Iringa

Recently, Miguel and I were able to make a trip to Iringa, a small town about 8 hours away by bus.

Iringa is a town in Tanzania with a population of 112,900 (as of 2004). It is situated at a latitude of 7.77°S and longitude of 35.69°E. The name is derived from the Hehe word lilinga, meaning fort.

Iringa was built during the 1890s by the German Army as a defensive base to be used against the Hehe uprising lead by Chief Mkwawa. The fortress and headquarters of Chief Mkwawa was situated in the nearby village of Kalenga. The town stretches along a hilltop overlooking the Ruaha River to the south, and spreads along ridges and valleys to the north. The altitude for the town's environs is more than 1550 meters (5000 feet) above sea level. The months of June, July, and August can see low temperatures near freezing.

We were invited by some friends to come and visit and during our short time there were not only able to see Iringa town, but also schools and orphanages in the area. We visited one specific orphange that had been built two years ago. It is a beautiful project but the ones managing it are concerned as they now find themselves under a very heavy financial weight and are not sure how long they will be able to carry it.

One reason for the extra concern is that Iringa has now been filled with street children due to one orphanage losing support and being unable to take care of the children, thus sending them out to the street.

This orhanage wants to make sure that doesn't happen to them so they are eager to learn about the self-income generating projects that we have intiated at the Kurasini National Children's Homes, with cows, chickens, a shop and other projects to generate income.

They hope to start some of the same projects for the orphanage in Iringa so that the center will not be total donor dependent, but more self-sufficient.

Please pray that this works out and comes through for them.