2024.01.29 Connections

Sunday, I was picked up to go to the Arusha Community Church (ACC), the English-speaking service. Laurie was also an ELCA volunteer as a bookkeeper/accountant that ended up being several years. Now, she has retired and bought land and built a house a bit to the east of the Tumaini University Makumira campus–where she was a volunteer. Generously, she swings by to pick me up on the Sunday when she’s going to ACC. She also picked up a neighbor, a young woman who grew up on the campus, and is one of the “Tanzanian daughters” of Laurie. Now she is a doctor in a western area of Tanzania and was home visiting her dad.

At church, I ran into an old friend, Mary Nelson, who is facilitating a group from the Seattle/Olympia, WA, area as part of their Safi Foundation non-profit organization that works to support Lutheran secondary education. I also connected with Joyce, who was in the very first class at the MaaSae Girls Lutheran Secondary School. She has a bachelor’s degree in law and worked for an NGO for a decade. Now, she is mother of 6 children. Joyce and some of the unemployed MGLSS graduates are thinking about starting a Kiswahili language program for adults. There is a very good local program (where I did my Kiswahili course), but there could be a lower-priced and Arusha-based program. However, they need some support, and there is some hope that I could help to find this.

Me, Joyce, and Mary

Today, Monday, I had an invitation to visit the Assistant to the Bishop Elect, Rev. Loishiye. I took the dala dala in, arriving 45 minutes before the meeting, but I never know how long the dala dala will take–plus a 20-minute walk–so, it is better to arrive early. I stopped at a little cafe close by for a cup of tea. Curiously, I was the only woman customer in the place. I also then was able to use the nice bathroom in the hotel connected with the cafe. Then off to the diocese office.

I’m weaving a tapestry of relationships, and this part was started by Rev. Nangole, who invited me to help secure the vestments for the new bishop and assistant to the bishop. So, I call my Wartburg boss, President Kristin Largen, and ask if Wartburg would like to be part of this opportunity, as it would be a way to make a personal connection to this Diocese, where previously Wartburg alumni were the bishop and the assistant to the bishop–two of the 35 Tanzanians that Wartburg equipped with a master’s degree for leadership in the church. She rallied with the bishop of the companion synod (Northern Illinois) for helping in this way. Wartburg is providing the vestments for the Assistant to the Bishop, Rev. Loishiye, who is also brother to one of the Wartburg students who was her in January. Yes, weaving together several strands of relationships.

Me with Rev. Loishiye

Rev. Loishiye knows that my neighbor and I got a young woman into school this past October to be equipped in her calling to be a pastor. He was so encouraged to hear that. I learned that there are 3 other young women who have been accepted by the diocese to go to further studies to be a pastor, but there currently are no funds for them. If your church is willing to sponsor a young woman for her training to be a pastor, let me know. It is not so expensive at around $700 a year.

At the diocese office, I also met again the mother of another student who was in the first MGLSS class. She works with children’s ministries in the diocese, and will be retiring in June.

I read a book in the dala dala on the way back, an enjoyable and thoughtful read by my beloved co-teacher for the Hebrew Bible courses at Wartburg Seminary, Sam Giere. His book, Freedom & Imagination: Trusting Christ in an Age of Bad Faith, is a refreshing recentering on the gospel in the midst of ideological charlatans. I also think that my musings about “outside” just a couple days ago–as I ponder the next paper for this project with a focus on epistemology (ways of knowing)–now has the first part of its title, “Ground of Existence:…” (I’ll give him credit!)

Walking from the dala dala drop off spot to my house, I saw an amazing amount of white butterflies. It is almost like a Disney movie! Someone said it is a sign that the rains have ended.

A glimpse of the butterflies, but they are more fun to watch flying!

The afternoon was preparing for and participating with a postdoctoral group that is part of the research group at VID Specialized University that I collaborate with. I prepared by reading a paper by a Malagasy and another by a South African. Then in our Zoom meeting, in addition to our authors, we added a Norwegian, a Nigerian, a Finn, and me. This was a rich conversation, as we work together to review, make suggestions for strengthening the writings, and encouraging one another. It is the fruit of Knut’s (my doctor father) effort to have a venue to actively support African scholars in their professional development. Too often, the PhD holders are so busy with teaching and administration that there is not a good reason to make space for scholarship. Knut made the space.

Mungu akubariki! (God bless you! in Kiswahili)
Mikitamayana Engai! (God bless you! in Maa)