[Episcopal News Service] When the Rt. Rev. Given Gaula, bishop of the Missionary Diocese of Kondoa in the Anglican Church of Tanzania, was a student at Virginia Theological Seminary, he befriended the Rev. Charles Fels, now a retired priest in the Diocese of East Tennessee. They graduated in 2010 and have maintained a friendship that has since grown into a diocesan partnership.
The Anglican Diocese of Kondoa’s six-month Women’s Empowerment program teaches women and girls sewing and cooking skills. The program aims to help women secure employment. Photo: Diocese of East Tennessee
“Through this partnership, we encourage each other, we love each other and we pray for one another,” Gaula told ENS in a Dec. 9 interview. “It has been a transformative experience for both dioceses.”
Gaula first visited the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Knoxville, where Fels was rector, in 2014. A year later, Fels and a group of parishioners organized a pilgrimage to Kondoa. Then, in 2019, Kondoa and East Tennessee formally became companion dioceses. Gaula said he and East Tennessee Bishop Brian Cole regularly communicate.
East Tennessee Episcopalians last visited Kondoa in 2023, and Gaula, and his wife, the Rev. Lilian Gaula, an Anglican priest, visited the Knoxville-based diocese in 2024. East Tennessee Episcopalians have postponed their 2026 pilgrimage due to civil unrest in Tanzania.
“This relationship fills my soul. …The experiences everyone’s had has broadened our horizons,” Elizabeth Colonna, a parishioner at Good Samaritan who has visited Kondoa with the Diocese of East Tennessee six times since 2015, told ENS.
In the meantime, East Tennessee Episcopalians are maintaining their diocesan partnership by raising money for the Diocese of Kondoa. Most of the money will support completing an almost-built secondary school in the Chemba District. It will be named St. Peter and St. Paul’s, the same name as the diocese’s pre and primary school in Kondoa. Gaula expects classes to begin in January.
When East Tennessee Episcopalians travel to Kondoa, they visit St. Peter and St. Paul’s Pre and Primary School, which enrolls about 300 students. East Tennessee sends money annually to help cover tuition – $400 per student a year.
“The opportunities that open for students at this particular school are a game changer,” Margaret Slattery, another parishioner at the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan in Knoxville, told ENS.
Colonna and Slattery said they hope to bring a robotics kit next time they visit Kondoa.
While in Kondoa, the pilgrims typically spend a week meeting Anglicans in some of the diocese’s 43 parishes and 10 deaneries throughout the predominantly Muslim region. They also tour the Cathedral of Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles and the Women’s Empowerment Center, where women and girls learn sewing and cooking skills. The six-month program aims to help women secure employment.
“When you empower women, you empower the community and you empower the country,” Gaula said.
The two dioceses also are working together and with ecumenical partners to increase potable water access for Kondoa residents. Many women spend most of their days fetching water for their family, and bathing is limited to conserve water. Kondoa, according to Gaula, is one of the poorest dioceses in the Anglican Church of Tanzania, and its members lack clean water and adequate food.
The Rev. Ingrid J. Schalk, a retired Lutheran pastor who joined the East Tennessee Episcopalians on their most recent pilgrimage to Kondoa, is now working with the nonprofit Water to Thrive to build a well in the village of Wizjabe.
Gaula said he is “most grateful” that the Diocese of East Tennessee supports women’s empowerment in Kondoa year-round.
“In Tanzania, women are marginalized; they are second class. When supporters join them with compassion and treat them as the human beings that they are, they see that they are valued for all they do for their families,” Gaula said. “The support the Diocese of East Tennessee has for the women of Kondoa has become a bridge of building peace and harmony, love and friendship, and we appreciate their support.”
The Rev. Daniel Karanja, The Episcopal Church’s Africa partnership officer, told ENS that relational partnerships within the Anglican Communion, like East Tennessee and Kondoa, are beneficial for everyone because, despite the cultural and economic differences, “they build a stronger faith rooted in Christ.”
“Just mutual engagement itself and sharing stories can foster kindness and build one another up,” Karanja said. “When people engage in fellowship and support each other in different ways, their faith flourishes and thrives.”
-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.