Day 6 - DIRA, University of Iringa, and Huruma Orphanage

Today's blog post is written by Arlie Post, Katie Fetterly, and Caleb Clark.

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” - Proverbs 16:3

The last few days were filled with the excitement and joy of meeting new people and exploring the beauty around us. Today we started our day with a little more business, but also hope for the future. 
We walked our way to the DIRA offices, which was an adventure in itself for part of our group, when Pastor Dale got a little lost. Hakuna Matata though, as Goodluck and Shedrack came to their rescue. Eventually all arrived in "African time".

We began with an overview meeting with DIRA. Pastor Msigwa discussed the importance of conversation, not only for the big things, but making the time to connect on a personal level with people. The rest of the world can wait, the connection made with personal conversation is far more important. 

We were told some facts about the Iringa Diocese. They have 700 workers in the diocese and another 200 at the university. The diocese is comprised of 129 parishes and over 200 pastors. Each of those parishes also have at least one preaching point for a total of over 600 preaching points in the diocese. 

We spent a lot of time learning about the mission of Bega Kwa Bega. The founding principles are Prayer, Projects and Presence. 

• Prayer - Our sister churches pray for each other every week. Currently, there are 50 unpartnered parishes looking for sister congregations. 
• Projects - The Diocese over sees an enormous number of church, environmental and social improvement projects. 
  • There are 129 
  • Every church has a building project as part of their 3 year plan as well as buildings at the hospital and orphanage. Most of this work is done manually digging with shovels, hand molding the bricks and carrying all the materials by wheelbarrow.
  • An environmental project is the Million trees project. They grow fruit trees, pines and eucalyptus from seeds and distribute the saplings  to the villages of each church to reestablish a lumber supply as well as give the villages food and an income source. They have well surpassed a million and are into the multi millions planted so far.
  • Dignity for Daughters - over the course of the last year they have delivered menstrual kits to 1834 girls and spoke with 1396 boys about chemical abuse and reproductive health.
• Presence - This is why we are here, to meet our fellow sister church members in person and see how our support efforts are being used. Our presence here gives purpose to the Prayer and Projects principles. 

Later we visited Iringa University and had an inspirational tour of the campus, saw where Pastor Dale used to teach and saw how they are developing young new entrepreneurs and new ideas to improve their country.

After a delicious lunch at Neema Crafts Cafe we toured their workshop where they employ and empower disabled adults to create many products that are sold in the gift shop as well as shipped to several others around the country. Not only do they get paid, their children have scholarships to school and they have found sustainable housing for over 70 families.

We truly have seen how our commitment to our sister congregations and DIRA'S vision for the future is being fulfilled by our trust in the Lord and has been guided by his hands.

Our hearts are full and our hopes for the future of the parishes in the diocese are high. We cannot wait to see what our future brings. -Katie and Arlie

***And now a word from Caleb Clark about our experience at the Huruma Orphanage***

It is hard to put into words what this orphanage was like and what it embodied. It is so much more than an orphanage, it’s also a daycare, a school, a safe place, and a place where kids can be kids. In the brief amount of time that we were there, we got a small tour, a brief history on the center, and what I think was most important, time to play with the kids there. I can’t speak for others but Sam, Gabe and I grabbed a soccer ball and went over to a few pipes attached together that resembled a soccer net. While we were over there we had fun just shooting the ball into the net while someone tried to block it. It is absolutely amazing how happy and friendly these kids there were, there were a few kids that came over with us and joined us in just messing around. They were shooting the ball and kicking it better than some of us. 

As for the history on the site, it was founded in 1994. Its purpose was to help kids who had no parents and to keep them off the streets and from getting into trouble, ie robbery, drug abuse, alcoholism, all that kind of bad stuff. It has since grown and is currently accommodating 94 children. Only around 70 are orphans, the rest are just kids whose parents cannot provide for them and the orphanage can. Some of the children there are also victims of abuse and needed a safe place to stay and the orphanage is a safe place. 

If you are looking for a specific place to donate in Tanzania I would highly, highly recommend donating to this magnificent site. They will take your money and put it to good use, providing free education, food, and a place to live for children in need. Thank you for reading this and I hope you have a great day. - Caleb Clark

***We will be off the grid for a couple days now as we leave for safari at Ruaha National Park early tomorrow morning. We will return Friday evening and post another update.***