ELCA News Blog
July 9, 2008   

Lutheran youth from Iowa, Tanzania to partner at parish rally

by Luke Tatge*, ELCA News Service

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Western Iowa Synod will send 21 of its youth to Tanzania July 21-Aug. 13 to visit with youth of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) Southern Diocese, work on service projects and visit area institutions.  The three-week trip will coincide with parish youth rallies in Tanzanian churches.

Students will work with ELCT youth on two service projects.  They will visit the Igumbilo Lutheran Girls' Secondary School, Chimala, a school started through a $25,000 donation from the ELCA Western Iowa Synod.  They've also proposed a visit to the new Center for Agricultural Development, Lupembe, a partner project of the ELCA Western Iowa Synod that seeks to "improve Tanzania's capacity in sustainable agricultural development."

Some of the ELCA students worked on a project to raise funds for purchasing mosquito nets to help combat malaria in Tanzania.  At the ELCA Western Iowa Synod Assembly, Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, Iowa, June 6-7, students collected $941 to buy nets for the approximately 500 students at the Igumbilo Lutheran Girls' Secondary School and the Ilembula Lutheran Hospital.  They received $2,500 for the project from ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission.

*Luke Tatge is a senior journalism major at Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D.  This summer he is an intern with the ELCA News Service.