Mkwawa / Tanzania

Mkwawa Lutheran Church: Iringa, Tanzania
"Bega kwa bega" is Kiswahili for "shoulder to shoulder"--a powerful image to shape our mission partnership with the people of Mkwawa Lutheran Church. Working bega kwa bega, side by side, with our brothers and sisters in Iringa, Tanzania makes us equal partners in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray for one another, learn from one another and are blessed by one another in Jesus' name.

Updates from Tanzania
Pastor Lynda Thompson was working in Iringa Tanzania on behalf of the Saint Paul Area Synod with the secondary student program.

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Bega kwa Bega (Shoulder to Shoulder in Kiswahili) applied to Lutheran World Relief earlier in the year and last week received a truckload of supplies to be distributed to Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) owned dispensaries and secondary schools within the Iringa diocese. The container included bales of blankets, toothbrushes and toothpaste, school kits, layettes, and bars of soap. On Tuesday, April 16, I had the privilege of joining BKB Coordinators Don & Eunice Fultz, Gary and Carol Langness, Pastor Msigwa, the BKB coordinator from the Iringa Diocese, and Dennis Ngede another Tanzanian BKB coordinator as we set off on an adventure to deliver some of these supplies to the ELCT secondary school at Lutangilo and to the new dispensary at Idete.

Both of these locations are very remote and are in the highest and most beautiful parts of the Iringa area. We drove up steep dirt mountain roads through well established and newly planted forests until we arrived at Lutangilo. Because it is so remote, Lutangilo has only about 200 students, but they gave us an amazing welcome. They danced and sang and provided acrobats before the distributions began. The Headmaster of the School Sebastian Chaula is a young and very disciplined teacher who has only been at the school for one year. Before becoming the headmaster of the school, he worked as a teacher at Image Secondary School. Although the conditions are poor, the enthusiasm is high. The headmaster wrote the school song, which says, “Education for better life is our motto. We believe we can do better to save our future.”

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There are 48 girls to a dorm room and they sleep two to a bed and share a blanket. Headmaster Chaula showed us the foundation for another girls’ dorm and said that they need about $25,000 to complete it. There are fewer male students so the boys’ dorms are not as crowded. The students eat ugali (a maize porridge the consistency of stiff mashed potatoes) and beans every day. On Sunday, they get rice and cabbage with their beans. When the students come to school, they have to walk about 6km up a mountain road because the busses don’t come all the way up to the school. When we asked why parents send their students to such a remote school, there were several answers. Some of the students came from Image and their parents knew the headmaster and wanted their children to be in his school, some of the parents who now live in town, but who grew up in remote areas want their children to see what it’s like to live in a remote area. One person in the group mentioned that some parents send their kids to remote schools to either punish them for not studying or to e [IMAGE]

ncourage them to study harder because there is nothing to do except study at a school on top of a remote mountain.

There are three students from Mkwawa Lutheran Church at Image and I was able to meet with all three, Rebecca, Shadrack, and Sadness. The setting for the school is breathtakingly beautiful and our hearts went out to these students as we handed out bars of soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, school kits to the Form I students and blankets to about half of the students. They are working hard, with tests every Monday and Wednesday to assess progress. Those who are doing well help students who are falling behind in their studies. Our hope is that this fall when the Form Twos and Form fours take their qualifying tests many will pass.

Update for April 9, 2013
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Although it’s not Earth Day yet, the pastors and staff at the Iringa Diocese office along with the wazungo from the Bega kwa Bega office spent the morning of April 9 planting 500 trees at the Huruma Center. The Eucalyptus trees grow quickly so they were planted in and amongst the corn in the fields that the Evangelical Lutheran Church owns, which surrounds the Huruma Center Orphanage. People who don’t own the land have planted corn on this land and have even built their houses on this land, which they don’t own. The Diocese of Iringa (DIRA) is planting the fast-growing trees so they can show their presence on their own land and eventually use the land for something other than squatter fields and houses.

The tree planting was joyful, but chaotic as are most activities in Tanzania. Although we counted off into groups, the groups were not functioning properly and soon it was every person for him or herself. It was an exhausting but very rewarding activity.

Update from Image Secondary School
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On Friday, April 5, several of us went to Image Secondary School, which is about 1.5 hours from Iringa to see the new roof for the library building. Incarnation contributed a chunk of money for this project. When we arrived, all 720 students were lining the road to greet us and escort us to the library building. They were waving branches and singing and dancing. It is a humbling experience to receive such a welcome. Those of you who have been to Image know what an amazing place it is. It is set on a plain surrounded by mountains and is absolutely beautiful. The headmaster of Image, Andeck Ngogo has a marvelous way with the students so he was in there dancing and singing with them and pretty soon we were all dancing and singing. There are many students at that school who are great acrobats so young men were flying across the circle doing flips and handstands and many acrobatic moves that I don’t even know the names for!

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They had a trick this time where they had some padding under the hat of a student and they cooked an egg over a fire on top of his hat. There also are a few boys who are fire-eaters, so we were treated to a wonderful pyrotechnic display - a little scary, but impressive.

Incarnation has a long relationship with Image school. We first visited the school in 2004 when there were only 4 classrooms and the 100 students were living in two of them. They studied in the morning and worked at clearing brush and building the school in the afternoon. They have always been so welcoming of guests from Incarnation and over the years we have gone to Image to paint classrooms and to visit with the stud [IMAGE]

ents. Those of you who are supporting students at Image will shortly receive letters in the mail and I will email photos of them to you when I return to MN in late April. The kids in this school know what gratitude is because the wonderful teachers at Image Secondary School have modeled it.

I wish everyone at Incarnation could have experienced the afternoon at Image Secondary School. It gave me hope that if we can ensure that more students attend Diocese schools rather than government schools, that we can keep better track of students and ensure that your scholarship money is being used wisely and that students can complete their education and be qualified for good jobs.

Holy Week in Tanzania
Throughout the week, I’ll be worshiping at various congregations of the Iringa Diocese ending with spending Good Friday and Easter Sunday at Mkwawa. In Tanzania, Easter Monday is also a holiday. In the church, it’s the day when mass baptisms take place.

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Palm Sunday
This morning, we worshiped at Mkimbizi, which is the former parish of Upendo Koko, the pastor of Mkwawa. Pastor Don Fultz, Coordinator of Bega kwa Bega and a member of Incarnation preached the sermon. He told the members of the congregation that just like on Palm Sunday, when Jesus wasn’t recognized by everyone as the true Son of God, we need to be aware the Jesus is always present and that we can recognize Jesus in unlikely places, we just have to look for Jesus.

During a worship service in Tanzania there are always numerous choirs who almost compete with each other to be the best singers of the morning. This morning, the “Vijana” or youth choir sang several numbers, as did a visiting choir from the congregation of Mlandege. Pastor Ambrose Kikoti of Mkimbizi explained to us after worship that Mlandege and Mkimbizi choirs partn [IMAGE]

er with each other. Those of you who traveled to Tanzania in 2007 will remember Mlandege congregation because we stayed at the guesthouse that the congregation owns. This choir not only sang, but they presented a skit of the Palm Sunday story, complete with Jesus riding into the church on a donkey! The donkey was two men covered with a blanket and Jesus was dressed as a Hehe chief, waving at the congregation like a rock star. When the person representing Jesus came near the front of the church, he encountered women who were pretending to sell vegetables. He overturned the table, spilling vegetables all over all of us who were sitting in the front row! I have to say, I’ve never experienced Palm Sunday in quite that way before.

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One of the touching parts of this worship service was that Pastor Kikoti announced that today is Don & Eunice’s 50th wedding anniversary. The congregation responded by waving their arms and singing a hymn for the Fultzes. In Tanzania, the congregation gathers outside for the benediction. Usually a choir sings and one of the deacons auctions off items like eggs, fabric, etc. that people have brought instead of money for offering. The highlight of the morning auction was a chicken that sold for 45,000 TSH, which is about $28.50 about 3 times the normal price. We were all wondering what was so special about that chicken!

Maundy Thursday
Easter is a big deal in Iringa. The town is just bustling with people doing shopping in preparation for the Easter holiday. The shops are crowded and there are long lines at the bank as people take out money for traveling to their home villages or to buy food for the Easter feast. One often sees lambs tied in the back yards and Dennis Ngede said that they won’t be there on Monday. It gives a new meaning to “leg of lamb” for Easter dinner.

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This evening, I attended worship at the Cathedral church in Iringa. This congregation is sporting new stained glass windows, which were a gift from their partner Bethel Lutheran in Hudson Wisconsin. This group came to Tanzania the same day I did and they left last week, but they installed the windows before they left and they are beautiful. The two hour service ended with Holy Communion and as I was kneeling at the altar rail waiting to be served, I was listening to the choir singing in Kiswahili and as I received the elements I was so thankful that we worship a God who transcends culture and place and makes us feel at home at the Lord’s table wherever we are.

Tomorrow I will attend Good Friday worship at Mkwawa Lutheran Church and meet with the secondary students in the afternoon. At dinner tonight, Pastor Gary Langness from Augustana Lutheran Church in St. Paul mentioned that he had gone by Mkwawa on his way to Huruma Center that afternoon. He reported that the roof on the new sanctuary is about 20% complete. Let’s see if we worship in that space on Sunday.

Good Friday
Today was a cloudy, hot, humid day. It rained early in the morning, but then threatened to rain all day, but didn’t. Good Friday services are not what we, in America, expect them to be. The first difference is that they are held at the same times as regular morning services, 7:00 and 9:30 a.m. There was no reading of the seven last words of Christ, but the two choirs, the youth choir and the choir of widows sang hymns that contained those words. The most moving part of the worship was open prayer time. Pastor Upendo sang while those in the congregation were asked to pray out loud what they would have prayed if they had been standing at the foot of the cross. Many of you who have been to Tanzania have experienced this kind of prayer where the noise of people praying starts low and slow and then rises to a fever pitch and then becomes slower and lower. It is a very moving practice and one feels totally, the presence of the Holy Spirit in a way that is unique.

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At the beginning of the worship, I brought the people of Mkwawa greetings from all of you at Incarnation and there was great applause and ululating. They were even happier when I told them that some of you would come with me to Tanzania in late July. The roof is about 40% done, but no one was working today, so although everyone was talking about worshiping in the building on Easter Sunday, I’m praying that it doesn’t rain because the roof doesn’t cover the entire structure.

This afternoon I met with the sponsored secondary students. It was a bittersweet meeting because once again I learned that none of those in Form 4 passed their examinations, so there were very few students that I knew. The bright side was that there were many Form 1 new students to be sponsored and Pastor Upendo and Mara, the deacon at Mkwawa in charge of keeping track of the students, and talked with them about the importance of studying hard and really applying themselves. We also had them stand up and promise that they would communicate with you, their sponsors. We stressed the importance of communicating when they are struggling with their schoolwork. We told them to speak with their teachers, the headmaster, and the pastor. We wanted them to understand that people are there to help them and it’s really inexcusable for them to coast along, not understanding what is happening and then failing their exams. We said in no uncertain terms that if they did that they were wasting their time and your money, which would be better spend on a student who was willing to study harder. We stressed that they are the leaders of tomorrow in their church, in their community and in Tanzania and leaders need an education. One of the students, Dora, who is sponsored by Don & Martie Martin, stood up and gave a heartfelt thank you to me for all of you who have sponsored students. I will be writing a separate email to the sponsors.

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Easter Sunday
“Yesu Cristo amefufuka! Alleluia! Amefufuka kweli, kweli!” This is the familiar Easter greeting “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” in Kiswahili, the language of Tanzania. Celebrating Easter at Mkwawa Lutheran Church with your brothers and sisters in Christ was an experience that I would wish for each one of you at Incarnation. The joyful celebration of Christ’s resurrection was made even more joyful by the fact that this was the first time that people of Mkwawa had celebrated worship in their new, almost roofed building! The joy was contagious as people spontaneously danced in the aisles as Pastor Upendo Koko burst into song at several times during the worship service. At one time there was a conga line dancing around the space praising and thanking God for everything God has done for them.

The choirs at worship were spectacular, as usual; especially “Kwaia Vijana” or the youth choir. Choirs in Tanzania usually have great dance moves that go with the song and this morning was no different. You can’t sit still when African choirs sing. The women’s choir also presented a skit of the resurrection story, complete with every resurrection appearance of Jesus, including the fish breakfast on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. They did a fantastic job. Kind of hard to preach after something like that!

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Another very affirming part of the morning for me was seeing many of the former secondary students who are now at university or working in their chosen professions. One young man, Daudi Siwalaze, had read that Mkwawa was worshiping in the new building and that I would be preaching on the Incarnation website, so he traveled all the way from Dar es Salaam to be at worship. It was so great to see his smile. Another young woman, Origin Daudi, who is now a theology student at Tumaini University came to worship with her husband and baby daughter. Another young woman, an orphan, Fauzia Sanga, is now teaching at the secretarial school she attended. She’s teaching computer skills. As I looked out over the congregation during worship and at the auction after worship, it was wonderful to think about the partnership between Incarnation and Mkwawa that has been growing stronger through the support of the people from both congregations. It’s amazing how God does things like this.

This afternoon, Don & Eunice Fultz, Gary & Carol Langness and I were guests at Huruma Center for Easter dinner. Huruma Center is the orphanage that is right next door to Kigamboni congregation, which used to be a preaching point of Mkwawa Lutheran Church. Mama Constanzia Chilewa has 40 children from 4-16 years of age living there. The children are always so well behaved. While they waited for lunch, they sang songs and then lined up to go through the line for rice, potatoes, cabbage, chicken, and bananas. After dinner they performed the passion play. They did a fantastic job. The boys playing the roles of the soldiers arresting Jesus really got into character. The play was really creative and wonderful to watch. During the Passion play, the German girl who is doing her volunteer year at Huruma Center, hid Easter eggs on the grounds of the center. The children couldn’t wait to run outside to participate in the Easter egg hunt. As they ran around, there were shouts of joy as they found the hard-boiled eggs. Even though they had just eaten a huge dinner (their plates had been absolutely heaped with food), many couldn’t wait to eat their eggs. Some of the children held on to them, looking at the brilliant colors, obviously very excited about having Easter eggs. The afternoon was perfect. As we left, we said to Mama, Frauka, Amy, and Rahabu, “Best Easter ever!”

Thanks to you, the people of the Incarnation faith community for giving me the opportunity to serve in this way. Yesu Cristo Amefufuka! Amen.

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Update from Tanzania
By Lynda Thompson
There are some places in the world that are instantly familiar no matter how long one has been away. Iringa, Tanzania used to be one of those places, but the pace of change is so great in this city in the central highlands of Tanzania that in some ways the city is hardly recognizable. Empty lots now sport sparkling new buildings and small markets that used to exist are now gas stations or supermarkets. This is not the Iringa 12 people from Incarnation first experienced in 1999.

However, although the place looks different, the people remain the same. Pastor Upendo Koko of Mkwawa Lutheran Church sends warm greetings to everyone at Incarnation. I had the opportunity to be at Mkwawa on Sunday afternoon and the greetings were as warm as ever. The people of Mkwawa are really excited because the new worship space that they’ve been working on since 2005 is about to be completed—at least on the outside. It’s a huge structure that will accommodate 1,500 people for worship at one time because the hope was that students from the new secondary school across the street from Mkwawa’s location would worship at Mkwawa. The iron sheets for the roof have arrived and the workers, called “fundi” in Kiswahili, will begin installing them today. The congregation hopes to worship in that space for the first time on Easter Sunday, when I will have the privilege of preaching.
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It’s amazing how the people of Mkwawa remember those from Incarnation who have visited Tanzania. Yesterday people asked about several of you by name. I continue to be amazed by the number of 20-30 year olds that worship every Sunday, especially males of this age. It would be nice to have this problem in the United States.

There are so many stories about how God is using people from St. Paul to transform lives in Tanzania. One of the newer ministries is micro lending. There are countless stories of women borrowing as little as $50 to buy chickens and starting an egg business that allows her to pay back the loan and pay school fees for their children for years to come. When I hear these stories, I think about the Buck-A-Chick program that’s going on now at Incarnation. Those “cheap chicks” become the basis for a profitable business that will, over time, pay school fees for the children in the family. Thanks to God for the Incarnation faith community and the work God is doing through you in Shoreview and around the world. If you would like to learn more about micro loans in Iringa, click here and put a link to www.iringahope.org.

Tanzania Secondary Sponsors Needed
Imagine that you wanted to go to high school, but the tuition cost was the same as your parent’s yearly income. What would you do? This is the predicament that many of the high school students from Mkwawa Lutheran Church, our ministry partner in Tanzania, find themselves in. Although secondary school in Tanzania is roughly the equivalent of grades 8-12 in the United States, many students put off attending until they are eighteen to twenty years old because they don’t have the school fees.

For the past several years, people from Incarnation have been sponsoring secondary students in Tanzania. This past year, Incarnation sponsored sixty-one students. Each time we travel to Tanzania we meet with these students and bring letters home from them to their sponsors. We have heard many touching stories from kids whose lives were changed by the opportunity to attend secondary school.

Timothy Ndone, who just completed secondary school writes, “The aim of the letter is just to thank you for my school aid. In return I promise you that I will be working hard in my studies. My request to you is that you pray for my studies so I can reach my future goals. I would like to welcome you to visit us soon. Blessings, Timoth”

There are many students like these who need financial assistance with secondary school. You can help by sponsoring a student for $360 per year. Write a check to Incarnation for $360 and write “Secondary Student “on the memo line.

Your sponsorship creates a miracle in the life of a young Tanzanian and provides the opportunity for leadership at Mkwawa Lutheran Church, in the community of Iringa, or in Tanzania.
Click here to access the payment page and support a Tanzania student with $360.

Building Relationships bega kwa bega
Each year Incarnation sponsors either an adult or a youth and family mission trip for the purpose of building personal relationships with the people of Mkwawa Lutheran Church. Everyone who has met the people of Iringa agrees that it’s a life-changing experience to be the recipient of such gracious hospitality.

Mission trips can transform the lives of people in very real and powerful ways. Click here to read about how one young traveler is using her mission trip experience to be a gift to others.

Companion Congregation Program
Incarnation is one of more than 65 ELCA congregations within the Saint Paul Area Synod that partners with a congregation in the Iringa Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Iringa, Tanzania, in the south central part of Tanzania.

View letters and stories from the current and previous mission trips to Mkwawa / Tanzania

Mkwawa Lutheran Church: Main Station & Preaching Points
Incarnation and Mkwawa have been companion congregations since 2000. Mkwawa’s main station is on the outskirts of Iringa town. Like Incarnation, it is a large “suburban” congregation. The pastor at the main station is Upendo Koko. The congregation at the Main Station is in the midst of building a new sanctuary where 1,200 people can worship at one service. The kindergarten at the main station partners with Incarnation’s preschool.

Besides the main station, there are three preaching points that are a part of Mkwawa Lutheran church. An Evangelist, who leads worship and teaches Christian education, staffs each preaching point.

Itamba (e tom’ ba)
Itamba is located five miles from the Main Station. Incarnation worked with St. Paul Partners to provide a well so the people of Itamba have safe drinking water. The Itamba preaching point also has a kindergarten that also partners with the Incarnation preschool.

Ikonongo (e con an’ go)
Ikonongo is located two miles from the Main Station. The villagers receive their safe water from the Iringa city water supply. This is the smallest of the preaching points. Juliana Mkongwa, the evangelist at Ikonongo, demonstrates the use of the new water supply, generously provided by a member of Incarnation.

Kigamboni (keek am bo’ ni)
Kigamboni is the largest preaching point, located one mile from the Main Station. The ground for the new six-sided building was cleared by the youth from Incarnation in 2002.

Incarnation partners with Mkwawa in the following ways:

Secondary School Sponsorships
Secondary school can cost as much as a year’s average wage in Tanzania so help is needed to provide the opportunity for the youth at Mkwawa to attend secondary school. Providing a secondary school education opens doors for the student and for the sponsor as students receive an education and sponsors enlarge their families! People of Incarnation currently sponsor over 60 secondary students. Most are funded by gifts from private individuals or families. To sponsor a secondary student, contact Lynda Thompson at Incarnation.

Capital Projects
Incarnation currently partners with Mkwawa Lutheran Church to help them build a new worship space. Past projects include funding for the Mkwawa Kindergarten Center, as well as various projects at each of the preaching points.

Transportation
Incarnation has provided motorcycles for the pastor and district pastor and bicycles for the evangelists, enabling them to travel the many miles they need to travel each day, more efficiently.

Incarnation is also involved in other projects in the Iringa area:

Huruma Center Orphanage
"Huruma" means mercy in Kiswahili. Mama Chilewa is the mother to 40 street children ranging from age 3-18. There are so many orphans in Iringa, many from HIV/AIDS. In some families, orphaned kids are taken in by another family member such as a brother or sister, however often families that are already stretched financially cannot even support one more both to feed. Mama Chilewa provides the children not only a loving atmosphere in which to thrive and sends them to school, she also teaches them good life habits such as how to cook, maintain their living area, or care for farm animals.

When groups from Incarnation travel to Iringa, they always make visiting Huruma Center a priority. People from Incarnation have supported the ministry on the Huruma Center financially, especially purchasing food, chickens to stock the chicken coops, and even a cow! As always, relationships are the most important part of partnering and time set apart to play with the children is a highlight for all!

The Ilula Health Center
Sponsoring Theology students at Tumaini University Iringa College
St. Paul Partners Water Project

Check out Incarnation's other ministry partners:
Chontala: Guatemala
LifeHaven/Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota: St. Paul, MN
Solid Ground
Feed My Starving Children
Hunger Ministry

For more information on Mission Partners and mission trip opportunities, contact Lynda Thompson at lthompson@incarnationmn.org or 651-484-7213.