Visiting Tungamalenga

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, salad and fruit are standard, along with the choices of Fanta, Sprite, Coke and other soft drinks.

We continued that afternoon with a tour of the dispensary, and then a visit to the nearby primary school. We were sad to learn that Dr. Barnabas had been called away the night before to spend the week doing remote clinic work around the region, at the behest of the District Medical Officer.  We really missed his presence as a friend and helpful translator.

At the primary school, Headmaster Mr. Elia welcomed us and told us about the school. It was founded in 1965 and now has 685 students in standards 1-7. There are ten teachers, even though the student to teacher ratios would recommend 16. The number of students here who are continuing on to secondary school has increased in recent years.

Students here come from several different tribal backgrounds and nearby villages.  Some walk a couple kilometers to get to school.  Mr. Elia emphasized that by getting to know one another in school, children from different backgrounds and tribes learn to respect one another and to get along in the community.

On Tuesday morning we started our visits at Kibaoni preaching point.  We missed Evangelist Joel Mbwillo but were welcomed by the energetic Evangelist Margreth Mwitega who lives in Kitisi.

"We thank God to be here together," she said.  "The guests are refreshed."  This Maasai congregation is growing in numbers each year. She apologized that not all the members were present, but "some Maasai are still milking cows."

The foundation for a new chapel is in place, brick building has begun, and the congregation is waiting its turn for funding from the parish. They explain that water is a challenge in this area; it has to be brought by truck several times a week from the nearby village, and it costs the residents money.

We received the thanks of several parents whose students receive scholarship support from SOTV. Zeituni, Maria, Elena, Esther, Immanuel, Doctor, and Alex are students from this congregation, and it is clear the whole community is proud of their accomplishments in school.

After Kibaoni, our next stop was Mapogoro, the oldest congregation in the parish. It has 270 members and is led by Evangelist Isaack Luvinga. He described their work in three parts: 1) to worship and evangelize, 2) agricultural projects, 3) construction of the evangelist's home continues.

Finally, we ended the day's visits at Namelok, where workers were completing the plastering of the chapel floor.  Pastor Eva explained that they had hoped to have the chapel complete for our visit, but the skilled worker had taken a two week leave to attend the funeral of a relative far away. 

The plaster work is nearly complete, both inside and outside walls.  While we visited, another worker came to install doors and windows.  Painting will continue once the floors are done.

We enjoyed the time under the acacia tree, sharing reports, offering words of welcome and thanks, renewing friendships, hearing of the death of a former evangelist.  Daniel Kifuko is the current evangelist.  The women of the parish displayed their beadwork and several of our group went shopping.

Matambile Mgimba supervised the workers as they adjusted the fit of the back door.

As the sun went down, our group returned to Tungamalenga Camp for dinner, conversation, and a good night's sleep.