WELCOME TO TOM'S NEW BLOG IN TANZANIA

TANZANIA HERE I COME

     In a few days I’ll be heading back to my mission in the village of Kowak in northern Tanzania. You can find it on Google Earth if you have that on your computer. This is what you are looking for, obviously without the text. Just search for Kowak, Tanzania, or click the link at the bottom of this page labeled "location". Then click the box marked "Earth". Zoom in and out to see where it is relative to Kenya.

        This Catholic mission was initially established by the White Fathers of Africa in the 1930’s and was taken over by the American Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers in 1946. The Maryknoll Sisters came a few years later and established a medical dispensary and convent. The Maryknoll Lay Missioners started coming in the 1980’s, I believe, to work at the health care center. There have been a number of Maryknoll pastors at this location, but the current pastor, Fr James Conard from Green Bay, has been there the longest by far. He moved to Kowak in 1978 after 22 years in other missions in the area. He celebrated 58 years of priesthood last June and is still in amazingly good health and energy.

     The great success of this mission is due to Fr Conard’s amazing energy and desire to maintain and expand this large complex which includes the church, hospital, grinding mill, and girl’s secondary school. He basically built the school from scratch in 1992. He has employed the Sisters of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (SABS) to administer the hospital the last 15 years and administer the secondary school the last 2 years. These lovely sisters are from India and have done wonderful things in continually suggesting improvements for Fr Conard to implement.

       This mission and pastor are under Bishop Michael and the Diocese of Musoma which has other missionary priests, but are predominantly Tanzanian priests. So when the time comes for Fr Conard to retire the bishop will be responsible to designating a new pastor to manage this large complex. If the Maryknoll Fathers have a priest available the bishop would probably select him but they are all aging and most would not have the energy or mechanical passion or skills to run this operation. I try to return each year as a volunteer now after 3 ½ years as a Maryknoll Lay Missioner at this wonderful mission. I worked these first years as a bursar (financial manager) at the girl’s secondary school which boards 480 Tanzanian students of all faiths. Now I assist the sisters at both the hospital and the school and Fr Conard in his many construction and repair projects.

     The nearest hospitals to the mission are a Mennonite hospital an hour away on dirt road and government hospital about 45 minutes away on mostly paved road. Most of our patients were under the age of 5 years until the health care center was expanded to a hospital in 2009.  We were able to deliver babies if it was a normal delivery with a midwife.  The predominant disease has been malaria which requires very fast treatment in young children or they will die due to low blood sugar. Rabies and cholera also require fast response but are not as common. TB is a common problem for HIV patients.

      Since the mid 1980’s HIV has been a growing problem and now about 25% of the tribal people in this area are HIV positive. A generous donor from America gave $50,000 to the health care center in 2008 which allowed the purchase of a CD4 analyzer. This analyzer allowed Fr Conard to build a CTC treatment center for dispensing ARV drugs to control this deadly disease. We now have 2,000 patients who come monthly for testing and new drugs donated by USAID, I believe. This has saved many hundreds of lives and reduced the number of orphans significantly.

       The Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers donate significant money each year for the construction of new buildings like the new operating theater, doctor’s offices,  men’s ward, women’s ward, staff housing and most recently a new power generator from America. A larger NGO from the Netherlands donated money and manpower to construct a 50 bed childrens ward which was completed recently. Another European NGO has been supporting an “outreach program” for mothers and children in remote areas. A parish in Rochester NY has contributed large collections for drugs and medical needs quarterly for the last 12 years or more. This has been a huge help.

    We now hope to add a second doctor to this hospital staff and I have recently been given an indication that my ecumenical contemplative prayer group in Kansas City (Guardian Angel Parish) will try to help finance most of this salary for the first year. This will be a huge help and has motivated me to keep this new blog updated with regular news of activities at the Kowak Hospital. Our first doctor arrived about 4 years ago but was young and had a young family so did not stay long in this remote area. Now we have a very talented older doctor and he is doing amazing things in the operating room and in visiting with each patient. We are anxious to give him some help with the addition of a similar doctor.