Friends of Tanga: Holy Cross Magila

Holy Cross has long been an important spiritual center in the Anglican Church of Tanzania. During the tenure of Frank Weston as Bishop of Zanzibar and Tanga (1908-1924), Holy Cross was probably the most important center for Anglicanism in colonial East Africa. The present Bishop, Maimbo Mndolwa has produced a vision for the future of his diocese that includes the restoration of Holy Cross as a spiritual, education and retreat center.

Fr Joel

Canon Joel Makame moved to Holy Cross in January 2012 to serve as parish priest and Archdeacon of Magila. He has been charged with leading the restoration and reinvigoration of Holy Cross Parish. Already, Canon Makame has begun to make improvements to parish life by starting a nursery school for parish children (pictured below). He has plans to start a tailoring school for women of the parish. All Saints Parish in Brookline has recently donated $1,000 to assist Canon Makame in implementing these plans. The funds will be used to provide a swing set for the children and 5 sewing machines for the newly established tailoring school.

Canon Makame is well known to us in the Diocese of Massachusetts. Bishop Shaw and brothers from SSJE met Canon Makame in 2006 when they visited the diocese of Tanga and he was priest at the parish of St. Alban’s in Mgombezi. He has become a good friend of several members of the Friends of Tanzania. During his tenure at St Alban’s, Canon Makame developed and ran a program to support children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and other diseases and other low income/vulnerable children. Over the past 5 years Canon Makame has fostered and supported 6 children – Yohana, Vincent, George, David, Rogers, Helen and Esther. Episcopalians from this diocese and the Diocese of Texas have provided funds to Canon Makame on a regular basis to pay tuition and other school expenses, general living expenses for him and the children, laptop computers for school, as well as gifts for birthdays and Christmas.

The generosity of Bishop Shaw and two members of All Saints Parish, Brookline enabled us to sponsor Canon Makame’s visit to London and Massachusetts in September 2011. He was met in London by Dr Colin Johnstone and they spent 5 days visiting religious and historical sites, and later 9 days in Massachusetts. Canon Joel has a calling to the religious life. With the support of his bishop he plans to incorporate a community of men at Magila. Brother Mosuoe from the Society of the Sacred Mission in South Africa is currently spending 3 months at Magila helping Joel develop a Rule of Life and a plan for this proposed new community. The community will be named after Saint Anthony of Padua.