The Report of Organism of Tanzania, East

Tanzania is a peaceful country with multiple religions. It is a country of peace and harmony. It is politically most stable in East Africa and having swahili and English as the official languages. The Catholics comprise of 35 % of the total population.

The Claretians arrived in Tanzania in 1994. The first mission was taken over in the year 1995. The personals of the organism are 14 priests among which three of them are Tanzanian priests. The mission of Tanzania has four communities among which one of them is a major seminary (theology house for the Claretians of East Africa). First Tanzanian priest is doing his studies in Rome and the Second Tanzanian priest is serving in the mission of Zimbawe (province of Betica). The third Tanzanian priest is ordained on July 21, 2011.

I) The Priorities of CEPA (Claretian Pastoral-Ministry Project for Africa) in Tanzania An integral evangelization is one of the priorities of mission of Tanzania which is carried out through parishes in five dioceses of Tanzania (Musoma, Mwanza, Dar es salaam, Morogoro and Moshi). Formal education, Communications, Health are the other priorities which are carried out in our missions of Tanzania. The missions of Tanzania are inculturated in various ways and we also initiate programmes or the projects of self-reliance in all spheres of Christian life in our missions.

II) The options and priorities of the Organism:

Deepening the faith of the faithful of the parishes with good pastoral plans in the parishes, Consolidating the present missions and providing quality education in the schools which run in our mission, and spreading the good news through publications throughout Tanzania and East Africa, and expanding our mission to the rural areas, and forming the East Africans for evangelizations are main priorities and options of the organism. These priorities and options do go along with the Pastoral plan of East Africa.

III) Pastoral Activities of the Organism

Our pastoral activities are ministry, formal education, Communications, formation of the seminarians, health ministry. There are different councils such as pastoral council, economic council, publication council, vocation promotion councils are set up to fulfill those priorities and to plan out and evaluate twice in a year in Tanzania. a) The pastoral council and Mission procure council and its functions are as follow:

 Works in liaison with the prefecture of Apostolate  Preparing pastoral plan  Studying the annual plans of the community.  Planning for the Mission expansion.  Processing projects, keeping alive the mission and JPIC consciousness, b) The Economic council of Tanzania and its functions are as follow:

 Works in liaison with the prefecture of economy  Studying the budgets and giving recommendations.  Ensuring internal and external auditing  Ensuring accountability and Transparency  Collection the statements of Accounts and sending to the provincial administration this can be done by the council or the co ordinator.  Some suggestions to the growth of the economy of our communities and missions  Making a self sufficient economic plan for Tanzania mission and implementing  Introducing Tally programe in our accounting and customizing it to our need

IV. Main ministry: pastoral Places

1) Musoma Mission : i) Makoko Family Center, Musoma

In this mission, two priests are at present serving. This is the first Mission in Tanzania which was taken by the Claretians of Province of Chennai in the year 1995 in the diocese of Musoma. We were asked to take care of the Makoko Family Centre which was meant for Laity Formation. The main objective of the centre was to form the family as a whole. Along with this main goal the centre had many other smaller projects such as carpentry, poultry, piggery, rabbitry nursery and dispensary. We were running the centre with help we were getting from the donors to run different seminars on marriage life, awareness programs , youth seminar, retreats for priests and laity and different clinical camps and so on. At times it was very difficult to run the centre if we lack donors fund since the centre did not have enough resource of its own, also many other centres came up in the diocese to cater the need of the youth, retreat and to form the laity. So we requested the local bishop in the year 2005 to start an English medium primary school in the campus to give quality education for the students of the locality, and to inculcate the values through education. The bishop accepted our proposal to start the primary school. This school is named after African Bakhita. We are also happy to inform that the Claretians of Chennai have made twenty five years of contract with the diocese to run the mission of Musoma. ii) St. Bakhita English medium pre and primary school

This pre and primary school has 500 pupils and has 55 teaching and non teaching staff spread in different departments. The school has now boarding to accommodate children. This year the boarding has 75 pupils. Apart from normal curriculam, the pupils learn French, computer and music. The pupils do shine both curricular and co-curricular activities like sports, quiz programmes, debates, skits, etc. Every Friday all the pupils in spite of different religions, they are taught the Holy bible and the moral lesions. This year the first batch of students (class VII) will be appearing for their national exams and would graduate their primary school studies. Last year the regional administration awarded our school Grade ‘A” for its performance. The congregation of Sisters of Adoration is collaborating with us to run the school.

Challenges:

 Lack of qualified personals to run the schools  Lack of committed and qualified teachers

Future plans:

 To begin St.Bakhita Secondary school in the same compound iii) St. Claret Dispensary and Healing Ministry:

To take care of the health needs of the people, a dispensary was started by us in the year 1997. Now it is developed with maternity ward, dental and eye clinic. With the help of donars we conduct eye and dental camps often. Our maternity ward renders a tremendous service for the pregnant women and children. A team of national inspectors have visited our dispensary and appreciated our health services and requested us to increase the personals in our dispensary. Apart from this clinic, Claretians too involve in alternative therapies such as foot reflexology and herbal medicines. Our clinical officers do give health education to our pupils and seminars on HIV to our staff. Challenges:

 Lack of personals in the dispensary  Registration of dental and eye clinic departments

Future plans:

 Registration of the dental and eye clinic departments  Mobile clinic and health education for the women and children in the rural areas. iv) The subsidiary projects in Makoko center:

We have also subsidiary projects like Poultry, carpentry, and piggery. In the carpentry section, every year two boys are trained to become carpenters. They are provided tools and certificates of training. The school pupils learn how to grow chicks, and pigs. v) St. John the Baptist Parish, Nyamiongo, Musoma:

Close to the centre we have the Nyamiongo parish which was taken over by the Claretians from the year 1997 and has one substation called Mmare. The parish consists of 3600 catholics and has 12 BCCs. It has a pastoral plan with various committees such as liturgical, peace and Justice, marriage, environment etc. And it has many pious associations like , women association, charismatic prayer association, Association of children, and the youth, etc. We also have St.Claret study center where the pupils come after the school to get tuitions in various subjects. This year, Nyamiongo celebrates 25 years of Jubilee of its installation.

Challenges:

 Lack of faith formation.  Lack of sacramental marriages.

Plans:

 Completion of the presbytery  Building of a multipurpose hall for the study center, and for other activities  Strengthening of the faith of the faithful through seminars, house visits, etc.

In the parish we have St. Claret study centre in which poor children are given free tuition for their studies. Our service is very much appreciated in the diocese as a whole. The major resource to run the centre comes from the school. Two missionaries are involved in the ministry.

2) Ble. Martyrs Of Barbastro Seminary – Morogoro

In the year 2000 we started our theological seminary called Blessed martyrs of Barbastro in the diocese of Morogoro. In this seminary scholastics from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and India are getting formation. They study their theological studies at Jordan College run by the . Many religious congregations send their seminarians for their academic studies. So far 13 priests have come out of this seminary. This year, the community consists of two priests and 19 scholastics. The community involves in the jail ministry. Every Sunday the priests and students visit the prisoners and offer religious helps to them. With the contribution of the people a small church was built in the year 2006. The students apart from their studies, they involve in creating self help group to the poor people in the area and to assist them to come out of their poverty. And already there are many groups formed. Two priests are involved in the formation of the students.

3. Mission of Kimara, Dar Es Salaam a) St. Mary’s Church, Kimara:

In the year 2003 we took up a mission parish in the archdiocese of Dar Es Salaam which was bifurcated from Ubungo Parish which is run by consolata Missionaries. It has a population of 9000 catholics with two substations. Our main work was to build the parish church which was completed in the year 2007 and the churches in the substations. In one of the substation called mchungwani we have already completed the church which is named after St.Antony Mary Claret. At Kimara Mtoni another church construction is going. and a multipurpose hall and in the other we are yet to start the construction of the church. But the preliminary works are already on. In the substation kin’gongo the congregation has a property of two acres where we have already started a primary school named after our Founder, St.Antony Mary Claret. Last week the buildings were inaugurated and blessed by our provincials from India . Healing ministry through alternative therapies are given importance and the people are involved very much. We have a big project of building the presbytery for the parish in the near future. It got delayed due to a conflict in the land of the parish. In order to empower the youth and to create job opportunity the parish has created its savings and credit society through which many get loan to start new small scale businesses such as soap making, trumphet group, Arts & cultural group, Decoration group, Catering service group, alternative tharaphy group and so on. Two priests are involved in the apostolte of the community.

Challenges:

 Land dispute

Plans:

 Completion of the presbytery  Completion of sub station church  Strengthening of the faith of the faithful through seminars, house visits, etc.

B) St. Claret pre and primary school

The proposal of starting St.Claret Pre and Primary School at Michungwani in Dar es salaam was done in the East African Calretian Missionaries Encounter held under the leadership of Fr. Vincent Sanzu CMF the then General Prefect of Apostolate in the year 2005. Later on it was approved by both the Provincial and General government.

Michungwani is one of the sub-stations of Kimara Parish where they built a church for the people of that area. There was no fund for starting the St. Claret Pre and Primary School at Michungwani land. So the then Parish Priest Fr. John Francis CMF and his collaborators decided to use the church for starting the school. So they started the St. Claret Nursery School in the church at Michungwani in 2007.

Later on Fr. John Francis cmf built a Multipurpose Hall with the help of local people near to the Church at Michungwani. It was inaugurated in September 2009. Then it was shifted to the Multipurpose Hall. Meanwhile the parents of St.Claret Nursery School started to pressurize the Claretian Missionaries to start a primary school. It was an impetus for the Claretian Missionaries to start the Primary School also.

With the help of foreign donars two small class rooms were constructed in March 2010 and it was blessed by Fr. Vincent Anesthasiar CMF, the provincial of Chennai Province during his visit to Tanzania in April 2010. Sisters of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament are helping us to run the St.Claret Pre and Primary School.

Challenges:

 Lack of qualified personals  Lack of class rooms

Future Plans

 Constructing Classrooms, Library, Staffroom, Computer Classroom, Office , Dinning Hall , Kitchen and Toilets.

 Purchasing minibuses in order to provide good transportation facilities to school children.

 Constructing an underground water tank to harvest rain water.

 Digging a borehole in order to have proper water supply system for school children.

 Purchasing computers for school students.

 Starting a Secondary School after establishing the St.Claret Pre and Primary School.

 Providing Hostel Facilities to the students in the future.

 Educating the Poor Students of Kimara Parish with the help of sponsors.

 Conducting Bible Quiz for Catholic and Christian students.

 Giving due attention and priority to Curriculum, Discipline, Catholic Faith Orientation and Character Formation. c) Claretian Communications, Tanzania.

The Claretian Publications in Tanzania had a humble beginning with great dreams. The task of developing this project was given to Fr.Antony Sekar cmf. The first activity of this project was publishing of Bible Diaries in Kiswahili for the year 2004. It was started by taking loan from the Claretian Seminary , Morogoro as well as with the aid USD.10,000 from Propaganda Fide to meet the expenses of publishing the Bible Diaries. From then on, we have been publishing it every year and it is gaining widespread popularity and that is evident from the increase of number of copies from around 5000 copies for the year 2004 to 20,000 copies for the year 2011. Initially the person in charge was operating from Claretian Martyrs of Barbastro Seminary, Morogoro and in 2005 we established an office with a small shop and a staff at Kimara, Dar es Salaam. Since then it has been an associated activity of our mission in Dar es Salaam. Apart from publishing the Bible diaries we have been collecting orders for printing books, directories, calendars etc to procure income and create a capital. These efforts have been so productive and we have created the necessary capital for publishing the Bible Diaries with the help of Proclade Internationale. We have also registered it in Tanzania. We have also bought a piece of land for Claretian Publications at Kimara, Dar es salaam.

Challenges:

 Lack of proper office and infrastructures

 Lack of claretian personnels

Plans:

 Publishing catechetical books in Kiswahili for Tanzania

 Publishing Swahili community bibles for Tanzania

4. Mission of Buzuruga, Mwanza archdiocese:

Another parish called Good shepherd church in the arch diocese of Mwanza at Buzuruga in the year 2005 was entrusted to us and it has two substations. Our missionaries renovated the parish church and completed the construction of the substation. The parish has two substations namely nyasaka, and Bugarika. The missionaries along with the people are involved the alternative theraphy of reflexology which heals many. Three priests are serving in the parish. There are 48 Basic Christian Communities in this parish. They are in the phase of being consolidated as regards their faith, religiosity and morality. They are in need of spiritual and moral and economic help. We offer masses in all the 48 BCCs two times in a month. In addition to the spiritual helps, we do organize seminars and courses for youths, married couples and unmarried people. There are also many Non-Catholics who are more open to religious teachings. Frequently they come to our parish church and receive and other sacraments. The parish has various pious associations such as Vocation Group, Youth Club of John Paul II, The Association of Catholic Women of Tanzania, The Group of Good Samaritan, Association for the Old People, Association of the Living Rosary Group and various committees. All these committees and associations have their own role to play in the parish. They all gather together every month for evaluation and planning. The parish priest organizes meetings, orientation programs, seminars and courses for all these associations and committees. In addition to organizing program for these committees and associations , the parish priest organizes seminars for all the youths, married couples, would be married couples, old people etc.

Challenges:

 Lack of faith formation.  Lack of sacramental marriages.

Plans:

 Completion of the presbytery for the priests.  Building of a multipurpose hall for the study center, and for other activities  Strengthening of the faith of the faithful through seminars, house visits, etc.

5. Presence in the Moshi diocese, Tanzania

Last year we made a presence in the diocese of Moshi. We purchased a plot of land for the construction of postulancy. Our land is located at Bomba Ng’ombe. One of the missionaries is serving as assistant in the Parish of Bomba Ng’ombe.

6. Social ministries in Tanzania: a) FACE (Friends association to contribute for education) is the initiative of the Claretians in Tanzania. It is to mobilize the local people to contribute for the education of the poor children. In Tanzania, it costs much to educate children in the secondary schools. At present, many have become members of it and have contributed fund for the poor children. It has been introduced in two parishes of Tanzania. b) Self-help groups for Women: (SHGW)

It is one of other initiatives to alleviate poverty in Tanzania. It is a sort of saving scheme. The self help group consists of in which women who form 10 or 15 come together and save 1$ per week and put it together. Once, a particular amount is saved, it is given to one of them as loan for her developmental works. It has been successful in Tanzania. 10 groups are already functioning in Tanzania. Many women and their families are able to sustain their families, educate their children and are very busy with small business, and works.

Complied by Fr.G.Baskar Amalraj CMF (mission-coordinator)