wfn.org | LWI 208-048 FEATURE: Companionship in Education, Health Care and Children's Center

["LWFNews" <LWFNews@lutheranworld.org>]

LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION  LWI News online: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html

FEATURE: Companionship in Education, Health Care and Children's Center

LWF President Hanson Return Visit to Iringa Diocese

IRINGA, Tanzania/GENEVA, 25 July 2008 (LWI) - Returning to Iringa,  southern Tanzania, for the first time in 10 years, Bishop Mark S. Hanson,  president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and presiding bishop of  the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) said much progress had  been made in higher education, health care and social services provided by  Lutherans. But there are still many needs, local church and church-related  organization leaders explained during Hanson's 21-22 June visit.

He first visited the Iringa Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in  Tanzania (ELCT) in 1998 when he was bishop of the ELCA St Paul Area Synod,  which has a longstanding companion synod with the ELCT synod, led by  Bishop Dr Owdenburg M. Mdegella. Companion synod partners pledge to pray  for and provide support for each other.

Hanson's visit to Iringa preceded the 25-30 June LWF Council meeting in  the northern town of Arusha. In the Illula locality, the LWF president was  met by several hundred people, singing traditional Tanzanian songs while  escorting him into the village and to the Lutheran church. "When I come to  Iringa, my spirits are lifted because the Holy Spirit is alive in you," he  told the congregation of about 600 people. Lutherans in the global South  are "teachers and missionaries" for Lutherans in the North, because  Lutherans here freely share their faith in Jesus Christ, and live out the  gospel through the services they provide, he said.

>Lutheran Hospital

The ELCT Iringa Diocese owns and operates Ilula Lutheran Hospital, which  was started as a health care dispensary in 1938, becoming a health center  in 1992 and a 70-bed hospital in 2007. The hospital served more than  24,000 patients in 2007, most of them as outpatients. In a report  presented to Hanson, the hospital management explained it has 74 staff,  but needs another 80 - physicians, nurses, medical technical staff and  other professional staff - to meet minimum hospital standards. Future  plans call for construction of dormitories, a nursing school and new staff  housing as well as renovation of existing staff quarters.

>Orphans

The LWF president visited the Huruma Lutheran Diaconal Center (HLDC),  established in 1994 with support from local and international partners,  including the ELCA St Paul Area Synod. HLDC accommodates homeless orphans  and other neglected children between five and 17 years of age, many of  whom had been living on the streets. Some 40 resident and nine non-resident  children currently receive education and other training at the center,  which plans to expand its services and increase capacity to 60 children.
At the ELCT's Tumaini University campus, whose chaplaincy provides regular  morning devotions and Sunday services for Protestants and Roman Catholics,  Hanson laid a cornerstone plaque at the foundational site for a new  ecumenical chapel - Luther Chest Chapel. (475 words)

(A contribution by John Brooks, ELCA News Service.)

More information about the Tumaini University is available at: www.tumaini. ac.tz

>*        *          *

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran  tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 141  member churches in 79 countries all over the world, with a total membership  of over 68.3 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in  areas of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith relations,  theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the  various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is  located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service. Unless  specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or  opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an  article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced  with acknowledgment.]

>LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
>P. O. Box 2100 CH-1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland

>Tel.: +41/22-791 63 69 Fax: +41/22-791 66 30