Day 217 - Rockland Community Church, Evergreen, CO

While I was staying at a lodge here in Arusha last week, I had the opportunity to meet a group from Rockland Community Church in Evergreen, CO. Rockland has been supporting the Olymontoni Girls Lutheran Secondary School in Arusha for numerous years and the Selian Hospital since the mid 80's. The church group of 27 was led by Pastor Ken Williams and his wife, Kathy, and the on-going coordinators of the Tanzania mission project, Kathy and Dave Clement. The group had a great range of people who could provide so many different gifts for the school and community! (L: the leaders of the group with leaders in the school and parish, R: the new science and computer labs at OGLSS)

The church provided the funding to build a science lab and computer room at the school, so this group came over to paint and complete the finishing steps of the project! They also provided computer training to some of the teachers. The group invited me to spend their final day at the project with them and visit some of the churches in the Selian Lutheran parish.
The school started about 4 years ago and supports about 220 girls (most are orphans) from around the Arusha area. They currently are providing an education and one meal a day for the girls, but hope to expand the property to build dormitories. Because it was Saturday,many of the girls were not around. However, the chapel at the school is used by Compassion International, an NGO, that provides schooling and Christian education to orphans through worldwide sponsorship. Most of these students attend local government schools, but they all come together on Saturday to worship! We joined them in the morning and toured the school. At the school we met the head mistress, Lucy, and Pastor Abel, the Bishop who presides over 14 churches in the Selian area!

Pastor Abel, took us around the rest of the day to some of the churches he is serving and to some of the sites where they are building. It was great to meet some of the local Pastors, members, and children. (pictures from two churches in progress in Pastor Abel's parish)

The Rockland Church has also started a project called the Milky Cow Project, which is set up like Heifer International. It provides a three week training course for local people on how to raise chickens, goats, and cows, then provides an animal to the family to raise. The first female offspring of the animal is given back to the project and given to another family. The church helped Pastor Abel start this project 2 years ago and they have provided 62 animals to families so far. We visited a family who received one of the first heifers last year and the cow had given birth 4 days ago! The group was thrilled to see their project growing and helping so many people!


It was a great day and I was so honored to have met all these wonderful people. The Americans and Tanzanians are working hard together to provide churches and education for the people in the Selian area! They have formed a wonderful relationship that they hope continues for many years to come! The group also helped support my project this week, so I was very thankful for their contribution!