Did you know that All Saints has a mission partner church in Tanzania?
Through the Southern Ohio Synod’s program, All Saints has been linked with Upendo Lutheran Church in Geita, a city in the East of Lake Victoria Diocese. A photo of Rev. Ezram, the pastor of Upendo, can be found on the Missions bulletin board in the gathering area.
We are just beginning this partnership and communication, so keep watching for updates as we get to know Upendo and its surrounding community.
Geographically speaking, Tanzania is on the eastern side of southern Africa, and includes the island of Zanzibar. It borders the Indian Ocean, Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. Mount Kilimanjaro and a portion of the Serengeti lie within its borders. These facts alone lead one to realize that Tanzania is close to human conflict and rich with nature's wonders.
Economically speaking, the United Republic of Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world. But Tanzanian Christians are passionate in their love for God and typically talk freely about their faith. There is much we can learn from them.
As we begin and nurture this new partnership, please remember our Christian brothers and sisters of Upendo in your prayers.
Jana Weaver
Images of Tanzania
Photos courtesy of Terry Rapoch, a leader of the Tanzanian Task Force for the Southern Ohio Synod.
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| Upendo Lutheran Church in Geito. | Interior view of Upendo Lutheran Church . | Students at the primary school in Upendo gather outside the church building where they attend classes. |
A goal fulfilled
At All Saints, as in much of the United States, we think of preschool safety as First Aid training, a good student-teacher ratio and monitoring proper hand-washing technique. Stranger Danger is real, but most preschools have the resources to protect children.
But as members studied the needs of Upendo Lutheran Church in Geita, Tanzania, they found the same is not true for our sister church in Africa. Terry Rapoch, a member of the Ohio Synod Task Force for Tanzania, shared information on the need for fencing the play area at Upendo’s pre-primary school.
“During my visit to Geita in October 2006, I was shown the preprimary school that the church has organized for young children between the ages of four and seven,” Rapoch said. “Geita is a mining community, and as a result there are a high number of transients, people moving through the town looking for work and then moving on. The specific concern for the small children is that they can be abducted and taken elsewhere in the country.”
The children of the Upendo Preprimary School are vulnerable to strangers, but the congregation did not have resources to purchase fencing to protect them, she said.
All Saints members involved in the Lenten planning committee were committed to helping the children served by this congregation half a world away. When an All Saints member committed matching funds for have of the more than $4,000 needed to construct the fence, 24 other families – both members and friends – stepped forward to contribute, and along with extra funds raised from the Lenten dinners raised the full amount needed to protect the children of Upendo.
Our sister congregation in Upendo plans to complete the fence very soon, and its pastor has promised a picture to be shared with the generous donors and the entire congregation.
Recipes
During the Lenten season in 2008, All Saints hosted meals that reflected the cuisines of our Global Mission partners. For recipes from Tanzania, click here. 
The Wilds: An Ohio/Tanzania connection
Among the three subspecies of giraffes found at The Wilds, a wildlife conservation center in southeastern Ohio, is the Masai, named for the indigenous people of the Geita region of Tanzania.
The Masai giraffe’s spots – with jagged edges resembling those of a maple leaf – set it apart from the reticulated and Rothchild giraffes also found at The Wilds.
