Tanzania Winter/Spring Update

A religious leader in the community took an antagonistic stand against Amani School’s Christian presence in late 2022 – falsely claiming that children were being forced to convert to Christianity while attending school. Many children and young people do respond positively to the Gospel message which is openly shared, but our Tanzania partner wisely allows the Holy Spirit to move in hearts and minds and this man’s accusation is without merit. Thankfully, the parents of the Amani School students know the truth.

Although this man organized (or attempted to organize) a campaign to shun families who continued to send their children to Amani School he has, in short, failed so far. By and large, the parents are standing behind Amani. After all, their children are attending one of Tanzania’s top 10% schools, and in the recent country-standardized grade 4 and 7 tests, the children excelled and even exceeded past year’s results! This success helped influence the community. And other local community leaders even stepped in to say that this kind of religious intimidation campaign was not acceptable by Tanzanian values.

We remain grateful for your prayers – tensions still exist, and we pray that community rifts will be healed, and the usual harmony restored. We are thankful to hear a reduction of stress in Pastor Majama’s voice in recent days. God is good!

2022 was filled with times of joy too.

The High School was completed – a miracle in itself as those of you who followed the adventure of trying to get a building permit will remember. The students are enjoying the new school facility, and the second cohort is starting now. There is still a little more construction ahead in the future, as the High School needs a Science Block and the most recently added classroom still needs final finishes.

In the primary school, instruction continues in computer skills (still using the computer lab built by London Christian Academy students!), in agriculture & poultry raising, and the children continue to benefit from the solar lights, aiding studies at home.

The new well, which had some initial issues with saltwater seeping in & too much iron detected in the fresh water, is being remediated for continued benefit to the school and community.

Pastor Majama, Amani School Administrator Sarah Isack, and the rest of the dedicated staff and teachers, continue to reach out to the community to build trust and to extend the love of Jesus in practical ways.