Dear Mission Friends and Supporters
It is with much emotion and infinite respect for your philanthropic hearts that I am writing these lines in order to update you about the course of missionary activity in the Holy Diocese of Arusha and Central Tanzania.
By the Grace of God, we are trying to continue the construction of the Cathedral of Our Lady at the Mission Center of Arusha. Unfortunately, lack of existence of the necessary financial resources prevents the immediate completion of the project, which will consolidate the presence of our Church in this region. The work has reached about the halfway point, and we look forward to the support coming from your loving hearts so that we can continue.
At the same time, in Iringa Region, the missionary work is going on at a rapid pace. New communities are calling for us to visit their villages and indoctrinate them in the Orthodox faith. Also, young members of the Diocese are visiting various schools in order to talk to the students about the Orthodox faith. Various paternal texts and lives of saints translated and published with the assistance of monasteries and organizations from Greece are used as aids in the work of catechesis.
In the wider region of Iringa, we were also confronted with the recent temptation of the Russians entering Africa, trying to mislead the Orthodox Christians with a financial lure and bribing them, in order to renounce our Church and Patriarchate and follow them. At the beginning of March, a Russian bishop deposed by our Patriarchate, also arrived in Tanzania, but the gatherings he held did not have the expected results for them. The priests and parishioners remained steadfast and faithful to our Church, showing in practice their trust and unbreakable bond with the Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa.
Despite the existence of the aforementioned temptation, the spiritual and charitable work of our Church continues, with the latter taking on new dimensions. After the recognition of our clinic at the Kintamali Mission Center as a certified Medical Center, which filled us with great joy, the government asked us to expand the clinic by adding a gynecology and pediatrics department. The biggest problem plaguing the impoverished region of Iringa is orphanhood. Hundreds of children are left orphaned and unprotected since during childbirth many mothers lose their lives due to lack of health facilities and poor conditions. In the remote villages there are no medical centers and women give birth in their homes, while on the other hand, the contaminated water used to clean both mother and newborn brings death.
In one of our first communications, I had mentioned the request of the residents of Sasamambo Village for the creation of a maternity clinic. We were then unable to fulfill their wish, which in reality was a cry of distress for survival and fighting orphanhood.
As you understand, my beloved brothers, the expansion of our clinic is an important and multifaceted project. From the very first moment you have embraced our effort to ensure healthcare for our brothers in need with your monthly contribution to the operating costs of our polyclinic. Being confronted with this new challenge, we are trying to raise the necessary amount of €35,000 so that we can also support this need of our indigenous brothers. Our little help is for them a drop of hope in the furnace of disease and death.
Finally, another goal of ours for the year 2024 is to acquire a plot of land in the new capital of Tanzania, Dodoma, in order to build a Church in honor of the Holy Trinity, and then, a Mission Center. The presence of our Church in this city is deemed necessary. It is there that the largest universities of the country, the parliament, various ministries and central government agencies are located. For the time being, we have been given a room on the university premises, where we celebrate the Divine Liturgy every week for the Orthodox students studying there. At the same time, through this effort, a small nucleus of catechumens has begun to be created; this constitutes the first dough of Orthodoxy in the heart of Tanzania. The cost of buying a plot of land in the capital is enormous, but we put our hopes in the charity of God so that a suitable place and the necessary resources to acquire it will be found.
My beloved brothers, the needs of a Diocese in Africa never end. New challenges are emerging and we are all called to follow the path which, through things, God’s providence charts. We are grateful for your continued support, hoping for its continuation, and we pray that the Giver Lord will richly bestow His grace upon your families!
Please, also accept our wishes for a blessed Lent and a good spiritual struggle!
With gratitude and love of Christ, † Agathonikos of Arusha
