Tanzania Team Travels

On October 6, after visiting the orphanage , we drove back to Kijota to visit the Hull Secondary School, which had once been called the Vivien Gulleen Institute. Of the five Travelers, only Mark had previous experience with the school, and he told us later that he was very concerned about what we would find.  In yet another example of the Suprising Blessings we had on this trip, we found the Hull School very, very healthy and vibrant -- and asking for help because of how much it has grown. A bit of history.  Many years ago, when the school was a school for girls, Mount Olive had had a strong relationship with the school.  It housed around 30 girls, and Mount Olive members paid for the construction of the Dining Hall (among other things.)  Here is that Dining Hall. The school hit hard times, the relationship with Mount Olive was broken for a while, and several years ago, the school found itself with only nine students. The headm...

Monday October 1, the Travelers had two parts to our day. The first was spent visiting the church in the small town of Ikhanoda, the government-run (public) school in the town, and having a chance to meet with, pray with and eat a meal with the leaders of the congregation This church, Ikhanoda, like many churches in Tanzania, once ran primary and secondary schools. Over the years, the government "confiscated" them and began to run them, requiring that all children in primary school attend the public schools. Churches could still operate Kindergartens, so Ikhanoda church did, holding classes in their church building. The government decided the church did not meet the standards required, so now the church children must attend public Kindergarten until the church can get their space to meet the requirements ("roadblocks") and then hire a qualified teacher. Well, Ikhanoda congregation is doing just that - reworking their old church building while, at the same ...