In his current newsletter, the retired dean Dr. Jochen Tolk once again provides information about the work in Tanzania. Among other things, he reports on unplanned delays in construction projects, successes in various agricultural projects, a gratifying story of an orphan from Tenende and a festival in Mbeya Province. Thanks to Dr. Tolk's orphan projects/scholarships, many people in need have been able to receive support, help and education in recent years. We would like to express our sincere thanks to all donors for their active support. You can find the complete newsletter here.

On the occasion of the Day of Prayer for the Western Province of the Moravian Church in Tanzania on September 19, 2024, the Board of World Mission of the Moravian Church in North America conveyed the following prayer requests from Bishop Ezekiel Yona: Please pray for a) strength for church leaders in their oversight of a large province and five mission areas; b) strength for pastors to behave well in a time of false prophets in Africa; c) the men in the church. They often do not like to attend church services and should be encouraged to love the church. The Tanzanian Western Province was created in 1898 and covers a geographically large area from Lake Victoria in the north and the northern shores of Lake Tanganyika in the west to large cities and small villages in the east to Itigi and in the south to Rukwa Province. The church has over 100,000 members and continues to grow rapidly, which has characterized its work for decades. See here.

Mission 21, the partner organisation of Herrnhuter Missionshilfe in Switzerland, repeatedly cooperates with two provinces of the Moravian Church in Tanzania (Southern Province and South-Western Province) on various projects. Johannes Klemm, a pastor of the Moravian Church and team leader for Africa and programme manager for Tanzania at Mission 21, has now sent some pictures of a project by the Moravian Church in Tanzania that is dedicated to climate protection and empowering women. The first pictures were taken during the rainy season in January. The last five pictures were taken during the dry season at the end of May. See here (please scroll down to the Mission 21 section). A description of the project Protecting the climate, empowering women: Sustainable Agriculture in Tanzania, which is located in the Mbarali district of Tanzania, where 83 percent of people live from agriculture and suffer from climate change, can be found here.

• On 11 August 2024, a seminar for evangelists ended in the small Moravian congregation of Bujela, Tukuyu region. Pastor Jeremia Kapyela led the seminar. Two photos here.
• The Moravian Church Secondary School in Lutengano was very proud recently. The head of the Mbeya political region, Juma Zuberi Homera, praised the standard of the school. He encouraged parents living in the area to enrol their children at Lutengano. The school has done well in performance comparisons and is the best in the district. A short video with excerpts from the politician's speech here.
• The Mahenge Moravian Congregation in Kiwira near Rungwe is planning to build a new church. There are many pictures of a fundraising day on Sunday, 11 August 2024, in aid of the church building with numerous prominent guests and several choirs from near and far. See here. The chairman of the Tanzanian Southern Province, Ezekiel Mwasamboma, preached at the festive service. Some pictures of the service and the choir performances here.

The missionary couple Bettina and Morten Poulsen, sent out with their two children by Brødremenighedens Danske Mission. They recently published new video scenes. See here (200 seconds). The scenes are intended as a report on the work of the Moravian Church in Mwanza, Kipili and Sikonge, which has been going on for many years with support from Denmark. The scenes are intended for screening at the mission festival in Christiansfeld/DK and as a film full of thanks. The video scenes show very simple churches of the Moravian Church, which look more like a tin shed, but also beautiful new churches and schools that are under construction and almost finished. In any case, they show the commitment of the brothers and sisters there. In Mwanza and in the area around Lake Victoria, the Moravian Church is still a very young church.

Bishop Joachim Kreusel, Ockbrook/GB, writes from Mbeya, the headquarters of the Southwest Province of the Moravian Church in Tanzania. "The consecration of Robert Pangani as a Bishop of the Moravian Church took place on Sunday, 2 June 2024, on the grounds of the Moravian Church's Teofilo Kisanji University in Mbeya. Robert Pangani and his wife Bahati as well as Demetria, Amani, Haruni and Placseda, the couple's children, send you their warmest greetings and thank you for all your love and faithful intercession. Here are some impressions of the six-hour service in Mbeya. See here (please scroll down!). Bishop Ezekiel Yona, another Moravian bishop in Tanzania, preached about Joshua, the successor of Moses, and God's word to him: 'As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you' (Joshua 1:5). The Deputy Prime Minister of Tanzania, Dr Doto Biteko, conveyed the government's greetings and called on Tanzanians to maintain peace, unity and love and never be divided for any reason. In one photo, the new bishop is wearing a Rongmei Naga Scarf, a gift from the Moravian Church of Binnakandi in the Indian state of Assam, as a sign of unity across continents."

In mid-June 2024, the Danish online magazine Sennepskornet (Mustard Seed) published an interview with a Moravian pastor from Tanzania's Western Province: Benjamin Kamagi, who is the district pastor in Sikonge and, together with several evangelists, responsible for 15,000 Christians in twelve congregations. See in Danish here. Benjamin Kamagi had a good job in the civil service, but then decided to become a pastor. After four years of study at Lusangi Bible School in Sikonge, he realised his dream of becoming a pastor. As a child he sang in the children's choir of the Moravian Church, he was confirmed in the 7th grade and two years later he joined the army, where he also joined the CCM (Chama cha Mapinduzi = Party of the Revolution) and received training to become a leader in agriculture. But he did not want to be a party soldier; in a dream, God called him to be a pastor. He now primarily looks after the Christians, but not exclusively for them - and is happy doing so.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) recently donated many books for theology students at the Moravian Church's Teofilo Kisanji University (TEKU) in Tanzania. The university is located in the city of Mbeya, was founded in 2006 and has around 2,000 students, 60 of whom are studying theology. The Moravian Church in Switzerland will finance the shipment of the books to Tanzania. Pastor Volker Schulz, a bishop of the worldwide Moravian Church, expressed his heartfelt thanks to the WCC. Frieder Vollprecht, pastor of the Moravian Church in Basel and Bern, expressed his hope that the books would ‘do a good service for the students’ and provide not only education but also ‘a broader view of the ecumenical world’. Pastor Dr Mikie Roberts, Geneva, WCC programme director for spiritual life and also pastor of the Moravian Church, sees the book donation as a contribution to the current ecumenical pilgrimage. More in German translation here.

In his latest newsletter, retired dean Dr Jochen Tolk once again reports on our work in Tanzania. Among other things, he writes about a school graduation ceremony in Tenende, the development of the vocational training centres in Chunya and Ilindi and a scholarship in Rungwe. Thanks to Dr Tolk's orphan projects/scholarships, many needy people have been able to receive support, help and education in recent years. We would like to thank all donors for their active support. You can find the complete newsletter here.

From 18 to 20 April 2024, around 30 employees from the Southern Province of the Moravian Church in Tanzania came together at Lutengano Theological College, founded in 1984, for a seminar aimed at further training and community development. Four pictures of the seminar room here. The seminar was opened by Bishop Kenan Salim Panja. The seminar was supported by Mission 21, the partner organisation of Herrnhuter Missionshilfe in Switzerland. It was led by the Chairman of the Southern Province, Ezekiel Andendekisye Mwasamboma, Rungwe. The Vice-Chairman, Jairy Sengo, and the Secretary General of the Province, Stephen Mwaipopo, were also involved in the leadership. The Tanzanian Southern Province, with its administrative centre in Rungwe, has over 150,000 members in the geographical districts of Kyela, Rungwe and Ileje and also carries out missions in the areas of Ruvuma, Njombe and Songea.

Three years ago, Brødremenighedens Danske Mission, the Danish sister organisation of Herrnhuter Missionshilfe, sent Mia and Michael Korsgård to Sikonge in Tanzania (Western Province). The two emissaries talk about these years in a new podcast. See here. The couple are grateful that their work has helped to raise the level of training at the vocational training centre and the level of care at the district hospital. The Vocational Training Centre in Sikonge, where Michael Korsgård is involved, mainly manufactures wooden products such as furniture, windows and doors. The hospital, which has a huge catchment area and where Mia Korsgård works as a consultant, treats around 30 outpatients every day and performs 20 operations every week. To the new info magazine of the mission organisation of the Moravian Church in Denmark here.

The Jan Hus Choir of the Moravian Church in Kyela, Tanzania (Southern Province), a city with 50,000 inhabitants on the northern shore of the great Lake Malawi, is rehearsing diligently in Holy Week 2024 for the many services on Good Friday and the Easter holidays. See here. A congregational seminar, which took place on the afternoon of Palm Sunday, served to prepare for this highlight of the church year. The Tabata Moravian Church, one of more than 25 Moravian churches in Dar es Salaam, a city of six million people, has a completely different approach to the public. This congregation regularly streams its two to three-hour services for a larger audience all over the world. The divine service on 24 March 2024 with many speakers and contributors here. The service shows that the Moravian Church in Tanzania is a very colourful and modern, charismatic and non-traditional Moravian church in many places, especially in the cities.

The Moravian Churchs Mlimani Bible College n Sumbawanga (Tanzania, Rukwa Province) offers interested people the opportunity to complete a two-year training programme to become an evangelist. One of the graduates, Jonny Kisuke, comes from the Kipili region on Lake Tanganyika. He began with pioneering missionary work in his village. Every week he organised a meeting on the lakeshore where the Bible was read. But he wanted to continue his education at Mlimani Bible College. However, the school with residential facilities is 150 kilometres away from his home. The bus journey takes more than three hours, so he will not see his family often during the two years of training. The church cannot cover the travel costs, but fortunately the college has a vegetable garden with a section for each graduate. Jonny Kisuke grows a few vegetables there and sells them at the market so that he has the money he needs for his private expenses and for his occasional journeys home. See here.

The workshop at the Moravian Church's Sikonge Mission Hospital in Tanzania (Western Province) has received various tools with the support of the Moravian Church's mission organisation in Denmark (BDM) so that it can now start logging. The number of such orders is increasing. Felling trees seems to be very problematic at first, but in fact it is a sustainable project. In Tanzania, wood is considered a climate-friendly resource compared to steel and concrete, which otherwise dominate construction. The felling of trees is often regulated in Tanzania. It requires a state licence with which only trees of a certain type and size may be felled. The licences are only issued for wild forest areas that are dormant after logging and can regenerate sufficiently. Unfortunately, ordinary people in Tanzania often buy illegal timber, which is cheaper. In addition, there are many monopolists in the timber trade who artificially drive up the price of timber. If the hospital workshop in Sikonge offers people in the region legal wood at a favourable price, this helps the environment. This information was sent by Michael and Mia and Toldam Korsgård (DK), who have been working on behalf of the mission in Sikonge for two years.

In December 2023, the Danish missionary Mia Toldam Korsgård reported on the diverse work of the Moravian Church in Sikonge (Tanzania, Western Province). See in Danish here: As far as the hospital is concerned, she reported the following: "Sikonge Hospital's catchment area is as large as Jutland, but much more sparsely populated. I work as a counsellor at the hospital. In practice, I form the hospital management team with the head physician, the head secretary and the head nurse. We are a good team, we all want the same things for the hospital and we stick together when making decisions - even difficult ones. Our work recently focused on corrections: the administration optimised many processes with the help of an external consultant. For example, we gained an overview of our debts to the health insurance companies, we paid them off and we ensured that we have more qualified nursing staff and other personnel. The fruits of our labour: we were recently able to open a rehabilitation and physiotherapy clinic and exempt the most vulnerable from co-payments."

The mission organisation of the Moravian Church in Denmark BDM presents the Tanzanian pharmacist Ibrahim Mahimbali, who looks after the pharmacy at Sikonge Hospital, in an online article. See in Danish here. The employee, who was hired three years ago, ensures that the necessary medication is ordered in Dar es Salaam in good time and is always in stock at the hospital in the Western Province of the Moravian Church in Tanzania. The pharmacy is also used by external people and institutions, even by a state hospital. The pharmacist says: ‘I most frequently dispense antibiotics for inflammation, followed by diabetes medication and tablets for high blood pressure. I trained as a pharmacist for two years, and I still have two years of further training ahead of me. The pharmacy used to have a lot of debt, but now it's in balance.’ The pharmacy is located in the centre of the hospital grounds. Sikonge Hospital serves a population of 210,000 people.

The gynaecologist Luzia Illiger has been working in the hospital of the Moravian Church in Isoko, Tanzania, for more than 2 years. In her newsletter, she regularly reports on her time in Tanzania, the challenges, the successes but also the failures. This issue deals with topics such as alcohol consumption, sex education and the Tanzanian school system. The complete newsletter here.

Most people in Africa suffer from power supply problems. Today, Africa is still a continent where electricity is far from being available everywhere or where there are frequent interruptions in the power supply. This clearly hinders economic development. Satisfying the growing demand for energy is an enormous challenge in all African countries. The most common source of energy continues to be conventional biomass. This is used ubiquitously for cooking. Fossil fuels dominate in the areas of power generation and transport.

Together with its local partners, Herrnhuter Missionshilfe is examining exactly where environmental projects can be usefully implemented. Above all, the expansion of solar power systems plays a major role here due to the insecure and unstable power supply. Through the sustainable use of natural resources, people benefit in the long term and are no longer completely dependent on the general power supply.

A solar-powered water pump has already been installed at the hospital in Mbozi. The goal is to equip all Moravian secondary schools and vocational training centers in the country with solar systems as well. It is important that the students and teachers themselves are able to carry out minor maintenance work on the systems themselves thanks to education and training. A functioning power grid is the basic supply for effective learning.