Tanzania 2026

Primary author:  Dr. Joyce Thompsen, Grace Lutheran Church, Waseca

On Wednesday, January 28, 2026, our Southeastern Minnesota Synod Tanzania visiting team departed our home base of Singida for Kijota Hull High School (HHS) in rural Kijota. The school is located on a 40-acre parcel that has a long and distinguished history. During our visit to HHS, we heard the story of a woman who continues to empower the school and community decades after her death:  

Vivian Gulleen, an American missionary from Iowa and graduate from Augustana University (Sioux Falls), found her way to the Kijota area in 1938. Over several years of devoted and persistent actions taken to learn about the rural Tanzanian culture, including the role of women, Vivian routinely visited local families, one by one. She worked diligently to develop trusting relationships. Eventually, she invited the Lutheran Church in America, her family and others to partner with her and the Central Diocese of the Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT-CD) in developing a ‘women’s seminary’, more simply, a secondary school. In rural Tanzania, at a time when education for girls beyond age twelve was the exception, the secondary school’s primary focus was to educate young women with knowledge and confidence so that they returned to their respective homes and community equipped and empowered to both lead and serve in the name of Jesus. In honor of this woman that brought secondary education and leadership development to rural girls, the ELCT-Central Diocese responded to the community’s request to name the school the Vivian Gulleen Girls Secondary School.

In the years after Gulleen’s death, the school suffered a decline in enrollment even after the school became a co-ed campus.  On the verge of closure in late 2016, a new headmaster, Thomas Yuseph, was appointed.  Under Yuseph’s leadership, the school – now Kijota Hull High School - quickly stabilized with enrollment growing exponentially to over 500 students (2022) – with several hundred students on the waiting list! Thanks be to God!

For decades, regardless of the school’s name and focus, the Southeastern Minnesota Synod has accompanied this Central Diocese school: sometimes in the form of financing new buildings; often providing scholarship funds; always walking together in faith-centered relationship. Through the synod’s ‘partner congregation’ ministry, Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Rochester, has served as the primary point of accompaniment of Kijota Hull High School.  Combined with funds from several SEMN Synod congregations, existing buildings were renovated and new structures built. Scholarships, particularly for daughters of subsistence farmers who could not financially access a secondary education, were provided. Personal relationships were developed through letter writing and personal visits, redeveloped through the technology of email, Zoom, and WhatsApp, and recently expanded through our January visit.

And the future? In addition to the continuation of scholarships, the school community painted a new vision: the development of an extracurricular Life Skills program for students so that a new generation of girls (and boys!) are equipped to serve others through the practical skills of cooking and sewing – skills that can be used in necessary jobs (food service, hospitality, clothing manufacturing, interior design, etc.). Carrying forth the vision of Vivian Gulleen, students will graduate equipped and empowered to provide for their future families while accompanying their local villages.  

Summing up this day’s visit? Listen to the words of Joyce Thompsen, a member of Grace Lutheran Church (Waseca), the Southeastern Minnesota Synod’s Synod Council, and primary author of today’s blog entry:

Miss Vivian exhibited considerable strength, courage, and faith in her call from God

in embracing a challenging geography and culture, bringing new skills manifesting

faith-based leadership and confidence in the women of this area. We honor her

accomplishments and give thanks to God for her long-lasting influence.