Catholic schools, medical and social services serve many in Tanzania

Tanzania
  • Children in the Shaloom Care House chikechea (kindergarten) program wash their hands before class. While Shaloom was founded by a Catholic sister, children of all faiths are accepted here. Photo courtesy of Krystina Kwizera-Masabo.
  • Boys perform acrobatics at Upendo Daima, a Catholic-affiliated home for street boys. Photo courtesy of Krystina Kwizera-Masabo.
  • Children from Shaloom Care House dance at a Mwanza celebration for African children. Photo courtesy of Krystina Kwizera-Masabo.
  • Bishop of Mwanza visiting Shaloom Care House. Photo courtesy of Krystina Kwizera-Masabo.
  • This Catholic school's motto is "Dar es Salaam" (Don't be lazy, go to school). Photo courtesy of James Jay Carney.
  • Loyola High School Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Photo courtesy of James Jay Carney.
  • The Shaloom Care House in Mwanza takes a leading role in providing HIV/AIDS related services. Photo courtesy of James Jay Carney.
  • Children dance at a Shaloom end of the school year clebration. Photo courtesy of Krystina Kwizera-Masabo.
  • Shaloom chikechea (kindergarten) students. Photo courtesy of Krystina Kwizera-Masabo.
  • Chikechea (kindergarten) students at Shaloom learn to write. Photo courtesy of Krystina Kwizera-Masabo.
  • Chikechea (kindergarten) students at Shaloom draw. Photo courtesy of Krystina Kwizera-Masabo.
  • A Saturday gathering of chikechea through 7th grade primary students at Shaloom. These gatherings typically include a lesson, game, and breakfast of tea and bread. Photo courtesy of Krystina Kwizera-Masabo.
  • Shaloom Care House in Mwanza helps provide their registered children with school uniforms and supplies. Here, a sister is handing out school clothes to children before the school year begins. Photo courtesy of Krystina Kwizera-Masabo.
  • Street Boys at Upendo Daima, a Catholic-affiliated ministry, in 2013. Photo courtesy of James Jay Carney.
  • The Viktoria School students in 2016. Photo courtesy of James Jay Carney.
  • The Viktoria School motto in Mwanza, Tanzania. Photo courtesy of James Jay Carney.
  • The Viktoria School sign in Mwanza, Tanzania. Photo courtesy of James Jay Carney.
By
James Jay Carney
Krystina Kwizera-Masabo

As in much of Africa, the Tanzanian Catholic Church plays an outsized role in providing educational, medical and social services. Catholic secondary schools such as Loyola High School in Dar es Salaam and Loretto Girls Secondary School in Mwanza are amongst the best in the nation. In 1998, the Catholic bishops launched St. Augustine’s University Tanzania (SAUT), a network of Catholic higher education facilities. SAUT’s main campus in Mwanza offers particular strengths in business and tourism, although student achievement and job placement remains decidedly mixed.

Small, church-run dispensary clinics dot rural towns and urban slums across the country while development organizations like Catholic Relief Services and Caritas provide various forms of help to these same areas. The Catholic Church also runs large establishments such as the 900-bed Bugando Medical Centre in Mwanza. Catholic NGOs like the Mwanza-based “Shaloom Care House” also take a leading role in providing HIV/AIDs related testing and treatment along with social services such as educational support for infected families. Often these ministries operate without formal church funding, and Catholic ministries have been critiqued for not doing more to prevent the spread of HIV.

A new style of Catholic humanitarian missionary work is also making a big impact on social provision in Mwanza. Johanna Sele-Rutagindwa, a native of Lichtenstein and longtime resident of Tanzania, has worked with local leaders to start transformative grassroots initiatives such as Viktoria Primary School and Lubango Center for women and children. Located in the poor Mwanza slum of Nyashana, Lubango runs a kindergarten and offers women a chance to learn small income-generating trades that they can use to support themselves and their families.

Other Catholic-affiliated street ministries were begun by expatriates but are today primarily run by local Tanzanians. Two such examples are Upendo Daima (unconditional love) and the Lulu Project (pearl project). These ministries provide extensive support for street boys and vulnerable teenage women, respectively. The lay missionaries from various countries that began these projects worked closely with Tanzanians to develop the programming and then worked to train local men and women to eventually lead the organization.

Read more

Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, From Crisis to Kairos: The Mission of the Church in the Time of HIV/AIDS, Refugees and Poverty (Nairobi: Paulines Publications, 2005).