Heri ya Mwaka Mpya! Happy New Year! One thing I love about being in Iringa in January is that it is common here to wish one another a happy new year, all month long.
I arrived in Iringa the evening of New Year’s Day. My first days, I tended to financial paperwork, filing, and year-end tasks in the office.
The activity level ramped up on Monday, Jan. 5, when the diocese offices reopened. In December, many head office workers take their annual leave, a holdover from the days when everyone planted crops on their farms after the early rains. Then the offices were closed for two weeks over the Christmas holidays. Coming back to normal routines, the mood was high-spirited, optimistic, looking forward to the work of the new year.
At the end of that first week, the diocese blessed 67,000 tree seedlings that were planted and will be distributed by the Millions of Trees Project.
Students from the University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering arrived and began their adventures. They spent time in the villages of Mbuga, Ilandutwa, and Ndengidzivili where they surveyed current water sources and will design water systems to better serve the people who live there. (The students will present their summaries on Thursday, Feb. 26, at the U of M St. Paul Campus. Watch the Companion News Update for more details.)
The BKB team will have our own adventures these next two weeks. We are visiting the six secondary schools to verify the attendance of our scholarship students, as usual. We are also conducting seminars in each district. Pastors, church secretaries/treasurers, and partnership committee members will attend to hear what Bega Kwa Bega can offer both partnered and unpartnered parishes, learn procedures for scholarships, projects, and hosting guests. We’ll offer best practices for communication as well as strategies for navigating cultural differences. These will be busy days, and we thank you for your patience if our response to email is slower than normal.
In between days of driving, we will take time to celebrate the retirement of Tuti Mwakalindile, who has served as the manager and bookkeeper of The Lutheran Center for 16 years. If you would like to contribute to her retirement gift, please see the note below. Greetings and well wishes are also welcome.
If you missed it, take a look at the 2025 Year in Review document that was included in our previous newsletter. We give thanks for the gifts that enable this ministry to thrive, year after year. May this companionship continue to bless the people of Iringa Diocese and Saint Paul Area Synod, to the glory of God.
Tupo Pamoja – We are Together!
Kirsten Levorson
Director of Bega Kwa Bega
