UPCOMING EVENTS

PARTNERSHIP COMMITTEE

Pastor Diane Sponheim

Tungamalenga Partnership Coordinator:
Kirsten Levorson
kirsten.levorson@sotv.org

Gift Collections Coordinator: 
Sonja Odland

Healthcare Coordinators:
Randy Hurley & Sharon Mertz

Micro Finance Coordinator:
Ben Kilgore

Scholarship Coordinators: 
Joan Dornfeld & Claudia Nelson

Travel Coordinators: 
Keli Campbell & Char Kilgore

RESOURCES

Trip application

Travel info

TZ Student: A day in the Life

Tanzania Education System

Student Mailing Addresses

Writing a friendly letter

updated 01/20/2010

Bega Kwa Bega
working shoulder to shoulder as brothers
and sisters in Christ
for evangelism, education, healthcare, and economic development

Tanzanian Scholarship Donors,

About the time you receive this letter, five SOTV members will be enjoying the gracious hospitality of our brothers and sisters in Tungamalenga Parish.  We will worship and walk with our partners, sharing our dreams and hopes for this partnership and planning sustainable ways to continue our work together.

We will also be grieving together the tragic loss of twelve students due to a dormitory fire at Idodi Secondary School, and seeking to support and comfort the many students who lost all their possessions in the fire, as well as the 23 students who were hospitalized due to injuries sustained in the fire.  Many, many families from Tungamalenga have been affected by this event.  SOTV supports about 60 sponsored students attending this school, including Chake Kuyaa (pictured) and Elisi Mtweve, who were among the dead.

We ask for your prayers as we make this journey, that God would bless our visit and show us how we can be effective and caring partners in this time of deep, deep loss.

As always on our visits to Tungamalenga, deep sorrow and great joy are never very far apart.  At the end of our trip, we will be celebrating with Mfaume Kisakanike as he graduates from Tumaini (Hope) University.  Mfaume has been an SOTV sponsored student since the inception of this partnership, when he was still in secondary school.  He has accompanied many of us on our visits, earning the title “msaidizi” or “assistant” because of his willingness to help us in so many ways.  He earned a degree in community development and will now return the gift of his education by working for the Lutheran Church in Tanzania. 

Thank you very much for everything you have been doing to ensure that I do not face difficulties in my studies, 'Asante sana mama'. As I have been saying when expressing my appreciation to you, there is nothing to pay back to you in return but the only promise I can, is to use the knowledge I have acquired in an appropriate way that I become useful.

Your gifts to this partnership and especially to the scholarship fund have made such a difference in so many lives.

•           Rachel Chengula graduated with honors from secondary school and is now in her second year studying chemistry and engineering at St Joseph College of Technology and Engineering
•           Emanuel Maiga is completing a course in medical lab science at Ruaha College
•           Three nurses and two clinical officers are being trained and will return to staff the growing Tungamalenga Dispensary (clinic) along with Barnabas Kahwage
•           Alex Kidisangu and Kaily Kifuko have completed evangelist training, the first members of the Barabeig tribe to do so in the region

This past year, your generous donations supported 125 secondary students and 15 post secondary students training to become doctors, nurses, pastors, teachers, and community development leaders. 
Those students have become models in their community—last summer we met with Maasai girls still in primary school, and their message to us was that they have seen the value of an education, they are studying hard, and they will be waiting in line for scholarships in a few short years. 

What a wonderful challenge we have, to support their aspirations!

Today we are writing to encourage your continued support for the education of our Tanzanian students.   The new school year starts in January and the fees for secondary school are increasing slightly due to an increase in bank fees.  The annual fees for tuition are:

•           Secondary school students                                                        $360
•           College/University students                                           $2500-$3500
•           Technical school training                                                           $300
•           Evangelists in TEE (Theological Education by Extension)                       $100

We are able to support so many students because of the many faithful people who contribute to the scholarship fund each year.  Some of you are matched one-to-one with a particular student, and others have donated to the general scholarship fund to be used where the needs are greatest.  Our partners need each one of you and we thank you. 

The enclosed form includes the name of the student you sponsored in 2009.  Each year, some students discontinue their studies for a variety of reasons—some leave school to help support their families during difficult times, other students may be dropped from the scholarship program because of failure to meet academic standards.  We try very hard to learn the circumstances when a student discontinues, and we are happy to report that in the year since Pastor Naftal came to Tungamalenga, we have been receiving much more timely reports on our students.

If you are willing to continue to sponsor a student, we would appreciate receiving your gift, along with the enclosed form, by December 1st.  This will allow us to wire the money to Tanzania in time to make January 1st tuition payments. 

If you are unable to support a student this year, please let us know that also so that your student may be matched with another donor.  If you are able to increase your giving, please consider a gift to the general scholarship fund, to be used where needed most.  We also understand that in our difficult economy, some may have to reduce their gifts—please be assured that every gift of any amount is gratefully received, and that if you are currently matched with a particular student, you will remain paired even if you can’t commit to the full scholarship amount.

Finally, please provide us with an email contact if at all possible so that we can forward information about your student as we receive it.

Asante sana!  Thank you!

 
Joan Dornfeld       

dornfeldrj@unique-software.com
Scholarship Coordinator

Kirsten Levorson

Kirsten.Levorson@sotv.org
SOTV-Tungamalenga Partnership Coordinator
Pastor Diane Sponheim

Diane.Sponheim@sotv.org