Tanzania Orkesumet Clinic

A Six Sided Partnership

For ten years the Arusha Diocese of the ELCT (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania) had dreamed of building a hospital in its southern geographical region. With a model Selian Hospital near the city of Arusha, many people there receive excellent care under a holistic plan developed through the leadership of Dr. Mark Jacobson. But in a more remote area of the diocese near the town of Orkesumet, no medical facility was available for 100 miles and the Church had no money to build.

That is, until St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran congregation of Plymouth, Minnesota came into the picture. This generous congregation contributed $140,000 to get the hospital project off the ground. In 2004 the hospital became a reality.

The Arusha Diocese, knowing that it has the funding to start construction, petitioned the government to work with them, thus providing a church/government partnership for a facility that neither could afford to build. The Tanzanian government provided clean water by building a pipeline from nearby mountains and they provided trained staff for the hospital. The Orkesumet community provided the land and community officials helped facilitate the project. The program developed into a six-sided partnership that involved the community, the ELCT, the government, the US donor congregation, MSAADA, and LPGM.

This gift from a congregation is doing much more than connecting bricks and mortar. It is connecting people and partners – all to the glory of God to make life better for hundreds and perhaps thousands of Tanzania’s poorest. This gift is not an end in itself, but it is a catalyst that started a project that no single group or organization could have done alone. That’s the beauty of partnership and this is a remarkable example!