Home Health Education Service - Southern Tanzania Union Mission

Home Health Education Service (HHES)-Southern Tanzania Union Mission is a non-profit, self-supporting, unincorporated institution of the mission. Founded, maintained, and managed by Southern Tanzania Union Mission, HHES has its headquarters in Morogoro Municipality.

The objective of HHES is to proclaim the everlasting gospel in the context of the three angels’ message through the distribution of literature. HHES is the primary channel for the distribution of denominational trade, text, and missionary literature to the entire Southern Tanzania Union Mission region.

Background

In 1983, the Tanzania Union Mission decided to open an Adventist Book Center (ABC) at the union headquarters in Arusha. L. Russell Thomas, a missionary from the United States, was elected the first manager.¹ Under his leadership, an office building was constructed; however, all fields and conferences provided offices at their headquarters and other locations as it was deemed necessary and convenient to manage ABC operations in their territories.² The following year, it was decided to move the Adventist Book Center headquarters to Morogoro and merge the management with the Tanzania Adventist Press in order to reduce the shipping and distribution of books from the press to smaller ABCs, of which there were about 100 all over the country. The ABC building at the union headquarters was turned into a dental clinic.³

In 1995, the union separated the management of the Adventist Book Centers from the Tanzania Adventist Press. Management of the literature evangelists and book distribution returned to the union, while Tanzania Adventist Press continued to print books and all church materials.⁴ Five years later, the Adventist Book Center and Printing Press were once again merged. The merger was intended to improve the services rendered to literature evangelists and the literature distribution. However, it was still a challenge to run both the ABC and the press, and literature evangelists were inadequately supported.⁵

The Home Health Education Service in Tanzania

During the Tanzania Union Mission year end meetings in 2006, it was voted to introduce the Home Health Education Service (HHES) with the aim of improving services to the literature evangelists, and managing ABCs and book depositories all over the country. The HHES is a non-profit, self-supporting, unincorporated institution of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

In January 2007, the Home Health Education Services began work with three employees. The manager was Anna Muhoho, who was assisted by William Kisae, treasurer, and one other person. HHES opened with a book inventory worth TZS 89 million. With those books, HHES grew from strength to strength.

Home Health Education Service in Southern Tanzania

Toward the end of 2013, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Tanzania was re-organized into two unions: the Northern Tanzania Union Conference (NTUC) and the Southern Tanzania Union Mission (STU). This split lead to the split of Home Health Education Service which took place in March 2015. As of 2020, there are two HHES offices. HHES Southern Tanzanian Union has its headquarters in the municipality of Morogoro. Its registration is attached to the general registration of Southern Tanzania Union Mission under the laws of the United Republic of Tanzania. HHES is the primary channel for the distribution of denominational trade, text, and missionary literature to the entire Southern Tanzania Union Mission region.

In all the five conferences/fields of the Southern Tanzania Union, HHES operates fifty-eight book depositories, and supervises 1,262 literature evangelists and twelve employees. HHES is dedicated to strengthening homes through health and character education, providing a wide range of publications that make the Bible easy to understand and relevant to the problems of contemporary living.

List of Managers (Tanzania Union Mission)

L. Russell Thomas (1983-1990), Neal Scott (1990-1995), Reuben Kimune (1998-2001, 2013), Ghuheni Mbwana (1995-1998, 2001-2007⁶), Anna Muhoho (2008-2010), Chiegere Mkama (2011-March 2013)

List of Managers (Southern Tanzania Union Mission)

Grace Manongi (April 2013-December 2013), William Kisae (2014 -2015), Ezekia Chaboma (2016-2018), Farida Mika (2019-).

Sources

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2015-2019.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1984-2014.

Notes

1. “Tanzania Union Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1984), 90.↩

2. Anna Muhoho, telephone Interview with author, February 20, 2020.↩

3. Ibid.↩

4. Ghuheni Mbwana, interview with author, Morogoro, March 24, 2019. Ghuheni Mbwana served as general manager for Tanzania Adventist Press for a long time.↩

5. Samuel Bukuku, interview with the author, March 24, 2019, Ufunuo Publishing House. Samuel Bukuku was treasurer from 1998 to 1999.↩

6. Mbwana continued as manager of the Tanzania Adventist Press after 2007. No name is given in the Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook as ABC manager after about 1998, until 2013 when Kimune is listed.↩