Bishop Zebedee Masereka, a retired bishop of Kasese, Uganda, will be visiting the diocese later this month, and members of the diocesan community involved in mission partnerships in East Africa invite others to join them in welcoming him on Thursday, Sept. 30, 6-8 p.m., at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul (138 Tremont Street) in Boston. The Bishop Masereka Christian Foundation provides medical care, education and community services to hundreds of orphans and their families. The upcoming event will include a presentation about the foundation’s work, a light supper and conversation. RSVP here.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Jubilee Ministry
The diocese’s Jubilee Ministry partners with the Masereka Christian Foundation to provide medical care and education for orphans in Kasese, Uganda.
In July, three members of the diocese’s Jubilee Ministry—Elisabeth Keller, Christiana Russ and Kate Cress—journeyed to Kasese to visit Bishop Masereka and his wife, Stella. Jubilee helps pay school fees for nearly 300 of the 500 orphans and vulnerable children that the Maserekas’ organization supports. “The team loved getting to know these wonderful children,” Cress reports.
During the visit, Christiana Russ, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital in Boston, offered a workshop for local doctors and nurses on neonatal resuscitation. The team also participated in planning for the Masereka Medical Centre’s eventual expansion.
Jubilee is planning a follow-up trip to Uganda in April 2011. Contact the Rev. Maggie Geller for more information at mgeller@diomass.org. Additionally, the Rev. Tom Barrington, Rector of All Saints’ Church in Chelmsford and a member of Jubilee Ministry’s executive committee, will be traveling to Maseno, Kenya, Nov. 16-Dec. 2. He plans to visit All Saints’ Church’s partner, Enyahela Parish, and will visit the orphan feeding sites supported by Jubilee. He welcomes others to join him (asctom@gis.net or 978-256-5673, ext. 12).
PHOTO: Colin Johnstone
The April dedication of new swing sets for the children of St. Alban’s in Mgombezi, provided by the Friends of Tanzania group whose members are from Brookline, Melrose, North Attleboro and Newton Lower Falls parishes.
Another group of Massachusetts Episcopalians, calling themselves “Friends of Tanzania,” have established relationships with parishes in the Diocese of Tanga in Tanzania. They’ve traveled there twice over the past three years and have raised almost $35,000 to support projects and programs, including $21,000 to complete the first phase of a health center in Kizara, improvements to an elders’ home in Mapinduzi, renovation of the Sunday school classroom at St. Alban’s in Mgombezi, along with the purchase of swing sets and soccer balls for the church play area, and donations of lab equipment and supplies for a district hospital.
“The group is committed not only to continue raising funds for programs in Tanga, but also to building deep and lasting friendships with our Anglican sisters and brothers in Tanga,” Colin Johnstone of All Saints Parish in Brookline reports. Other group members are Karen Harvey-Wilkes of Trinity Church in Melrose, Robert Lambe of Grace Church in North Attleboro and Ann Wessel of St. Mary’s Church in Newton Lower Falls.
They plan a third trip to Tanga in June 2011; others are invited to join them. For more information about the trip or the group’s partnership and projects may contact Johnstone at drcjvet@aol.com.
Maggie Geller, who coordinates Jubilee Ministry, cites the significance of the “Friends” work and ongoing commitment. “It has been wonderful to have a community of practice forming over the past year of individuals and parishes who are already engaged, or desire to become so, in ministry in East Africa alongside Jubilee,” she says.