Tanzania Partnership

Tungamalenga Partnership is teaming up with Shepherd of the Valley's Children's Ministry staff for another couple Tanzanian immersion experiences for kids. Dr Saga and Dr Randy Hurley talk about malaria and the importance of sleeping under anti-malarial mosquito netting Building on some hands-on experiences in Godzone last year and the year before, Vacation Bible School students will collect money to buy mosquito nets for children in Tungamalenga.  Malaria is one of the top killers of children under age five.  Malaria can be prevented by sleeping under mosquito netting that is treated with insecticide.  A group of Shepherd of the Valley members traveling in July will take the funds raised by the VBS donations, purchase nets, and deliver them to the Tungamalenga Dispensary, to be distributed to pregnant moms and families with children under age five. A second opportunity to experience Tanzanian life and culture more deeply is available to kids in grades...

Volunteers are setting up the Shepherd's Sale, Shepherd of the Valley's annual garage sale.  It's a huge sale, filling nearly every room in the building except the sanctuary!  What's the link between the sale and Tungamalenga Partnership?  All the proceeds from bike sales will then purchase bikes for evangelists in our partner congregation.  The bikes enable Tungamalenga church workers to travel from village to village to minister to their congregants.  Last year sales enabled us to purchase six Tanzanian bikes at about $100 each! Evangelists Shakura and George are thrilled to have a new, roadworthy bike. The Shepherd's Sale supports Tungamalenga Partnership in another way, too.  Each year organizers ask us whether there are items we can use as gifts, and the workers are kind enough to collect those items prior to the sale.  Because of this generous opportunity, we have collected hundreds of SOTV t-shirts that are given to ...

Tungamalenga Parish is comprised of twenty village congregations (often referred to as preaching points) scattered across an area that's roughly comparable to that of Apple Valley, Eagan, Rosemount, Burnsville, Farmington and Lakeville.  The pastors serving the twenty congregations have one motorcycle between them.  For a long time, there has been a recognition that the parish is too large and spread out to work effectively as a single parish. We've recently received word that change is coming to Tungamalenga Parish, and that a portion of the preaching points will split off and become an independent congregation.  That's really good news, indicating that the parish as a whole is also financially healthy enough to make the change, with each new congregation able to sustain operations and support its own pastor. We're not sure at this point how the parish will be divided.  A few months ago, we received a definitive statement from the diocese, passed along to u...

At last, water has come to the village of Mahove! Pastor Naftal sent a dozen photos on Sunday, showing progress on the construction of a 6.8 kilometer pipeline that connects the village of Mahove to an existing water system.  Above, Evangelist Azuberi Mhema (who also served as a lead construction team member on the project) holds the pipe that fills Anna's bucket with the first water to arrive in the village.  Prayers of thanks were spoken and much celebrating followed. This is where the new pipe joins the existing main line.  The villages of Kisilwa, Mahuninga, and Makifu have been served by the water system for over 30 years.  These villages are all in an area of the Great Rift Valley where wells have not provided a good source of water -- shallow wells run dry nine months of the year, and deeper wells have proven very expensive, both to drill into the bedrock, and to treat the water those wells produce, as it contains elements that make it und...

Joan Dornfeld, Pastor Naftal Ng'amillo, Evangelist Azuberi Mhema, and Parish Treasurer Lukimbililo Mkuye are pictured with a truckload of pipes and supplies purchased for the Mahove Water Project on January 27, 2012.  (Photo taken by Richard Dornfeld) The receipt from Medina Hardware shows a purchase of 21,528,800 Tanzanian Shillings -- roughly, $15,000 worth of supplies. This photo from Pastor Naftal shows Mahove congregation members working on the 7 kilometer trench.  70 congregation members donated their labor to the project. These are the pipes waiting to be laid in the trench. Congregation members dug the trench during the month of February.  Subsequent rains -- welcome for the growing season -- will necessitate some additional work on the trench before pipe can be laid.  Walking toward the Mahove Chapel in the background of this photo are Pastor Naftal and Bega Kwa Bega Coordinator, Pastor Don Fultz. Pastor Naftal...

the Evangelists that serve Tungamalenga Parish When we visit our partners in Tanzania, we always carry gifts or money to purchase gifts in country.  Some of the gifts are substantial, like medicines for the clinic or bikes for the parish workers.  Some of the gifts are practical and essential, like kitchen towels for our host families, or school supplies for our sponsored students. And some of the gifts are simply to strengthen the bond between us, like the gift of Shepherd of the Valley t-shirts.  Every visit, those shirts are worn with pride.  One Sunday morning, our travelers had decided to wear our matching t-shirts to worship.  We had given shirts to our two young interpreters.  The interpreters came to breakfast that morning wearing their Sunday best -- polished shoes, crisp pleats ironed in their dress pants, trim dress shirts and ties.  When they saw us wearing our t-shirts, they went back to their room and changed, saying that the...

January is a great time to get away from Minnesota weather (most years!) and go someplace warm -- that may be one reason there are so many Minnesotans in Iringa, Tanzania this time of year.  Here's a round up of other bloggers from around the Saint Paul Area Synod. http://ilula-friends-2012.blogspot.com/   This is the blog of a medical team working at the Ilula Lutheran Hospital.  Shepherd of the Valley members Dr. Randy and Kari Hurley and their daughter Angela are among the group.  The Hurleys will visit Tungamalenga around the weekend of January 21-22.  One of the big events the medical team will be working with is A Day of Grace, a new wellness retreat for pastors of the Iringa Diocese. http://lifeatctk.org/Blog/Carries-Corner/Guest-Post-Roger-and-Trish-Blomquist/  Here's a blog post from Trish and Roger Blomquist, members of Christ the King Lutheran in New Brighton.  Roger works with the Agriculture Institute at Tumaini University, particularl...