BLESSINGS SHARED THROUGH THE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Once again there are members of St. Paul Lutheran Church who have reached to the other side of the world in mission and love of fellow Christians. We will again be sending 25 students of our Mgama Parish in Tanzania to various stages of secondary school in 2012 because of the generosity of sponsorships from our congregation.

At a recent St. Paul synod meeting of all congregations sponsoring students in Tanzania, there are over 65 such congregation, we heard again of the importance of these scholarships.

 All students receive free schooling through the sixth grade (form) in Tanzania. After that they are required to take a National Test to advance to the next form (grade 7). If they pass the test which they can only take once, they still need to pay to attend school. The scholarship is not the full amount needed for school, but when families barely make enough to support themselves, the scholarship becomes an important piece of the picture. 

For those students who cannot afford tuition to advance in school there isn’t much they can do to earn a living wage. Most likely upon completion of the sixth grade, they will go to the larger cities in search of work. The most common work they find is to become a house girl or boy. The promised wages, if even paid, are very minimal and the work is long and hard. For many who cannot find work, prostitution becomes their source of income as they may also have to support siblings because the parents have died. In time they will contract HV, the disease which probably made them orphans.

The country of Tanzania has benefited from the scholarship program of the St. Paul Area Synod because as a result of advanced schooling there are now bankers, accountants, lawyers, teacher and government workers in eh community.

Thank you on behalf of the students of your Mgama parish for your acts of love and caring.     

The St. Paul Lutheran Social Concerns committee

TANZANIANIA AGRICULTURAL PLOT UPDATE

 Winter has arrived in full force and put our garden activity in a sleep mode Our friends in Tanzania, however, are now in the midst of their growing season as they are opposite us in the seasons.

With their next growing season our parish of Mgama will be experiencing the first year of the three-year program we have decided to support for their benefit. This program is referred to as an agricultural demonstration plot and is administered by the Institute of Agriculture of Tumaini University in Tanzania along with a volunteer committee of members from the St Paul Area Synod.

These plots demonstrate improved farming practices to the Tanzanian farmers so they can use these techniques to increase crop yields and quality of the food produced on their land. The plots are prepared and managed by an agricultural specialist and the parish pastor.   Crop production has been increased by over 100% in many cases.

The total support for the three-year period is $6,000. During that three year period soil samples will be taken, seed specially suited to their area is provided, fertilizers and weed/ insect control is provided. The agricultural specialist receives a salary to oversee the establishment and maintenance of the plot and works closely with the pastor of the parish and a committee of parish members. After the third year the plot is self-supporting and members of the parish have been trained to continue the techniques on their own.

Members of the St Paul Synod initiated this program in 2008 and even brought Tanzanians here to study at the University of Minnesota Ag. College. These volunteers make frequent trips to Tanzania to work with the specialists and Institute to assure the success of the plots. The social concerns committee of St. Paul Lutheran Church is pleased to announce that through the gifts of members and funds raisers we have reached the goal for funds for the first year. Thank you for your support in this project.

Our Partnership with Mgama Parish in Tanzania, Africa

In the fall of 2005, the council of St. Paul Lutheran Church voted to begin a partnership with a parish in Tanzania, Africa through the Bega Kwa Bega (shoulder to shoulder) program of the St. Paul Area Synod.  We thus became one of over 60 congregation in the Synod who have a connection to Christians in the Iringa Diocese.  Our parish being Mgama.  Its members are mostly herdsmen and farmers, averaging about $200 a year in income.  A partnership has certain responsibilities:  we are to include them in our prayers, give a yearly monetary support of $1000 for building supplies, scholarships for students to attend schools for which they must pass government tests, visits from our congregation to make a personal connection, other needs as they might request and they will pray for us.

In February of 2008, 7 members traveled to Tanzania to be the first visitors from our church to visit the Mgama Parish.  We were warmly greeted with song and dance as our vehicle drove into the village.  Young and old, male and female greeted us with smiles, handshakes and joyful dancing.  We spent the next several days traveling to the various preaching points of the parish.  A preaching point would be compared to a small settlement in the countryside of as few as thirty people or maybe 100 or more.  We found our Christian friends to be very happy in their faith and content in spite of their meager circumstances, they value people, not things.  We were warmly welcomed into their homes for meals and fellowship.

Since starting this partnership, we have been able to send money for the drilling of two wells to provide safe water for two areas where no safe water was available.  Nine bicycles were given to as many preaching points.  We are now in the process of fund raising for a motorbike for the pastor of our parish.  Rev. Mgeyekwa now travels the rocky narrow trails by bicycle to serve his parish.  Our yearly support of scholarships has now grown to 25 students for whom we are partially funding their education.

Ask anyone who has been to Tanzania and they will tell you it is an experience of faith and growth that will always stay with you in spite of time.  God is truly working in a special way in this partnership for all involved.