Spring 2026 newsletter

Jana Schiemenz, Tanzania

Mwanza, Tanzania’s second largest city, is where I have spent the last 15 years of my life working in various institutions supporting people with disabilities or mental health challenges.

Artwork from a student at the Huruma School for children with disabilities.

After a year devoted to family and work at home in Germany, I have been back in the reality of life in Tanzania since January. I was glad to spend my first week back in Mwanza at the Lake House of Prayer – a place of peace, contemplation, and meditation not far from Lake Victoria, led by the Maryknoll Lay Missioners. From this peaceful base, I was able to gradually reacquaint myself with the colorful, loud, and intense life of the African metropolis and gradually reconnect with friends, old colleagues, and new cooperation partners.

The various encounters I have had over the past few weeks have allowed me to fully arrive and sharpen my focus. I continue to be inspired, touched, and challenged about this place and its people as I consider what I want to be here for over the next three and a half years. I would like to share some of these encounters with you.

Over the years in Mwanza, I have met a number of strong Tanzanian women. Some of them have become good friends and companions over time. Their wisdom and perseverance, their endurance in difficult living conditions, their strength of will and at the same time gentleness and the love they have for their children inspire me.

Mama Demetria came to visit with her two kids on the first weekend. I was happy to see them again. Their beloved father tragically passed away last year after an illness. The grief is overwhelming, suffocating, and yet life must go on. Mama Demetria now cares for the family alone and is a pillar of support and role model for her children. She earns money with her sewing machine in downtown Mwanza, providing for herself and her children. Her deep faith and trust in God’s guidance give her the strength and hope to face life’s challenges every day and to offer advice, support, encouraging words, and gestures to others around her.

On another day, I visited Mama Suzy in her new home. She is a single mother of three girls and earns her living as a housekeeper. In the past, she has helped care for and accompany severely disabled people, for which she is very talented with her gentle and friendly manner. Unfortunately, there is currently no opportunity to continue this work. With her small salary, she bought a plot of land and built the first room of her own house piece by piece. Her two oldest children are studying very hard in school. I see Mama Suzy’s tireless efforts to lovingly raise her girls and lay the foundation for a good life for them. What I particularly admire about this quiet woman is her patience and loyalty, her calm presence, and her ability to treat even the weakest members of society with warmth and support.

A group of students and adults begin their journey home from the Huruma School for children with disabilities.

During my second week, I visited the Huruma School for children with disabilities, one of my future workplaces. I remember the school from when it was founded in 2004. By that time, I was in Tanzania for the first time and helped organizing several seminars on supporting children with disabilities for the future staff at HURUMA. The school was founded by a parents’ initiative supported by Maryknoll lay missioner Bertha Haas.

What has developed at HURUMA in the more than 20 years since then is very encouraging. I see a well-organized school routine for over 50 children with a wide range of disabilities and a dedicated team of teachers who lovingly support the children in their development. Some of the staff have been there from the beginning and continue to do this work with great passion, joy, and experience. HURUMA has been led for the last 10 years by Boniventura, a Tanzanian who does his work with great determination, enthusiasm, and a vision for the school and its future.

At my second assignment location, the Catholic parish of Igoma, I am involved in a group to support people with mental health challenges. As part of this project, I am in contact and exchange with several young Tanzanian volunteers who share a desire to make a difference in their society and, among other things, to address the growing problem of mental illness.

One of the volunteers is Daud, who, in his additional role as a local leader, works with his community to find creative ways to advance development projects in their area using their own resources. It is important to him that Tanzanians preserve their own cultural identity amid the rapid social and technological changes in society. I am learning and reflecting on many things in my exchanges with him. His integrity and modesty have made a great impression on me.

Together, we visited a man in the psychiatric ward of the regional hospital. We have known Mzee Salim, a client in his 70s from a facility for people with mental illness outside Mwanza, for several years. He lives there in a village setting with his family. After losing one of his sons tragically, he felt his mental stability was at risk and sought help at the psychiatric ward in January. The encounter with him and some other patients in the ward was touching. People with mental illness are still heavily stigmatized in Tanzania, marginalized by society, and often misunderstood. Many of the patients rarely receive visits from their relatives and are used to being treated with rejection and contempt. During our visit, we aimed to encounter him and others with respect and openness.

After some conversation, Mzee Salim and a small group of other patients shared the food we brought with us. They were grateful for our visit, and during our time together, I could sense how, even under the isolating conditions of a psychiatric ward, human connection and a healing moment of community can arise when we perceive and respect the dignity of our fellow human beings.

It is my hope that we will succeed in finding even more courageous people here who are willing to engage in such special encounters.

I could recount many more exciting and encouraging moments from my first weeks in Mwanza. I don’t want to gloss over how difficult, frustrating, and exhausting everyday life is for a large part of the population here. However, what I also perceive strongly is an enormous resilience and the potential of people to shape their own lives.

“People with mental illness are still heavily stigmatized in Tanzania, marginalized by society, and often misunderstood. Many of the patients rarely receive visits from their relatives and are used to being treated with rejection and contempt.”

During the years I spent in Tanzania, I was confronted with poverty and suffering in various places and always felt a strong urge to help improve situations and stand up for marginalized people. In doing so, I also reached my own limits, sometimes even feeling exhausted and hopeless. Now I am noticing how my motivation to “help” is increasingly shifting toward a perspective of “walking together.”

One of the things I am learning in this process is to accept and let go of what is not in my power to change. Facing reality in this way, with less resistance, does not mean no longer striving for change.  I experience it as a way to regain inner peace, which enables me to look at life with greater openness and a wider perspective. This allows me to understand myself and the people I work with more deeply and to perceive other possibilities for action.

After a period of reflection, I know my place is still in Tanzania. I want to continue walking alongside the people here, learning with them in honest and respectful dialogue, seeking forms of cooperation based on partnership, and thus continuing to grow in our joint efforts to create a more united world.

Being able to continue this work now as part of the Maryknoll Lay Missioners organization and to find spiritual and practical support, exchange, and backing in the community, is a blessing for me.

Thank you all for your diverse support and interest!

Warm greetings from Tanzania,

Jana