TEAM PREPARING TO SERVE IN TANZANIA THIS SUMMER

The Lahash team is prepping for a ministry visit to Tanzania this summer. A team of six will be visiting the towns of Arusha and Shinyanga, and working with local leaders in caring for the kids served by Lahash.

The team will be comprised of Jessica Ebersole, Edwin Angote, Kate Clifton, Dan Holcomb, Erin Hall, and Katie Nelson. These face-to-face connections each year are essential for the ministry in maintaining and enhancing the care and support of these special kids! 

This trip will involve some extended time with the ministry at Peacemakers for Albinism and Community (PAC) serving over 100 kids who were born with Albinism. This unique outreach advocates for the care and safety of the community with Albinism (who often face discrimination, violence, and even the threat of death across the nation of Tanzania). Our local partners proclaim the Good News to these kids and demonstrate God’s love by protecting them, helping them attend school, ensuring access to medical care, and helping a number of them overcome childhood trauma.

“Eighteen percent of the children in our Lahash Sponsorship Program have Albinism,” Lahash Media Coordinator Erin Hall shared. “A child born with Albinism is incredibly vulnerable. Often, within their own families and communities, a child born with Albinism is treated as undesirable. But in Christ’s kingdom, a child with Albinism is valuable and precious and worthy of extra care!”

The Lahash team will meet with and support the local leaders, conduct home visits, help provide supplies to the community, and collect stories of the kids to help advocate and care for the kids in the coming years. Erin Hall is excited to welcome new friends into this journey. She stated recently, “We need friends and champions to first learn about Albinism and then partner with us in changing the stigma around Albinism.”

“I am excited to see Glory, the young girl I sponsor!” says Lahash team member Jessica Ebersole. “This trip is important because we are able to see the kids face-to-face and hear how they are doing in school and at home.”

The second portion of the trip will be spent with Donald Nyakyema and the team at Path of Hope in Shinyanga. The Lahash team will be working with the local churches as they care for the 150 children served by the Lahash program in that region. Lahash Sponsorship Director, Katie Nelson, is looking forward to reconnecting with the Path of Hope team and seeing the kids. Katie will be a part of several home visits to kids and their caretakers across the region. Katie’s anticipating what God will do through these times together.

“Home visits are an important way to connect with sponsored children and their caregivers. Not only does it help our partners holistically care for the children in the program, but it also communicates to their families that they are seen and loved. I always look forward to them because it is an honor to be able to hear others' stories and pray for one another.”

Team member Kate Clifton has been to Tanzania on a ministry trip in the past, but this will be her first in her role as Sponsorship Coordinator. “Seeing the precious smiles of these kids brings the ministry to life,” she shared. “God made us for relationships. These relationships with the kids are what gives life to the ministry.”

Our team would appreciate prayers and support as we finalize our preparations this next month. Please pray for great connections with the partners, an expanding impact across the region, safe journeys, and that the local Tanzanian church would be blessed by our visit!

To share a financial gift with a team membrer you can head over to Lahash.org/staff-members or Lahash.org/Give