A local confirmation class got a lesson in international Christianity and humility Thursday from a visiting Tanzanian minister.

Thursday, May 17, 2001

A local confirmation class got a lesson in international Christianity and humility Thursday from a visiting Tanzanian minister.

The Rev. Eliuphoo Sima, assistant to the Bishop of the Tanzanian Central Diocese Lutheran Church, visited with the Central Freeborn Lutheran Church class and answered questions about his home, his family and his faith.

Sima ministers to 80,000 members of 60 congregations in central Tanzania. About 18 percent of Tanzanians are Lutheran, he said.

Life in Tanzania is harder than in the United States, Sima told the class. Children don’t have toys to play with, parents farm using hoes instead of tractors, and many people have only one shirt to wear in a year. In his village of Kijota in central Tanzania, there is only one car.

&uot;One missionary gave me a car, a land cruiser, in 1991, and that has been the only car in the village in that whole time,&uot; Sima said.

Village schools don’t usually have desks or glass windows, and teachers are allowed to beat students that don’t behave, he said. Parents are also urged to strike their children, he said.

&uot;If they don’t do that, some parents will tell you that you are not keeping your children well,&uot; he said.

Sima said some youth in the classroom’s allowances were greater than a Tanzanian minister’s salary. The very idea of an allowance was unfamiliar to him.

&uot;The parents pay them?&uot; he asked. &uot;You are paid by your parents?&uot;

Ministers are usually paid between $30 and $50 a month, if they get paid, Sima said. During a recent famine, ministers worked without pay for six months.

The discussion was eye-opening for many students.

&uot;They have to work a lot harder than us,&uot; said student Brianne Stadheim. &uot;I thought I had it bad. You take life for granted here.&uot;

But Sima didn’t want to talk about how many shirts students owned, or how much they ate in a day.

&uot;These are questions I don’t like to ask you, because I know you have many things,&uot; he said. &uot;Also things which you don’t need.&uot;

Sima was reluctant to tell the students what he didn’t like about the United States, but said he was disappointed more young people don’t attend church.

&uot;I don’t believe that the world will survive easily without God,&uot; he said. &uot;We have advanced a lot with technology and scientific achievements, but it is so dangerous.&uot;

Sima was invited to the class by the Rev. Linda Gunderson, who taught and ministered in Tanzania last fall. He is in the United States touring Southeastern Minnesota communities until June 12, when he will speak before the Synod general assembly.