Host Community Information
Global Volunteers' long-time host partner in Tanzania is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT). Our main contact is Bishop Owdenberg Mdegella, who invited Global Volunteers to provide development assistance to communities in the Iringa Diocese in 1986.
Born in 1951, the ninth child in a family of 16, the future bishop was a shepherd until age 12. He grew up in the highland village of Ipalamwa in the Iringa District where his mother was a farmer and his father, a logger. Having earned degrees in both Theology and Divinity, Bishop Mdegella was the youngest Lutheran Bishop in the world when he was ordained in 1987. He speaks five foreign languages and six African dialects fluently, and is a lecturer and teacher on the topics of spirituality and development. He is married and father to six children. Bishop Mdegella frequently travels to the U.S. - primarily Minnesota and California, where he completed his PhD studies. He has participated in training sessions in Minnesota, and serves on our International Advisory Committee, directing team leaders in effective team management in Tanzania.
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