungu Msigwa, Projects Coordinator Amos Mkuye, Scholarship Clerk Frank Mkocha, and District Pastor Ambrose Mwakikoti. The second car carried representatives from five of the seven contractors who submitted bids for the project. They were met at the site by a large contingent of local people with interest in the project. Tungamalenga Parish Pastors Eva Msigwa, Bryson Msigwa, and Paulo Masinga were present. Representatives from the local village congregation and others from the parish partnership committee were present, as well as local village government officials. The group convened around noon. The meeting opened with...

After 24 hours of air travel, a short night, and midway through our ten hour cross country drive, Geri bubbled over with enthusiasm, “It’s so amazing! I am SO happy I came!” After just a few days visiting our partners in Tungamalenga, another traveler said, “Just when you think one day couldn’t possibly be better than the day before, it just keeps getting better!” What’s the experience that causes so much enthusiasm?  A visit to our companion congregations in Tanzania. Travelers experience overwhelming hospitality, being treated both as honored guests and as family. We are welcomed into the life of the church, with song, dance, and prayer. We are welcomed into the daily lives of our partners and see their challenges – to grow food, collect clean water, send children to school, and have access to good health care. We also witness their faith and hope, their effective evangelism, and we are humbled by their strong sense of community. The 2017 SOTV Journ...

Judy and Happy trade scarves, 2012 by Judy Anderson Bega Kwa Bega , shoulder-to-shoulder, side-by-side, I have made three journeys to Tanzania with members of Shepherd of the Valley. The first time we were a group of 3 women, the second time a mixed group of 14, and this third time a group of 2 men and 3 women. The constant in each trip was our lead member Kirsten Levorson, traveling for the 13 th time this summer of 2016. Why travel there; why go more than once?  dedication of the Mahove water project, 2012 My first trip I was called to be part of a water project, called by God and the memories of my Mother and how she had carried water. The second trip was a need inside me to go back and see again the people we had met and how the water project had improved the community it was built for. The third trip was so very unplanned on my part. A presentation of the travelers from 2015 was given at church and there I met Geri Anglin.  She said she would love to...

Visiting our partners is often akin to being welcomed like visiting royalty. Our hosts greet us with songs, waving palm branches. We take turns introducing ourselves and speaking ceremonial words of greeting. We recognize fully that we are there as ambassadors on behalf of our congregation.  It's humbling, and can be oh so formal. These welcomes are amazing experiences that show the strength of the bond between our two congregations. But for many of our travelers, a highlight of the journey happens when we step away from the formal greetings and planned itinerary and are invited to do something spontaneous.  It might happen when the bus breaks down and we end up walking to the next village with our friends, having unplanned conversations along the way. Or you receive an invitation to come to someone's home for tea, and meet the extended family of a dozen who live in that home. This year, three of our travelers had the wonderful experience of receiving a tour of Geo...

General Secretary Nayman Chavalla (center) leads the meeting while Rev. Lusungu Msigwa translates for the American partners. In May, the foundation of a new primary school was dug in Mpalapande. The next step in the project was taken July 25 when representatives from the village, parish, district, diocese, and American partners all met together in Mpalapande. By this time, the rest of our group was back in Minnesota, but Jenny Harrits (in her last week as church council president) and I represented SOTV. General Secretary Nayman Chavalla led the meeting in Swahili while two colleagues from the diocese translated.  Rev. Msigwa was seated next to me, while District Pastor Ambrose Mwakikoti translated for Jenny.  Also present to provide advice was Mr. Amos Mkuye, the construction projects manager for the diocese (above, with Dr. Barnabas Kahwage and others from Tungamalenga Parish).  Mpalapande was well represented by Pastor Paulo Masinga, Yusuphu Kim...

Our driver, Kulwa, picked us up at 8 this morning for the drive to Usolanga.  He already had Pastor Lusungu Msigwa and his wife Gloria in the car.  Pastor Msigwa is the Iringa Diocese Bega kwa Bega liaison and served as our translator today. We drove out of Iringa, past the turn off to the airport, for about 45 minutes on a beautiful paved highway. At Isimani, we took a right and continued slowly on dirt roads the rest of the way.  Had to stop for directions once, and received the instructions to go past the school, then take a right.  We arrived, were greeted by Pastor Patrick Chaula, and had plenty of time to tour the new construction and also have breakfast before the start of the church service. Pastor Chaula has been here for 13 years - an almost unheard of length of tenure in a diocese where pastors are usually shifting from one parish to another every three to five years.  He and Pastor Msigwa joked that he had been here so long because the dioces...