Church starts work on centre for 300 orphans

The Eastern and Coastal Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania has started construction of Sowise Orphanage Center at Wazo Hill in Dar es Salaam, which will accommodate 300 orphans from different parts of the City.

Speaking to The Guardian in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the chairman of the Planning and Economic Committee of the Diocese, Nikubuka Shimwela, said that the construction of the Orphans Centre was now at its foundation stage.

He said that his diocese was expecting to spend more that 200m/-, and on Sunday this week the church will organize a fund-rising event to collect money for the purpose. The event will take place at Mbezi Beach Lutheran Church.

``During the event, we expect to collect a total of 85m/-. The anticipated collections and those we collected earlier will be invested in social, economical and spiritual projects in the country, and hope that orphans and widows will benefit from the different social projects the church will establish,`` he said
Elaborating, he said that some funds will be used to support widows, construction of a hostel and a new training centre for orphans from different areas which will be located at Mataya village in Bagamoyo District.

In 2005, the diocese managed to collect a total of 11m/- while in 2006 we got about 95m/- during fund rising occasions. This year, we believe that we will obtain more funds because many people have shown interest to support us, said Shimwela.

According to him, the Dioceses initiative stemmed from the need to increase the number of marginalized, unprotected and vulnerable children (orphans) for care, he said.

As a Diocese, we have decided to embark on constructing these centers after observing that inadequate residential facilities are the major problems that face orphans and widows in the city, he said.

He said the Diocese has decided to engage into such programmes in a bid to help the Government in its efforts to support people improve their livelihood, and bring sustainable development in their communities.

Shimwela appealed for massive support from individuals, private sector, donors, and government, to help them meet their intended goals.

As a Church we need to support these children because, most of the orphans, especially those living in extended-families� structures, face countless forms of discrimination and have limited access to education, health, and other social services,he said.

Right now the Diocese is actively involved in supporting orphans from different areas of Dar es Salaam -Ilala, Kinondoni, and Temeke, in terms of social needs and other related services.

According to him, as a Church, they have a role to play because orphans need love, motherly care, and access to basics of life, including education, to prepare them for dynamic and growing challenges of globalization.

Elaborating on a new training centre, Shimwela said that it will be constructed at Bagamoyo and will serve as income-generating project for the Diocese to support orphans and widows and other social and economic development activities.