On July 18, 2025, the Moravian Church's new kindergarten was officially opened in Iringa, Tanzania – made possible by the generous support of the Göbel family in cooperation with the FLY & HELP Foundation. The donor family was present at the inauguration ceremony and received a warm welcome: a choir greeted the guests with music, children put on short performances, and the Göbel children personally presented toys and learning materials to the future kindergarteners. Particularly noteworthy: Mathilda and Thea Göbel had collected the money for the gifts themselves by selling their own paintings at flea markets. After the official handover, everyone ate and celebrated together – a day full of joy and gratitude for everyone involved. The kindergarten has been officially approved since mid-July. Soon, numerous children from the surrounding area will find a safe place to play, learn, and grow up here. A strong sign of solidarity and educational justice in action.

In the Dzaleka refugee camp, which has long exceeded its capacity, thousands of people from crisis regions such as the Democratic Republic of Congo are seeking protection – many of them young women who have experienced violence and exploitation during their flight. Life in the camp is particularly dangerous for them. Together with MoHDevS, the local partner of Herrnhuter Missionshilfe, the Atsikana Walani Technical College has launched a “Safe Space” emergency aid program: 20 girls are provided with a safe haven offering accommodation, food, and psychosocial support. In a protected space (“Safe Space”), they can find peace, talk about their experiences, and gain new strength. At the same time, the young women are given access to education and vocational training – for example in tailoring, electrical engineering or solar technology. The aim is to give them long-term prospects and economic independence. This pilot project goes beyond mere emergency aid: it provides protection, strengthens self-confidence and opens up concrete opportunities for the future – for a life in dignity.

Oresta Osward Anganisye (27) comes from Mbeya in Tanzania. Like many girls in her region, she had to drop out of school after becoming pregnant in secondary school. For years, she raised her son alone – without education or career prospects. In 2024, she received a scholarship to attend the Herrnhuter Berufsbildungszentrum (Herrnhuter Academy) for tourism and hotel management in Zanzibar. There, she completed training in food production – funded by Herrnhuter Missionshilfe. After an internship at the Melia Hotel, Oresta now works as a cook and supervisor at the Mwangaza Academy. She is able to provide for her son and looks to the future with confidence. Oresta's story shows that education opens up new paths – especially for young women who previously had few opportunities.

Bettina Nasgowitz, Project and Finance Officer at Herrnhuter Missionshilfe, visited two impressive agricultural initiatives in Zanzibar together with the NGO Tanzania Mwangaza. In Kilongani, the Shukurani Zetu Women Group cultivates its land with the help of a solar power system and wells – a huge benefit in times of extreme drought. The group generates its own income and invests in its future with foresight. In Jozani, the Kimbojo group is still struggling with an unreliable power supply – a solar power system would be an important next step here. Both groups impressively demonstrate how local initiatives and targeted support can enable sustainable development.

At the support center of the worldwide Moravian Church on Star Mountain near Ramallah (Palestine/West Bank), the quiet summertime is gradually coming to an end. On July 22, 2025, the International Medical Education Trust (IMET 2000), based in Great Britain, offered the employees of the support center a free one-day first aid course. Knowledge of life-saving measures and mastery of these measures is essential in critical situations such as those that can occur every day in Palestine. Seventeen employees from all areas of the support center took part. They practiced how to respond to the following emergencies: epileptic seizures, broken bones, bites, unconsciousness, and choking. The training also included realistic practical applications of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of an AED (automated external defibrillator). Four pictures here.

The South African website The Heritage Portal recently published a lengthy, impressively illustrated article by Graham Jacobs about the Wupperthal mission station near Cederberg (Western Cape), which was founded in 1830. Parts of the heritage-listed site were devastated by a devastating fire on the night of December 30 to 31, 2018. Of the 113 residential buildings in the village, 53 (most of them historically significant buildings) were completely destroyed. In terms of the number of buildings destroyed, the fire disaster in Wupperthal at the end of 2018 is considered the worst disaster in South Africa since the earthquake in and around Tulbagh in 1969. The article on the above-mentioned website documents the great successes achieved so far in rebuilding the town. Under the heading “Wupperthal – From Fire to Restoration,” many buildings are presented in their destroyed state and after reconstruction. More information in English can be found here.

After the Church Working Group on Southern Africa (KASA) held a successful conference on 30 years of democracy in South Africa in Bad Boll in December 2024, this year's conference, again in Bad Boll, will focus on gender-based violence, which threatens young people in South Africa in particular. From September 26 to 28, 2025, KASA will work with activists, artists, scientists, religious leaders, and young people from South Africa and Germany to explore appropriate strategies against gender-based violence. Through storytelling, music, dialogue, and workshops, participants will reflect together on the roots and reality of gender-based violence in both countries. The conference's motto is: Walking Together Against Gender-Based Violence. Women worldwide are fighting back against assault and violence. More here.

In June 2025, a sermon in the Moravian Church in Zambia (Twatasha congregation in the capital Lusaka) called for courageous faith following the example of the old Moravians: "Do you know how the gospel of God's love came to us? If you practised a form of Christianity that was not imbued with the gospel, then Christianity would die out with your generation. I have studied the history of the Herrnhuter Mission. They sold themselves into slavery, gave their money to charity and set off for foreign lands to preach the gospel. Are you so presumptuous as to think that you will go to heaven and sit next to them? You are jokers!" The preacher clearly believes that his listeners only have a chance of going to heaven if they emulate the testimony of the first Moravian missionaries. Watch the here.

On the morning of July 23, 2025, Deutschlandfunk, Germany's most listened-to radio station, broadcast a lengthy report on its program “Tag für Tag” (Day by Day) on how and with what success the Moravian Church is coming to terms with its history of mission and slavery. In this context, the station also visited the Moravian Church in Amsterdam and interviewed Johannes Welschen, a member of the Unity Directorate, in Zeist, Netherlands. The visit was prompted by Keti Koti 2025, the 162nd anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the former Dutch colony of Suriname, which is now also celebrated annually in the Netherlands. The report pays tribute to what the Moravian Church has been doing for more than 15 years in the field of historical sciences and in the interpersonal sphere to overcome the consequences of slavery, which are still clearly visible in many parts of the world, both rich and poor, and to bring about reconciliation. In the interview, Johannes Welschen does not hide the fact that there are still many steps to be taken before true reconciliation can be achieved. Listen here from minute 13:45.

Pictures from the opening service of the XXI Provincial Synod of the Moravian Church in Honduras (Mission Province) in the “Iglesia Morava de Paptalaya” in Ahuas (Gracias A Dios region) in the Honduran Mosquitia on May 30, 2025 can be found here. Two weeks earlier, the VIII General Synod of the Moravian Church in Honduras (Unity Province) took place in the Iglesia Morava Bethel, also in Ahuas. Some pictures and a video of the service on May 11, 2025, in the packed church with the members of the synod can be found here (please click further) and here. In addition to the Honduran Bishop Evelio Romero, several representatives of the worldwide Moravian Church were also present. A new church leadership was elected. The motto of the synod was: “If God is with us, who can be against us? Between struggles and trials, the work of the Moravian Church continues.”

At the end of June/beginning of July 2025, the Board of World Mission of the Moravian Church in North America sent a container of donated medical supplies to the Clínica Evangélica Morava in Ahuas, Honduras. The 21,000 items that were carefully packed into the container include suture material, syringes, gauze, bed sheets, a microscope, sterilization equipment, injection needles, and hospital beds (estimated value: approximately $265,500). Although all of these materials were donated, there are still high costs for administrative fees, legal work, customs formalities, international transport, and local delivery from the port of import in Puerto Cortes over land, across lagoons, and then upriver to the remote congregation of Ahuas (approximately US$25,000 to US$30,000). The large container was filled in cooperation with the NGO Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach in Springfield, Illinois.

A team of seven volunteers from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, continued a decades-long tradition and supported the Clínica Evangélica Morava in Ahuas, Honduras, in the spring of 2025. Among other things, the team members painted and repaired clinic walls, built shelters, cut gauze bandages, and also spent time at the Krupunta branch, where they helped with the infant nutrition program. One team member writes: "As a nurse, I became aware of the daily waste in the US healthcare system. I inserted IVs and removed bandages without gloves. I know that different standards apply in the US, but you often don't realize how wasteful we can be." Dr. Maylo Wood, the clinic's medical director, concludes the Spotlight article by describing newly established regular training and refresher courses for clinic staff in cooperation with the Atlantic Coast Regional University Center of the state university UNAH in La Ceiba. Read the entire Spotlight article here.

A good idea recently emerged at the Unity Women's Desk in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Because the cost of transporting small but important obstetric kits to women's organizations and hospitals of the Moravian Church in Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Africa is disproportionately high, volunteers will transport them to their destinations in their personal luggage. The Unity Women's Desk is asking for spacious, unused suitcases with wheels that can hold about 30 obstetric kits. The suitcases will be packed and stored in Bethania near Winston-Salem until the group trips begin. The contact person is Julie Tomberlin, director of the Unity Women's Desk (julie.unitywomen@gmail.com). To donate, click here. There is a list of the nine items that are usually included in a birth kit. See here. More about the Birthing Kits here.

All teachers and prospective teachers, all youth leaders, and all those responsible for Sunday school work in the Moravian Church in South Africa were invited to a workshop on Christian education issues on June 21, 2025, from 10 a.m. to midnight. Numerous topics related to biblical proclamation and socio-social problem solving were discussed. The event, organized by the Moravian Sunday School Union in South Africa (MSUSA), took place at the Lansdowne Moravian Church in the south of Cape Town. See here. The MSUSA recently began planning its youth camp (ages 12 to 16) in Simonstad, South Africa, which will take place from October 10 to 12, 2025. The last such camp took place in 2017. This year's camp has the motto: Step into goodness, step out into glory! See here.

The Bethabara Moravian Church in Mandeville, Jamaica, invites you to two family-friendly events on July 25 and August 1, 2025. The first event, a movie night, will take place in the church and on the church grounds, while the second event, a so-called Emancipendence Melting Pot, will be held at Bethabara Primary School. The latter event combines the joy of national independence day with an awareness of the need for further development. The movie night is described as follows: "Bring blankets and your best friends! Get ready for a magical night under the stars! Watch Christian films, wave glow sticks, and get into the spirit with snacks and refreshments." More here. The second event will include donkey rides for children, a presentation of old tools, traditional food, and other nostalgic entertainment. The motto: A melting pot of traditional culture, unity, and blessings. More here.

"The biggest challenge for the Medical Mission in Suriname (Medische Zending - Primary Health Care) is achieving its strategic goals for the period 2025–2027. This was recently emphasized by its director, Herman Jintie, to Amar Ramadhin, Suriname's Minister of Health. He continued: “Making plans is easy, but we have to fill the plans with life, and that requires commitment, a lot of resources, and good cooperation.” The director did not hide the problems: “We cannot do the work alone.” The strategic plan is closely linked to the actions of the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport, which often falls short of its promises, especially with regard to improving health care in the interior of Suriname. Logistical and personnel problems are still the order of the day there. More in Dutch in the Suriname Herald here.

The youth center of the Moravian Church in Paramaribo, Suriname, recently reported on two major youth events held on its premises and large grounds. The National Youth Conference on Saturday, July 19, 2025, was described as an inspiring day that brought together 30 committed youth leaders from several Surinamese Moravian churches. There was intensive discussion about the future of church work with children and young people, and groups drew up a plan for the next five years. A new youth board and various committees were also elected. 28 pictures here. Immediately after the conference, the youth of Paramaribo were invited to another nightly Power Hour (praise hour). The theme of the balmy night was All White Praise Party. There was song and music by Raff Chanco & The Musical Youth of God. Also present were Eugene Main and Kennia Domini. A 40-minute video here. 42 photos here. More music here.

On Friday, August 1, 2025, the Beļavas muiža manor house, formerly known as Kortenhof, will host the closing event of an EU Leader Project aimed at promoting rural areas. The project focuses on involving the local population in the preservation of national cultural heritage. The theme of a previous event was: Baroque, Enlightenment, Participation: Paths to the Democratization of Former Manor Houses. See here. The above-mentioned closing event on August 1, 2025, will focus on the Latvian Revival that began in 1729/30, triggered by the arrival of many Moravians in Livonia. The Herrnhuters in Livonia received significant support from Magdalena Elisabeth von Hallart at Valmiermuiža, Wolmarshof, a committed Pietist. She was born on July 4, 1683, in the Beļavas muiža manor house. The invitation poster can be found here. Speakers include Beata Paškevica, a renowned Hallart expert and Germanist at the Latvian National Library in Riga.

On August 5, 1900 – 125 years ago – a large festive service was held in Lichtenfels on Greenland to mark the handover of the Greenland Mission of the Moravian Church to the Danish Lutheran State Church. This transfer had been decided in 1899 by a synod of the Moravian Church for financial and political reasons (ongoing conflicts between Denmark and Germany over the border demarcation) by a vote of 47 to 2. On March 3, 1900, Danish King Christian IX had already received the Greenland mission president Adolf Riedel (1845-1918) in audience and thanked the Moravian Church for its 167 years of work in Greenland. Forty large boats and 212 kayaks carrying more than 800 Greenlanders (one third of the entire Inuit population of South Greenland!) arrived in Lichtenfels for the above-mentioned farewell service for the Herrnhut missionaries. On September 11, 1900, the last Herrnhut missionaries boarded a Danish ship with their few belongings. The Danish king financed the missionaries' return journey.

On Saturday, July 26, 2025, the annual festival of the Estonian Moravian Church in Pühalepa took place. The large wooden prayer hall was well attended. The acting chief elder of the Moravian Church in Estonia, Marek Roots, preached and musicians from the group Eluallikas played to the delight of those present. See here. The Moravian Church in Pühalepa has existed since 1741. It flourished under the teacher Jakob Merrasch, who was sent from Herrnhut, ironically after the Herrnhuterey was banned by Tsarina Elizabeth I in 1743. Fifteen years after its founding, it had nearly 300 members. The oldest parts of the prayer hall date back to 1846. In the meantime, the prayer hall served as a school, a German military hospital, a storage room, and group accommodation for children's holiday camps. The last major renovation of the prayer hall took place in 1993. Pühalepa is located in the east of Estonia's second largest island, Hiiumaa (slightly larger than the island of Rügen), which has many attractions.

The Unity Province of Jamaica invites you to a Provincial Convention on Sunday, August 24, 2025. The event will take place at the Kendal Camp & Conference Center in Mandeville, Manchester, west of the capital Kingston. The keynote speakers will be Rev. Karlen Kirlew and Rev. Wayne Reid. The theme of the Provincial Convention is “Renewed for Mission: Healing, Building, and Empowering.” The Bethabara Moravian Churchin Newport, Manchester, located near the conference center, is playing a key role in the preparation of the Provincial Convention. The Province of Jamaica most recently comprised 65 congregations with 6,100 members. Since the 2022 Synod, the chair of the church leadership has been Rev. Barrington E. Daley in Kingston. Missionary work in Jamaica began as early as 1754. The Moravian Church in Jamaica is currently a shrinking church. While in the 18th and 19th centuries, 500 to 1,000 people belonged to a congregation, now there are only about 100.