Tanzania 2026 - Palliative Care Program

Co-written by: Sherry Rengstorf, Marie Nelson, Mike & Julie Mullen

January 29, 2026: This is the Day that the Lord has made!  And the day to visit Nkungi village and the Palliative Care Program!  

Our Savior’s Lutheran Church (OSLC), Rochester has been walking with the Palliative/Hospice Care Program at Iambi Lutheran Hospital since 2012. The congregation has committed – and then recommitted - to ongoing financial support as well as communications through email and visits. 

The January 2026 visit was the first time that OSLC people have been back to Nkungi village since 2018. One change over those eight years is that we can no longer bring hospice kits or other program supplies through Tanzanian customs. Instead, on this visit we brought monetary donations and then met Martina Axwesso, RN, the Palliative Care program director, in Singida town on the morning of the school dedication to purchase basic supplies (toothpaste, toothbrushes, Vaseline, soap, etc.) from local stores. During our shopping trip, we also purchased OTC medications and supplies from the new ELCT-Central Diocese Thomas Musa Pharmacy and then brought our purchases with us today! 

When we arrived at the Iambi Lutheran Hospital grounds at the end of the week, Martina and some of the hospital staff met us as at the chapel doors. Hugs were exchanged, introductions were made and reports were given.  During her report, Martina explained that the main objective of the Palliative Care Program is to provide wholistic care and support to the people living in this remote rural area who suffer from chronic and life-threatening conditions. The top four diagnoses of palliative care patients include HIV/AIDS, Cancer, Hypertension, and Diabetes. We learned that 22 community ‘volunteers’ living in surrounding villages help her provide care and support to the 706 patients, many who are homebound (2025 data). 

In 2016, the Palliative Care Program staff noted that patients were weak and needed nutritional assistance so they began to provide supplemental rice packets that could be made into a soup. However, as several patients missed eating their ugali, a traditional Tanzanian maize porridge, instead of rice, OSLC and the ELCT-Central Diocese partnered with an Iowa business to provide the initial crop of corn - and the Ugali Project was born! In 2019, the palliative care ministry began purchasing corn from local markets. Then, in October 2022, noting the land adjacent to the hospital was not being used, the program cleared and tilled the land, and then planted maize seed that has subsequently yielded bountiful harvests that is dried and then ground into ugali flour. And today? We saw this season’s growing crop as we listened to stories of the maize that will be harvested, dried and made into ugali flour that the Palliative Care Program volunteers can package and deliver to patients! Thanks be to God!

As this was just a ‘day visit’, there was no time to accompany palliative care staff (RN, clinician, and chaplain) on any of their home visits. However, there was time to renew friendships, make new friendships and praise God for each other and the work we are doing!

During a 2014 visit with our friends at the palliative care ministry, OSLC arranged for T-shirts for the volunteers and staff that said, “Hospice is a friend” with words from Isaiah 40:1 on the back:  Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. (NIV). 

Driving away from “the farm”, the hospital, and our friends in Christ, this passage ran through my (Sherry's) head as I thanked God for the comfort the palliative care staff bring to the sick – even with limited resources and challenging rural conditions. 

Lord (Mungu), Asante Sana (Thank you so much) for this day!

Sherry Rengstorf, Marie Nelson, Steve and Julie Mullen