The Northwest Intermountain Synod has a Companion Synod in Tanzania, The Ulanga Kilombero Diocese (UKD). The Companion Synod Team is striving to have guests from the UKD with us every other year and to organize a trip to Tanzania every other year. This fall, two guests from the UKD will be with us for 6 weeks, traveling throughout the synod. And in June 2026, there will be a trip to the UKD.
UKD Flood Relief - Summer 2025
Tanzania and Eastern Africa have again suffered from flooding and rains that have damaged roads, bridges and agriculture. The crops of maize and rice that the schools depend on have been wiped out. Some parts of the diocese are not easily accessed and the government resources to repair infrastructure will take a while.
July 2024 Ulanga Kilombero Diocese Visit
Bwana Yesu, Asifiwe! (Praise Jesus! in Kiswahili) The Northwest Intermountain (NWIM) Synod has enjoyed and has been richly blessed by a 35-year relationship with our Companion Synod, the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese (UKD) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. In July 2024 a contingent of 13 pilgrims from the NWIM Synod traveled to Africa to visit the UKD.
Please watch a brief 5-minute video (below) of this trip which has been distributed to Region 1 of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America World Hunger Chairs.
UKD Trip Report
St. Catherine of Sienna said, “All the way to heaven is heaven.” Most of the way from Dar es Salaam to Ifakara is bumpy and awkward, punctuated with roadside checks along freeways and unpaved paths of varying quality. But even this section of our two-and-half-week pilgrimage to the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese was heavenly, because we saw the face of God everywhere we looked.