Tanzania School Impacts Community Through Purposeful Outreach

By: Abraham Reid Youze, East-Central Africa Division News

Hundreds of lives were impacted by an Adventist school in Tanzania that reached out to its local community by offering free health services. Kongowe Adventist Primary School (KAPS) in Kibaha, Tanzania’s Coastal Region, recently offered a free health clinic and other activities designed to strengthen relationships between local Muslims and Christians.

The school offered free health services such as the Body Mass Index (BMI), blood pressure, and diabetics tests. Volunteers also distributed free literature. Following this initiative, the school participated in the Total Member Involvement (TMI) outreach event by having students spend an hour after lunch each day visiting community members, inviting them to the TMI informational outreach meetings being held at the school.

“Upon arriving at school, every guest had the opportunity to choose the program he or she wanted to follow,” said organizers. “Selection ranged from English classes, Basic Computer Education, Nutrition, and Contemporary Entrepreneurship.”

Courses were conducted by Kongowe Primary School teachers and a few other volunteers. Attendees averaged 200 community guests every night.

Visitors spent 45 minutes to an hour in their chosen programs then proceeded to the playground. Various games were prepared which involved all attendees with respect to their gender, age and ability. These sports and games programs took about half an hour then attendees went to the auditorium for presentations. The first was on health issues affecting communities today. Then, the school chaplain followed with a spiritual message, inspiring visitors to search the Bible for truth.

At the close of the evening, visitors were invited to a meal prepared by KAPS. It was a moment of laughter, sharing stories and life experiences. At the time of departure, guests were loaded into school buses and taken to their homes. Each day buses were full, causing drivers to have to make several trips.

“God was glorified in this service as 28 people were baptized,” said organizers. “Also, records show that additionally, 162 pieces of literature and 12 Bibles were distributed to visitors.”

Neighbors said they are now eagerly anticipating a next edition of the program.