Visiting the Huruma Centre
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, visits to the Huruma Centre have been minimal. With limited air travel to Tanzania, there have been few visits by Bega Kwa Bega partners from the US or by visitors from among our partners in Berlin, Germany. The newly arrived BKB Coordinators officed in Iringa will visit the Centre soon. It is expected that visits by others will begin again if conditions vis-a-vis the pandemic improve. Please watch this webpage for updates, and please also see the COVID-19 Update information here.
Planning a trip to Iringa, and want to support the Huruma Centre? Click here for information about what to expect, ideas for activities, and gifts to bring.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, visits to the Huruma Centre have been minimal. With limited air travel to Tanzania, there have been few visits by Bega Kwa Bega partners from the US or by visitors from among our partners in Berlin, Germany. The newly arrived BKB Coordinators officed in Iringa will visit the Centre soon. It is expected that visits by others will begin again if conditions vis-a-vis the pandemic improve. Please watch this webpage for updates, and please also see the COVID-19 Update information here.
Planning a trip to Iringa, and want to support the Huruma Centre? Click here for information about what to expect, ideas for activities, and gifts to bring.
Read on for personal accounts of visits to the Huruma Centre:
A Place of Mercy - Lea Thornton
Earlier this summer I was fortunate to be part of a group from Prince of Peace Roseville that traveled to Tanzania to visit Bega Kwa Bega partner organizations. One of the places I was most looking forward to visiting was Huruma Center. As a member of Prince of Peace I was familiar with Huruma Center and the important work Pastor Joyce and her staff are doing to provide a safe, supportive home for orphan children in the Iringa area. As a social worker I have spent most of my career working with children and families.
One of the first things that struck me when we arrived at Huruma Center was how warm and welcoming Pastor Joyce and her staff were. I can imagine how much that would mean to a scared, lonely child arriving for the first time. The staff's love and compassion for the children in their care was evident throughout our visit, from the proud smiles when the children performed a song for us, to the loving hugs given out when a child was "caught" in a game of Mama Lion. The children responded to this love and support with smiles, welcomed new visitors openly, and played "Duck Duck Goose" with us, laughing as they outran us at every turn!
Pastor Joyce shared with us some of the challenges Huruma Center faces in caring for kids who have experienced trauma, not only from losing a parent or family, but from abuse or neglect, challenges that would sound familiar to anyone working with children and families around the world, unfortunately. She emphasized how important counseling services are, for the children who have experienced trauma, and also for the staff who care so deeply for the children. Huruma Center lives up to its name as a place of mercy. It is not just an orphanage, but a home, where care, attention, and love are present. A place where the physical and emotional needs of children are met by dedicated staff who also feel supported in the work they do.
While it may not seem like much to donate a bag of rice or a little extra money in the collection at church on Sunday, sending a donation that helps meet the physical needs of the children at Huruma Center can go a long way toward helping Pastor Joyce and her staff continue to meet the emotional needs of the children, which in my experience, is invaluable.
Earlier this summer I was fortunate to be part of a group from Prince of Peace Roseville that traveled to Tanzania to visit Bega Kwa Bega partner organizations. One of the places I was most looking forward to visiting was Huruma Center. As a member of Prince of Peace I was familiar with Huruma Center and the important work Pastor Joyce and her staff are doing to provide a safe, supportive home for orphan children in the Iringa area. As a social worker I have spent most of my career working with children and families.
One of the first things that struck me when we arrived at Huruma Center was how warm and welcoming Pastor Joyce and her staff were. I can imagine how much that would mean to a scared, lonely child arriving for the first time. The staff's love and compassion for the children in their care was evident throughout our visit, from the proud smiles when the children performed a song for us, to the loving hugs given out when a child was "caught" in a game of Mama Lion. The children responded to this love and support with smiles, welcomed new visitors openly, and played "Duck Duck Goose" with us, laughing as they outran us at every turn!
Pastor Joyce shared with us some of the challenges Huruma Center faces in caring for kids who have experienced trauma, not only from losing a parent or family, but from abuse or neglect, challenges that would sound familiar to anyone working with children and families around the world, unfortunately. She emphasized how important counseling services are, for the children who have experienced trauma, and also for the staff who care so deeply for the children. Huruma Center lives up to its name as a place of mercy. It is not just an orphanage, but a home, where care, attention, and love are present. A place where the physical and emotional needs of children are met by dedicated staff who also feel supported in the work they do.
While it may not seem like much to donate a bag of rice or a little extra money in the collection at church on Sunday, sending a donation that helps meet the physical needs of the children at Huruma Center can go a long way toward helping Pastor Joyce and her staff continue to meet the emotional needs of the children, which in my experience, is invaluable.
Caryn and Lea, members of Prince of Peace Roseville, meet children at the Huruma Centre.
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Happy spirits and joyful hearts at the Huruma Centre.
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A Day at Huruma - Rev. Peter Harrits
A life lived bega kwa bega plays out in a lot of different ways. Sure, there are the big events like Bishop visits, consecreations, installations, and ordinations. There are official activities like school visits, bank runs, and partnership meetings. But, more often than not, there are ordinary days where this life in Christ that we share between people in Minnesota and Tanzania unfolds in beautifully ordinary ways.
A Saturday morning spent at Huruma Center a couple weeks ago was one such day.
The Huruma Center is a social service ministry of the Iringa Diocese that serves primarily as a home for some three-dozen children from across the region. They also have a day care center as a service to families in the community and a source of revenue for the center. In addition to the diocese, it is supported through the efforts of Lutheran Churches in Germany and Friends of Huruma, a BKB affiliate in Minnesota.
On this particular Saturday a medical team from Shoulder to Shoulder - Ilula Health (another BKB affiliate) was at Huruma offering medical check-ups to the workers there and some follow-up visits with some of the students. Doctors and residents and students from the University of Minnesota served alongside students at the Ilula Nursing School, sharing their skills and some laughs with the children and staff.
As that was going on, one of the Matrons of the Center was helping three boys pack their trunks to go to secondary school. Thanks to the generosity of the Saint Paul Area Synod congregations, working through Friends of Huruma, these three boys were getting ready to head off to Image, Lutangilo, and Pommern Secondary Schools. As one might expect, they were filled with both nerves and excitement.
Earlier that morning, Pastor Joyce, director of Huruma Center, received a pile of blankets that were handmade by the people of House of Prayer. As an act of service and devotion, I'm told that the crafters prayed for the blankets' recipients as each knot on these fleece blankets was tied.
Meanwhile, kids being kids, a couple borrowed my camera and recorded their vision of what life at Huruma Center is like. The photos they snapped capture girls playing jump rope and boys striking poses, curiosity about what the doctors were doing and affectionate concern for one another. In them you see reminders of the many other people and communities that are linked to this place - including knit hats from Fish Lake Lutheran and one of many soccer balls that have been brought by visiting groups and put thoroughly to good use.
All of these things (and so many more) are reminders and signposts of this complex web of life that we share. And, based on this one Saturday at Huruma, it is fair to say that life is good.
- peter
The Rev. Peter Harrits
Director of Bega Kwa Beg and Assistant to the Bishop
Originally posted on March 1, 2018, on the Saint Paul Area Synod website here.
A life lived bega kwa bega plays out in a lot of different ways. Sure, there are the big events like Bishop visits, consecreations, installations, and ordinations. There are official activities like school visits, bank runs, and partnership meetings. But, more often than not, there are ordinary days where this life in Christ that we share between people in Minnesota and Tanzania unfolds in beautifully ordinary ways.
A Saturday morning spent at Huruma Center a couple weeks ago was one such day.
The Huruma Center is a social service ministry of the Iringa Diocese that serves primarily as a home for some three-dozen children from across the region. They also have a day care center as a service to families in the community and a source of revenue for the center. In addition to the diocese, it is supported through the efforts of Lutheran Churches in Germany and Friends of Huruma, a BKB affiliate in Minnesota.
On this particular Saturday a medical team from Shoulder to Shoulder - Ilula Health (another BKB affiliate) was at Huruma offering medical check-ups to the workers there and some follow-up visits with some of the students. Doctors and residents and students from the University of Minnesota served alongside students at the Ilula Nursing School, sharing their skills and some laughs with the children and staff.
As that was going on, one of the Matrons of the Center was helping three boys pack their trunks to go to secondary school. Thanks to the generosity of the Saint Paul Area Synod congregations, working through Friends of Huruma, these three boys were getting ready to head off to Image, Lutangilo, and Pommern Secondary Schools. As one might expect, they were filled with both nerves and excitement.
Earlier that morning, Pastor Joyce, director of Huruma Center, received a pile of blankets that were handmade by the people of House of Prayer. As an act of service and devotion, I'm told that the crafters prayed for the blankets' recipients as each knot on these fleece blankets was tied.
Meanwhile, kids being kids, a couple borrowed my camera and recorded their vision of what life at Huruma Center is like. The photos they snapped capture girls playing jump rope and boys striking poses, curiosity about what the doctors were doing and affectionate concern for one another. In them you see reminders of the many other people and communities that are linked to this place - including knit hats from Fish Lake Lutheran and one of many soccer balls that have been brought by visiting groups and put thoroughly to good use.
All of these things (and so many more) are reminders and signposts of this complex web of life that we share. And, based on this one Saturday at Huruma, it is fair to say that life is good.
- peter
The Rev. Peter Harrits
Director of Bega Kwa Beg and Assistant to the Bishop
Originally posted on March 1, 2018, on the Saint Paul Area Synod website here.