My dear brothers,
Once again I am contacting you to make you part of the missionary activities and works that with your love are being carried out in the Holy Diocese of Arusha and Central Tanzania.
I am pleased to announce that the construction of the Church of Our Lady in the city of Arusha continues at a rapid pace, despite the bureaucratic difficulties that arise, which Our Lady’s grace is resolving, thus showing Her favor for this work. However, the completion of the work requires a great deal of money, which we cannot provide with our meagre resources. So, once again I am knocking at the doors of your sensitive souls, since your noble love supports every missionary activity in Central Tanzania.
The needs of our brothers and sisters in Africa are never ending. However, we try to respond to all requests and appeals for help. In a country dominated by superstition and superstition, investing in knowledge is the best means of creating a better world. With the assistance of the Brotherhood of the Orthodox Foreign Mission of Thessaloniki, numerous young men and women of our Diocese are attending educational institutions of all levels in Tanzania with excellent results. We ask for the continuation of this important assistance, and if it is possible, since the times we are living in are difficult, to increase the number of educational scholarships provided. Education in Tanzania is paid for, and one can easily see that by investing in knowledge, we are giving life chances to many children, considering that the majority of the country’s population, especially in the poor and remote villages under the jurisdiction of our Diocese, cannot afford the cost of education.
Also, your Brotherhood has been supporting for years the operation of the clinic of St. Nicholas in the Missionary Center of Kidamali, covering on a monthly basis the expenses of buying medicines and the salaries of the staff with 2,000 euros. Our clinic is a permanent and safe haven for thousands of people, as it has become very well known throughout the poor villages of Iringa. Dozens of patients come to the clinic every day, with the number increasing rapidly during the winter season. It is now absolutely necessary to upgrade the building, adding new rooms for specialized examinations, microbiological, gynecological and ophthalmological, since the necessary equipment is available through the container that your love sent us last December. In order to better serve the patients, it is necessary to recruit additional medical and nursing staff, raising the operating costs to 3000€ per month. We ask you, to the best of your ability, to assist in this need of our Diocese, listening to the cry of anguish of young and old in Central Tanzania to ensure the precious commodity of health.
In most African countries, with their various problems and difficulties, what you need most is not to lose faith in God and the willingness to give. The certainty of the Lord’s words “and behold, I am with you always” (Mt 28:19-20) and your constant love and support fill us with hopeful feelings for the progress of the missionary work.
† Ο ΑYour Excellency ΑGathonikos
