Masalakulangwa Mabula

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Masalakulangwa Mabula

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Masalakulangwa Mabula presently teaches in the Behavioral Sciences and Ethics Department at Hubert Kairuki Memorial University in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s first private medical school. At HKMU he teaches a wide range of topics in the behavioral sciences, including medical ethics, medical psychology, and wholistic therapeutic counseling. In 2002, Fr. Masalakulangwa earned a Master of Arts in Social Sciences at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and in 2004, a Master of Arts in Religion at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin Texas. In addition, Fr. Masalakulangwa is an accredited Montessori Scholar and Trainer.

Having himself grown up under difficult circumstances, Fr. Masalakulangwa has a keen interest in helping children who are homeless, have been orphaned, or experienced other difficult family situations. In 2000, Fr. Masalakulangwa established the Anglican Research Project (now called the Anglican Research Center---ARC) in his home diocese of Victoria Mwanza in north western Tanzania. ARC presently cares for 184 orphans (160 are recent orphans between the ages of 4 and 7). ARC has located families in the immediate area who are willing to take in and support these children and established a school, staffed by volunteers and housed in a local church. He hopes to develop a similar program in Dar es Salaam, providing educational opportunities, homes and income generating projects for street children.

It is difficult to summarize Masalakulangwa’s many interests and activities, ranging from his Interdisciplinary B.A. in Divinity and Law, teaching a wide variety of subjects to high schools students, participating in developing church gender policy, as well as in workshops on domestic violence, human rights, and conflict management.

Another African leader, Kudzai Shava, Director of the Disability Resource Center at Midlands State University in Gweru, Zimbabwe is also visiting NEO this summer.

Read Dr. Gwen Fischer's (Hiram College) blog, Updates from Tanzania, a log of her visit to Zambabwe to do collaborative research with Kudzai and Masalakulwangwa, Fall 2005.

CHILDREN AT HIGH SOCIAL RISK (CHSR)

ORPHANS AND VULNERALBLE CHILDREN (OVC)

Over 80% of Tanzania is rural or small villages. 42% of the rural population do not have access to safe drinking water.

It is estimated that the population for Tanzania is over 37, 187,939 (The World Almanac, 2003, p. 844), and more than 1.5 million people in Tanzania are HIV/AIDS positive.

Young adults ages between 15 and 24 account for over 60% of new HIV/AIDS infections. HIV/AIDS prevalence among pregnant women jumped from 4% in 1986 to as high as 44% in 1999. Life expectancy which is currently 50.8 (male) and 52.7 (female) will drop from 65 years to 37 years by 2010 due to HIV/AIDS and environmental factors.

The average annual income is about $100. Because of HIV/AIDS 1.1 million children are orphans and homeless. Many homeless children live on the street in towns and they survive by begging, stealing or doing casual works, they sleep in streets and die very young between 16 and 21 years old.

There is need for education, educational materials, methods and sufficiently trained educators from village to national levels.

Reports from the 14th International AIDS Conference indicated that, by 1991 children who lost one parent numbered more than 1. million. By 2003 the number was 13 million and it will double by the year 2010. The very fabric of society is disappearing with family structures that are crumbling. By 2010, there will be 40 million orphans in the world, 1/2 of them as a result of HIV/AIDS.

Orphans are at a very high risk of physical and sexual exploitation, one of the answers is better schooling.

The ratios of Tanzanian religion are presently: 35% Islam, 30% Christianity and 35% African Religion and others. Is hunger and poverty a religious topic? Can religious scholarship address hunger and poverty?

The persistence of chronic hunger and poverty is lamentably immoral and unnecessary. We live in a world today of both sides suffering and unprecedented prosperity, and still there are 840 million people worldwide who go undernourished and 1.2 billion people worldwide live on less that a $1 a day. Everyday destitute children die of hunger and other preventable causes.

The Anglican Research Centre (ARC) identifies ways to support and help these children, and where possible solve some of the problems.

To know more about these children:

anglicanresearchcent@excite.com

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