Tanzania, East Africa: Mid-June to Mid-August

Last summer Trinity sent a team of 8 students to the coastal town of Tanga in Tanzania, Africa. Our mission was to firmly establish and strengthen a partnership with a local Christian church, and together do a community “needs-based” assessment of Tanga. The assessment revealed that the main issues were in the health related sector. The area lacks medical infrastructure, human resources, equipment, and education.

Our partner church is highly motivated and has already demonstrated impressive initiative. They have a health center in Tanga and some dispensaries in the rural area. They have also begun the process of building a nursing training school; classes are set to begin in September, 2010.

One of their greatest needs however, is lack of medical supplies and equipment. As a result, their health center often has to refer suffering patients to crowded government hospitals for proper treatment. Furthermore, the new nursing school currently has very limited supplies to get up and running. The National Health Insurance Fund payment is not regular which makes it impossible for the health center to invest in new equipment and keep shelves stocked. They have asked for our help!

Trinity is seeking to partner with Food for the Hungry Canada’s IMED program (International Medical Equipment Distribution) to ship a container of appropriate, requested medical supplies and equipment to resource the clinic and nursing school.

Trinity medical students will plan to help load the equipment in Canada, and help unload and set up the equipment in Tanzania. We would also like to assist the nursing training school’s students launch a basic health care and education mobile clinic to the rural areas surrounding Tanga. Our dates in Tanzania are approx. from mid-June to mid-August. We are so grateful for what God is putting together for this missions trip.

Counterpart Pairs

Counterparts are AWESOME and are a unique component of this program! Being partnered with a counterpart from Tanzania provides such an amazing way to build a relationship with someone from a totally different culture. You counterpart also helps you learn the language and the culture so much better than you could alone. The Tanzanian counterparts we work with are qualified students who we encourage to become community change agents, development workers, and missionaries in their community when we leave!

Cost: $4500 CDN

Questions? Contact: dan.fama@gmail.com or sarah.julien@twu.ca