July 2024 Ulanga Kilombero Diocese Visit
Bwana Yesu, Asifiwe! (Praise Jesus! in Kiswahili) The Northwest Intermountain (NWIM) Synod has enjoyed and has been richly blessed by a 35-year relationship with our Companion Synod, the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese (UKD) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. In July 2024 a contingent of 13 pilgrims from the NWIM Synod traveled to Africa to visit the UKD.
Please watch a brief 5-minute video (below) of this trip which has been distributed to Region 1 of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America World Hunger Chairs.
The purpose of the July trip was to enhance and build relationships with our sisters and brothers in the UKD as we seek to accompany the work of Jesus Christ in the Kingdom of God.
Over the last 20 years, the UKD and the NWIM Synod have walked together, bega kwa bega, shoulder to shoulder to build a Dining Hall on the Tumaini Lutheran Seminary (TLS) campus to provide a large meeting space for eating, worship, and various meetings at TLS.
Plans are moving forward for further enhancement of the TLS campus and student learning through the construction of a solar electric kitchen for the Dining Hall. The plan has two major potential positive outcomes: 1. Less wood will be burned to reduce deforestation of the Tanzanian countryside; 2. No smoke would be produced to reduce negative health outcomes for cooks and members of the TLS community cause by particulate inhalation.
The current eating pattern of the students at TLS includes rice, beans, and two meals per week of ugali, a thick, maize porridge. The current diet is lacking in micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) which are essential for student physical and mental development. In other words, a hungry body is not able to learn as well as a well-nourished body.
As a way to enhance student development and learning, plans are also progressing for the construction of a garden space with drip line irrigation and solar powered pumping of water to enhance the student diets.
We anticipate over the next 5 years or so, you may hear more about these plans to enhance student development and learning on the TLS campus in the UKD.
In the early part of 2024, devastating floods in the regions occupied by the UKD wiped out crops that would potentially feed the TLS community. In the past, the Global Missions/World Hunger Committee would react to the loss of crops due to flooding by sending relief funds to purchase rice and other food after the disaster had occurred and when the rice prices were elevated, resulting in less purchasing power. These funds would take a long time to reach the UKD.
Recently, the Global Missions Committee has instituted a pay it forward effort to provide funds before the loss of crops occurs so that the TLS leadership is able to purchase and store rice and other non-perishable commodities when the prices are less in anticipation of floods that are coming more frequently due to the impact of global warming. The Global Missions Committee hopes to continue this effort of providing funds before flooding occurs.
The July 2024 NWIM contingent also visited Lugala Lutheran Hospital, the main healthcare facility in the region. While on the hospital campus, the NWIM Synod pilgrims delivered child multivitamins and minerals for the malnourished child feeding program at the facility.
In our previous visit to the UKD in October/November 2023, we discovered that the formula mixed to feed malnourished children included all the essential nutrients except vitamins and minerals because this component was not readily available. So a plan was developed to bring the essential vitamins and minerals with our next visit in July 2024.
As we continue to walk shoulder to shoulder, bega kwa bega with our sisters and brothers in the UKD, thank you for your continued support of our Companion Synod relationship!
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