Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Construction, and Most Importantly: Relationships

“Good works is giving to the poor and the helpless, but divine works is showing them their worth to the One who matters.” 
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

Geita UMC started in 2016 with help from Vestavia Hills UMC. This year a combined team from Trinity UMC and Vestavia Hills UMC in Birmingham, AL came back to help the church take an important step, building a permanent church building. Geita UMC has been worshipping on rented land, under a tarp since it began three years ago, and now the walls are up on a new building.

However, the most important part of the trip was continuing to see relationships built and encouragement for the mission in the Geita District of Tanzania Annual Conference. Members from Trinity UMC can in 2016 and helped build a pastor’s house in Katoro. We have been discussing for over 2 years their return to continue in the partnership, and this year they were able to come back and bring some friends.

After raising funds for the purchase of land and beginning construction on a new church a group of 8 individuals came to work alongside Pastor Joseph Tanganyika and his congregation to complete the building walls. Pastor Amy from Trinity UMC held a pastor’s seminar on spiritual gifts for all the pastors, evangelists, and district leaders. The team also talked about community health in the Geita community around the church. Days for Girls kits (reusable sanitary pads) were well received as a way to ensure that a monthly menstrual cycle does not keep girls out of school or women away from work. Discussions were also had about hygiene, sanitation, and the power of choice in the relationships among men and women. The men in the area also received similar training about relationships, safe sex choices, good health practices, and had a discussion on healthy roles of men in the community. Being the partnership that it is the teaching was done jointly between the visiting team and church members led by Pastor Joseph.

They all worked extremely hard in their areas of health and construction but most importantly, they built relationships. Individuals who had come before were well remembered and new team members were able to experience the beauty of Tanzania, which is always held and most vibrantly displayed in its people. We look forward to seeing how this partnership between churches in Birmingham and Geita continues.

Welcome again, Michael Parishner!

Emmanuel Center for Women and Children hosted it’s first Individual Volunteer in Mission for 2019! Michael Parishner joined us for 4 weeks during his semester of service this year. He was an extremely quick learner and everyone truly loved having him around.

Michael came in and quickly got to work without hesitation.  He was not fluent in Swahili, but he learned how to respectfully build relationships with those whom he worked with.

Michael came in to help our income generating projects to move forward. There were several projects started in Tarime with the goal of helping the ministries there become more sustainable, while also economically empowering the communities around them. Unfortunately it is not as simple as bringing in some equipment and starting a business. When the goal is a social enterprise with a double bottom line it is important that those involved, who are usually not business people, receive a lot of training and are truly prepared for the work that they are being asked to do.

Michael was a huge asset to the chicken, sewing, and brick projects as he developed financial templates and outlined manuals to assist in making things more viable for the future development of those projects.  Michael succeeded in helping the leaders involved in these projects to move their thinking from simply making things move from day to day to really looking into the future and how these projects can be successful in transforming their communities and providing a sustainable income to the projects themselves.

It was a great experience for everyone involved including Michael who blogged throughout his time here and said,

“I have learned how to do with so much less than what I am used to in the United States or even other mission sites and I know I am better for it. I have learned about and respect the missionaries and their family and see how their impact is really helping the people here. And I know when I leave I will miss it. And the random smell or sight or feeling will bring me right back here and I will long to come back.”

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A Boy With a Camera

Paul says in scripture that as we grow up we have to put away childish things, and take on more mature things. He talks about the spiritual process that can take place at any age, and yet I have found in life that often spiritual and emotional growth goes hand and hand with natural stages of growth that we encounter in our lives. 

Derrick received a camera for his 12^th birthday. He has always loved taking pictures and videos, and is regularly talking about what it would look like to make his own movie. Maybe some day he will be able to tell his own stories. I have enjoyed as his baba watching him grow, mature, and his view of the world continue to shift and change. This is a reflection that I wrote the day after he received his camera as I watched his take some pictures.

The boy got a camera for his birthday and his face lit up as he realized the fun he was going to have. He immediately took the lens cap off, turned the camera on, and put it up to his face. His one brown eye now staring out into the world through a different kind of lens.

He took picture of family, his brothers, and friends. He tried the video and flash, quickly becoming familiar with a new way of viewing things. His new view was limited, he could not see as much through this new lens like he could with an unfettered eye. But maybe this new lens provided a different type of focus as he looked out onto the world.

He now had a new opportunity, he can now share what he sees. He can capture the view of the world which only he posses, a new ability moving from observing to telling, from receiving, to giving. What story is he going to tell, what images will he share. How will the narrative change as he learns how to tell a new story, both with his new camera but also with his new perspective as a budding adult?

His camera and him will grow up together, what things will they be able to tell the world as a boy, becoming a man starts to see anew?