On his trip through Tanzania, General Praeses Msgr Christoph Huber visits many Kolping Families, who report on their project and association work. Impressions of the first few days:
General Praeses Msgr Christoph Huber, Desk Officer for Public Relations Michaela Roemkens and Desk Officer for Africa Volker Greulich were greeted with great cheers. When meeting up with Kolping Families from Dar es Salaam, the members proudly presented their products made from processed crops. In addition to crisps and biscuits, they presented artistically decorated cakes (in the shape of a Kolping shirt) and beautiful handicrafts.
In Bukoba, the General Praeses celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Kolping Family Bwira together with its members. Kolping members from all over the region had travelled to this special event. Here, too, there was an exhibition of their activities. New members were also admitted.
General Praeses Msgr Huber, together with Volker Greulich and Michaela Roemkens, then visited two deep wells in the arid region of Singida and officially inaugurated one of them. The wells were constructed by the East African association at the beginning of the year with the help of donations from Switzerland. The wells were drilled to a depth of 120 meters and a water tower with a pump was also built to distribute the water. The clean groundwater is now available to the entire villages via extraction points. The residents of Kinampanda and Mwanga are delighted. “I save four tedious hours a day because I no longer have to fetch water from far away,” says one woman. She can now use that time for income-generating activities and has already doubled her income. The water is also of such good quality that it does not need to be boiled. Country desk officer Volker Greulich dared to try out the water for himself. The deep wells are managed by the local Kolping Families. In both villages, many pipes were laid directly to the houses. Everyone benefits, not just Kolping members.
The founder and former National Praeses of Kolping Tanzania, Msgr David Kamugisha, was buried not far from Bukoba at the end of July. General Praeses Huber took the opportunity to pray for the deceased at his grave and pay him his last respects. In 1989, Kamugisha had formed the first Kolping Family in Tanzania together with twelve members in Bukoba, and two years later, the Kolping National Association in Tanzania was founded. He worked with great passion on building up the association and social projects. Today, the “Kolping Society of Tanzania” is represented in various dioceses throughout the country and is the largest African Kolping Association with around 16,000 members.
