Tanzania Partnership

July 10, 11 After our visit at Idodi Secondary School, we continued to the preaching point in the same village, where we were welcomed with singing and dancing. Evangelist Kaily Kifuko leads this parish now along with Nicholas Mvena and Shakuru Mbeya. There are 70 adult members and 60 children. On Sundays, the chapel is full with students from the secondary school, so the congregation schedules two services. Work will continue on the evangelist's home as soon as funds become available.  For the past year, the Namelok chapel has been the parish priority for construction. The Idodi chapel was the first of our joint projects completed, way back in 2002. The chapel is now connected to the national grid for electricity. We continued on to Tungamalenga and the main station of the parish. There were speeches of welcome, singing, dancing, and more welcomes. Then we were served a delicious meal in the youth center. Rice, beans, stew, cooked vegetables, sala...

July 10, 2017 On Monday we headed out to Tungamalenga and Makifu parishes, ready to be offline for the next eight days.  Our first stop was at Idodi Secondary School.  Idodi is the first village we come to in the parish, and we have about 75 students attending the secondary school. Headmaster Christopher Mwasomola welcomed us to his office for an introduction and update. He said that Idodi is known as a community school -- the infrastructure is built by the community (in this case, heavily supported by a group known as Friends of Ruaha) and teachers are provided by the government.  Fun fact: the Friends of Ruaha at one point received a donation from Roy Disney, whose name is included on the dedication plaque for the school's library. The school was registered in 1999 and has 889 students, 437 girls and 452 boys. There are 41 teachers. The government supports salaries, books, lab equipment, desks, and other basic supplies. There are 11 non teaching staff, wi...

July 9, 2017 Worship at Usolanga was a wonderful experience.  While we were being served chai [breakfast] in the pastor's home, the sound system was warming up and calling people to worship.  For about 45 minutes before worship begins, the music is played at a very loud volume so that all the neighbors hear. Pastor Rick preached the sermon, with Pastor Lusungu Msigwa as his translator. Compassion and justice was the theme, and Pastor Rick told the travelers they might hear bits and pieces of it again sometime. At the end of the service, gifts were exchanged.  We were presented with six large bottles of honey from the local preaching point bee keeping project.  When we are unable to take food items home, we give the items to the Huruma Center orphanage.  The kids will love this. We were each given kitange, and Pastor Rick and I were also given cross necklaces made of Maasai beads. Shepherd of the Valley's gifts to Usolanga included ...

July 8 We arrived in Usolanga Saturday late morning and were welcomed heartily.  Pastor Patrick Chaulla said, “We heard you were coming and we prayed for your journey.” Pastor Lusungu Msigwa, the diocese liaison for Bega Kwa Bega, accompanied us as our translator. They told us there are seven preaching points and another new one about to be established.   We met Associate Pastor Gabriel Msabaha and Secretary of the parish, Yusta Mkosa. The plan for the afternoon is to visit all seven preaching points and be back at the main station by 4 PM for informal visits with parishioners.  (Knowing our typical two hour preaching point visits in our other companion congregations, we are wondering how we will make it to all seven preaching points in one afternoon!) Pastor Rick, Evangelist Rose Chaulla, Pastor Patrick Chaulla, Pastor Gabriel Msabaha Usolanga, the main station, counts as the first preaching point. From there, we backtrack tow...

July 7, 2017 Headmaster Sebastian Chaulla We took a long ride up into the mountains, over roads that were bumpy and rutted from the rainy season, into a remote area with the most amazing views. Lutangilo Secondary School is one of six secondary schools owned by the diocese, and situated in remote areas of the district where the government has yet to establish many secondary schools. The welcome here is amazing.  After the long and treacherous ride, full of amazing mountain sights, we are met by students singing and dancing, chanting.  The students surround our vehicle, and we join the singing and dancing procession. The welcome continues with more dancing and singing, probably at least 45 minutes before the speeches begin. Wow. There is a clear mix of joyful celebration as well as discipline and high expectations at this school.  The teachers join the dancing exhibition, and the headmaster is perhaps the most joyful...

It's Friday morning in Iringa, time to catch up on the blog. It has been a week of travel, departing Minneapolis/St Paul on Monday afternoon, arriving in Amsterdam for a short layover, then continuing on to Tanzania on Tuesday, with a long flight to Kilimanjaro and then a short flight to Dar es Salaam.  The flights were long and tedious and uneventful, the best kind. On Wednesday morning after a short sleep we journeyed by bus cross country to Iringa.  We traveled from the coastal region with its tropical terrain, through the savannah with its sights of impala, a few zebras, giraffes and elephant, then into the highlands and the baobab forest.  So many sights. Bobbie asked the question, how has it changed in the fifteen years since Shepherd of the Valley's first trip to Tanzania?  So many ways.... the traffic in Dar, the development along the road from Dar to Morogoro, so many more cars, so many more petrol stations and places to stop along the way. So ...