GOD’S GIFTS OVERFLOW

Overflowing is how to describe our trip to Tanzania this February. We brought the following gifts: 115 orphan sponsorships, the purchase of pews for the Vunjo school chapel, classrooms build at Masama Girls High School, 6,000 textbooks delivered to 14 Lutheran high schools, and the completion of the maize mill at Mudio parish. In return gifts flowed back to us: humble people, the hospitality shown to us, people who live their faith each day, and the love that binds all Christians together.

6,000 Textbooks

Each day was a working day. We arrived at the Christian Bookshop at eight in the morning and loaded up the boxes of textbooks for two schools. We drove over very bumpy roads to those schools which are operated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church Tanzania, Northern Diocese. Students would carry the textbooks to assembly where a speech was given by me and then Rev. Joseph Mwakapi, coordinator of the secondary schools. Rev. Joseph is self-educated and became a Christian in his youth. His father died when he was a child and his brother was opposed to his becoming a Christian. Rev. Mwakapi would begin his speech with Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. The Head Boy or Head Girl would accept the textbooks and respond with a word of thanks. The school song and a Christian song were sung by the entire school. These schools have 300-500 students. A total of $40,000 was raised by the Nebraska Synod during Advent. This is 6,000 textbooks to be used in the schools where there is a severe shortage of textbooks due to poverty. Headmaster Emmanuel Lyatuua at Mtakuja wrote in his e-mail requesting textbooks, “There is no little help. All help provided to us is of high value.”

Graduation, Classrooms, Orphans

Schools in Tanzania, and in all countries in Africa, face enormous challenges. In spite of this, learning takes place with respectful students and caring, over-worked teachers and headmasters/headmistresses. Each school that we visited has its own personality.

The Nebraska Vision Team had the privilege of attending the Form Six graduation at Masama Girls High School. (The first van drove through the muddy road to the school but the second van got stuck and arrived 45 minutes late. Fortunately, I was on the first van.) There was so much excitement and school pride shown by the girls that morning. Receiving a Form Six diploma is an accomplishment because only 20% of students in Tanzania receive this level of education.

On February 6, 2010 Bishop Shao dedicated the Domestic Science building. This is a building that has one classroom for cooking which includes 9 stoves, 11 sinks, freezer, and refrigerator; and one classroom for sewing. It was an impressive building and necessary so the girls can receive instruction in cookery and tailoring. There are jobs in catering and tailoring so when a girl graduates she can be employed. Also, children are frequently sick in Tanzania and the girls need to know how to care for their sick children. I heard that one man wanted the students in the cooking classes to create new recipes because he was tired of eating ugali! Ugali is a staple dish made of maize.

115 orphans are sponsored this year by the Tanzania Orphan Scholarship Project. It is always a joy to meet these students. You see their smiles but know they are leading difficult lives. I regret that I never have enough time to spend with them. The scholarships are appreciated. The orphans are overwhelmed by our generosity. For the most part, all students are poor. Headmaster Foya at Natiro Secondary School told us how if a student took care of his pants, that one pair of pants could last all four years!

Mudio and Karansi Parish

On the first Sunday, we witnessed the dedication of the Mudio maize mill by Bishop Shao. This was a big event and included a choir from our other partnership parish, Karansi. The chairman of the village government spoke before the congregation and informed the congregation how this mill, in which Sheridan provided funds, would serve the entire community. The celebration of Pastor Mathayo Munisi’s retirement was that Sunday, too. Many gifts were given to Pastor Munisi including two cows and one goat. During the second Sunday of our trip, we worshiped at Karansi Lutheran Parish. This church is led by Pastor Joshua Laizer who has an eighth grade education. Pastor Joshua has witnessed to many Maasai and his parish now has four churches. This is always the amazing part of a vision trip to Tanzania, when you see God working among his people. This three hour church service had communion, blessing of the harvest, but the most meaningful part of the service was when Tom and I were invited up to the altar area to shake hands with the new 60 member confirmation class. Our trip to Tanzania concluded with a dinner at Bishop Martin Shao’s home. This year in his address to all the Nebraskans, he informed us about the goals he set when this partnership started. Those goals have exceeded expectations! Our gifts overflow to the Christians in Tanzania.

Linda Gapp