The Leprosy Care Center at Misufini

rainwater collection

The leprosy care center is located at Misufini, 30 kilometers from the coastal city of Tanga, The center currently houses 86 residents including 42 elders with a range of leprosy-induced disabilities (the first generation whose illness drove them to Misufini) and their descendants. The Center is managed by a Development Committee, a group of volunteers that includes a doctor, a government livestock officer, community development officers and social welfare workers, as well as the priest and a lay volunteer from  St Francis of Assisi Anglican Parish in Mapinduzi. The center is currently supported by three other charities: the St. Francis Leprosy Guild in the UK, Tanga in Touch (UK) and the Leprosy and TB Relief Association of Germany.

Tailoring students

Funding delays by the government mean that the Center sometimes runs critically short of funds in providing residents with their basic needs, but the Development committee has a long-range plan to address some of the Center’s chronic problems with isolation, limited access to employment, and scarcity of water.

The Friends of Tanzania adopted Misufini following a mission trip to Tanzania in June 2011. Since then a total of $3,995 has been raised for Misufini and donations have come from parishioners at Trinity Episcopal Parish, Melrose, All Saints Episcopal Parish, Brookline and St Alban’s Episcopal Parish in the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas. These donations have supported the following projects: the purchase of a pregnant heifer to join the small milking herd at Misufini, establishment of a poultry flock, tuition fees and sewing machines for 2 young women attending tailoring school as well as rain gear to protect them while walking to school during the rainy season, a rain water harvesting and storage system and vaccines and other medicines for the children. During the next year, the hope is to raise funds to help with improving housing. The St. Francis leprosy Guild has recently funded the construction of a dam to provide permanent relief from the chronic water shortage. When filled with rainwater, the dam will not only provide water for Misufini residents and their livestock but also serve as a much-needed water source for area residents and local farms.

Three members of the December 2012 mission group – Bishop Shaw, Rev. Tom Moussin, Rev. Sara Irwin and Dr. Colin Johnstone – visited Misufini and were given a tour of the center by Mr. Martin Simtenda, the secretary of the management committee.

Housing--a mission goal for 2013

Concrete construction for dam