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Upcoming Events for SOTV – Tungamalenga Partnership: January 14-28: SOTV Ambassadors travel to Tanzania January 18: Ordination of John Mhekwa
SOTV -Tungamalenga Partnership Committee
Tungamalenga Partnership
Coordinator: Gift Collections Coordinator: Sonja Odland Healthcare Coordinators: Randy Hurley & Sharon Mertz Micro Finance Coordinator: Ben Kilgore
Scholarship Coordinator:
Travel Coordinators:
2009 Walk to Tungamalenga
updated 12/18/2008 |
SOTV travelers reflect on their trip to
Tanzania Beth Grosser reflects: One of my favorite memories from my trip to Tanzania is the last night that we were there. We had arrived to Ilula late in the afternoon, received a tour of the hospital, and had just gotten back to the guest house at dusk. The great thing about staying in the Ilula guest house was that we were all together in the same building and we had a little seating area where we all sat down to do our daily devotion. It was in the midst of conversation when we realized it was getting too dark to see each other's faces and we tried to turn on the lights, but they didn't work. So a few people went to get their flashlights. There were flashlights scattered amongst us, producing enough light for us to continue. Then we had an unexpected visitor stop by, Dr. Saga. He had came to see how we were doing. He chatted with us and asked if we had any questions about the hospital and healthcare in Africa. There was open conversation flowing and then Dr. Saga asked us to sing for him the song we had sung at the dedication for the dispensary. Katie whips out the ipod and speakers and we all begin to sing "We Are Called," for what felt like the one hundredth time. But when I looked around at our group, sitting in the dark, singing, and worshipping together, I couldn't help but smile and think about the words to the song. We had all been called, for our own reasons to this place. Dr. Saga said that when we sang that song, he could see the heavens opening. He was so emotional and genuine about our singing. That's when I realized, we actually were the light in the darkness and we were bringing hope to so many people. This simple moment for me, was a very moving one. It was one of the times where you just want to hit pause and stay there forever. It was serene and real.
Greetings to all our friends at home! We are back in Iringa for a day after eight wonderful days in Tungamalenga. We are all well and enjoying the gracious hospitality of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are learning so many things--Kiswahili, Kihehe, new dances, many new songs. We have been invited into homes and lives and have made friends who will stay in our hearts forever. Last Tuesday we witnessed the dedication of the new dispensary ward at Tungamalenga. The celebration was attended by over 300 people from the area and from Iringa. There was singing, dancing, eating, and conversation. It was all good, even when the speeches of the big potatoes who were sitting at the head table ran a little long. We have been asked to tell the people at home how very much the people of Tungamalenga appreciate the gift we have given in this new dispensary ward. It is truly a magnificent facility which will benefit so many people in the region. That same day we witnessed the first loans given out by the SACCOS at Tungamalenga --small loans to small businesses and farmers for important development work. Bwana asifiwe! We have been delighted to spend time with Barnabas and Alice Kahwege, who are excited about the invitation we have extended to them to visit SOTV in the fall. Barnabas has completed his advanced medical training and returned to Tungamalenga Monday evening, just in time for the dedication. As people in the area began to hear of his return, the line of patients waiting at the dispensary grew longer and longer. They are glad to have a competent clinician back in the office. We have many more stories to share, but time is running out at the IringaNet Cafe. This afternoon we travel to Ilula to tour the hospital and stay overnight. Then Tuesday morning we drive to Dar for our flight home. Lots of love to those at home--and thanks to all who support this partnership. We have seen that the gifts SOTV shares here are highly valued. We are seeing the results of your work in the many lives that have been transformed, through education, healthcare, economic development, and evangelism. It is God's work we do together with the people of Tungamalenga. Mungu awabariki--God bless you all!
Kirsten
Levorson
The following e-mail was sent from Katie Heilman on Friday, July 18 Greetings from Tanzania! We arrived safely in Dar es Salaam Wednesday night after a long but uneventful flight...it was such a great moment to walk out of the airport doors and look straight into the warm, smiling face of our friend John Mehekwa! He will be with us for the whole trip, and is both a language AND a cultural translator for us. A wonderful gift! We spend Wednesday night in Dar and woke Thursday morning to the sound of rain, roosters, and a playful monkey. Then our journey continued, 10 hours by bus to Iringa, arriving in time for a late dinner last night. We were met here at the newly-renovated Lutheran Center by Dennis Ngede, from the Bega kwa Bega office, and Mfaume, a university student at Tumaini. The Lutheran Center is a beautiful place to stay, with clean and nice rooms and great food! We have certainly been well-fed so far...I just enjoyed my first plate full of samosas, so am writing this email on a pleasantly full stomach. Late this morning we received yet another welcome visitor: Peter Harrits arrived from Pommern, where he had just spent a week doing pastoral visits with shut-ins and hospice patients. He, too, will join us for the trip to Tungamalenga. Edgar, our driver from Summer 2006, also appeared (he is driving another group from St. Paul this week) and it was wonderful to see him...those who were on that trip will be excited to know that he has come a long way with his English! The group is doing so well--embracing the adventure of being in Tanzania with enthusiasm, joy, and patience--all three necessary attitudes for a successful trip. Everyone is bravely attempting to communicate in Swahili (we are blessed with good teachers and a sense of humor for this) and had an exciting morning at the market. In a few minutes we head to a Diocese orphange, Haruma, to bring some gifts and share greetings from SOTV. And of course we expect to sing and play as well! I am so looking forward to heading to Tungamalenga tomorrow. Pastor Alfred was in Iringa today, and he shared with us that they are preparing for 300 guests to come on Tuesday for the Dispensary dedication! This includes many people from the Iringa Diocese, as well as Parliament and District representatives. We anticipate a great celebration...and this was all very exciting, though it will require extra practice of our songs, as we now realize we'll have a slightly bigger audience than we'd originally imagined. It will be an exciting day, as they are both dedicating the new Dispensary and presenting the first two loans from the recently-established micro-finance project. We are thrilled to be a part of it all. To all of you at home, know that our friends in Tanzania are, as always, praying for you and sending you their love. Our gracious brothers and sisters here are making us feel so at home and helping us to dive right into life here. We will do our best to send another update in a week or so, and will have many more stories to share when we return! Mungu akubariki! God bless you! -Katie Heilman and the group (Kirsten, Heidi, Rose, Erica, Laura, Krista, Sara, Beth, Natane, Emily, and Mandy)
Partnership News & Developments
Tungamalenga Parish, Tanzania:
Our Companion Congregation During our visits to Tungamalenga, SOTV travelers are welcomed into the daily life of our Tanzanian family. Each visitor spends time shadowing a Tungamalengan as they go about their daily work--at home, in schools, at the dispensary, and with the lay evangelists who serve the village congregations. There are visits to many of the seventeen village congregations, and a chance to see the progress on construction of new chapels and a dispensary ward. While in Iringa, the visitors visit Tumaini University, the Huruma Orphanage, and the Ilula Health Center--all projects SOTV supports through the Iringa Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.
Bega Kwa Bega Bega Kwa Bega is the spirit that under girds all activity within SOTV’s partnership with the people of Tungamalenga. It connotes mutuality and equality among partners, a willingness to share one another’s burdens and work together for the common good. Ilula
Lutheran Hospital
Medical teams from Minnesota visit the Ilula Lutheran Hospital each year, working shoulder to shoulder with the Tanzanian staff. From these efforts has grown a nonprofit organization called Shoulder to Shoulder, co chaired by SOTV member Randy Hurley. Shoulder to Shoulder supports healthcare in Tanzania through construction of medical facilities, provision of scholarships for nursing and medical students, gifts of medical supplies and equipments, and through mentoring. For more information about the medical ministry at Ilula, go to www.ilulahealth.org.
Tanzanian Scholarship Donors Here's a letter from the parents of one of our beloved scholarship students. John Joseph Mhekwe has been an SOTV student since high school, and is now ready to begin his final year as a seminarian at Tumaini University. His father was one of the evangelists who founded several village congregations near Tungamalenga. Greetings in the name of our Almighty God! We are very happy and proud for all things that you are doing for us. We as parents of John Joseph Mhekwa, we would like to give our appreciation and thanks for all things that you did and you are doing to our beloved Son. Thank you for sponsoring him since secondary up to university and now he is one year left to complete his studies. We have nothing to do and say but one thing we can do is to pray before God. We as parents we have a picture that you may receive it and have it in your memory and prayer. Thank you that you are praying for us and for our son. Our son will have his graduation on October 2008 and ordination on January 2009. You are welcome if you get a chance to see your fruits from secondary to university. May our Almighty God bless you and keep you safe now and forever. Amen. Yours in Christ, Lunyamase Msigwa and Joseph Mhekwa
New Dispensary Ward to
be dedicated in July The Tungamalenga Lutheran Dispensary, one of eight healthcare facilities owned and operated by the Iringa Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, serves as a primary care clinic for about 10,000 people from villages within a 30 kilometer radius. The closest hospital is four hours away. SOTV funded the construction and equipping of the new ward at a total cost of $60,000 through donations to the Imagine Campaign. “This project had tremendous support among the church council of SOTV,” reports Pastor Chris Smith. “It was an important opportunity to have a direct, positive impact on the lives of hundreds of our brothers and sisters in and around Tungamalenga. Christ calls us to a ministry of healing throughout the Gospels. This was an important way to answer that calling. It was also natural and very appealing, through the Imagine Campaign, to link the building of important structures here (our 2006 addition) and in Tungamalenga (the Dispensary), both serving important functions for our ministry locally and globally.” Several SOTV members have visited Tungamalenga since the completion of construction. Dr. Randy Hurley, in honor of whom one of the clinic rooms is named, saw the progress in February. “Part of the problem with providing health care in developing countries is inadequate access to proper health care facilities,” says Hurley, who leads a Saint Paul Area Synod effort to support healthcare in Tanzania. “Tungamalenga now has an inpatient ward and birthing center that instantly upgrades the level of health care that can be provided to villagers not just in Tungamalenga, but in the many surrounding villages.” Members of a synod medical team who visited the site in January say that the new ward sets a standard for facilities in the rest of the diocese. "The excitement about the new dispensary ward in Tungamalenga is palpable,” said Pastor Diane Sponheim. “Those who have traveled to see it have come back with glowing reports of how beautiful and sanitary it is, how it provides a whole new level of care to those in the Tungamalenga area. It is setting a precedent for future partnership developments in Tanzania, and it is a wonderful example of how we are truly working bega kwa bega with our companions there. Thanks be to God!" In addition to constructing the new ward, the SOTV – Tungamalenga Partnership supports healthcare in the community by providing annual gifts of money for pharmaceutical supplies and by providing scholarships for medical and nursing students.
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