Technology, tourism, and other new businesses have brought the islanders face to face
with an outside world that is very different from what they have known. Most affected are the children, youth, and women. The new generation has a new world view. They are meeting people of other cultures, other races, other nationalities, other religions, other interests, other and fascinating opportunities. They have become aware that they have not had even a normal education and, as a consequence, have no opportunity for a different life in the future.

Challenged:

For the Well-being of Children:

Children are formed in their earliest years. To change the mentality of fatalism which
they get from their parents, and open them up to others who are like themselves yet have
different values, it is necessary to provide an appropriate education beginning with kindergarten. This is the reason for establishing Kindergartens in every Parish and Outstation. But the formation begun there must continue. Already, the Diocese has introduced its first primary school.

Beginning with one of the larger Kindergartens, it is being developed by adding one year
at a time. We are now up to Standard IV and preparing for Standard V. Requests for enrollment continue to increase and this year it became necessary to begin a double stream for Standard I. When the full number of grades is in existence, a Diocesan Secondary School will he started.

For the Good of Youth:

The good of youth presents an even greater challenge. The young people are in need of something that will help them make up for what has been neglected in their early years. Young women are being assisted to teach in the Kindergartens by offering twelve-week seminars in Montessori instructions under trained Montessori teachers twice a yean A small Montessori training school is envisioned for the future. Youth on Pemba Island, who wanted to burn our holdings in 1995. now are coming and asking for help, too. They would like a fishing boat to capitalize on one of the island's chief natural resources. Vocational schools are needed for these youth and a small Hotel Management School is also envisioned.

A special tutoring school is in operation for the purpose of upgrading the level of primary
school leavers so that they can compete successfully in the qualifying examinations for good secondary schools on the mainland. Because the cost of sending students to the mainland is too great for the parents, we are now planning to expand the tutoring school into a secondary school. Those who complete the tutoring year in this Christian Formation Center will then stay on as the core of the FORM I class. Expanding to a secondary school will make it possible for many more young people to receive further education. Not only will more Christian parents be able to enroll their children but also Muslims will be able to enroll in Form 1 and continue. Only through such activities will youth find their place and resist the temptations offered by the drug culture, which is now very prevalent and creating many related problems.

For the Betterment of Women:

Women, too. present a challenge. The groups that have been formed are active, searching for means to better their life through small projects undertaken individually or as a group. They are becoming the mature adults they were meant to become.

Facing these challenges, we are forced to ask what we can do. Do we have the
competence and the means required for an adequate response? I few faithful are we to the demands of the Gospel of Christ? Do we and our Christians know those demands? Are we aware of our obligation to be witnesses of the Gospel, able to share it with others? Are we aware that the living witness of Gospel values can bring others to know and live those same values? Do we see this as a means to justice and peace between families, communities, nations? Are we willing to express and able to explain the hope that is ours in virtue of our baptism?

Our Five-Year Plan;

Diocesan Goals: Through its educational, health and related social services program, which is open to all persons without discrimination of any kind, the Church envisions  these goals:

1) Qualified persons prepared to assume responsible leadership roles:

2) An improved standard of living;

3) Harmonious relationships between persons of different religions and cultures based on
mutual understanding, respect, and cooperation..

Implementing the Vision:

1) Initiated essential organizational Diocesan structures.

2) With personnel on loan from other Dioceses, began sending Diocesan clergy and
Sisters for specialized study to provide competence in ministry needed here.

3) In order to change negative attitudes, chose the establishment of kindergartens in
every Parish and Station as the base of its educational program, aimed at two or three new ones  per year.

4) Developed a Christian Formation Center with a tutoring program in English and
Mathematics to enable promising primary school leavers to qualify for admission to good
secondary schools on the mainland.

5) Provided some workshops for other youth to learn practical skills for self-
employment.

6) Set up a three-year program of Montessori seminars for kindergarten aides leading to
a teaching certificate for those who complete the course.

7) Planned on-going seminars for general educational needs of various groups of people.
e.g. Catechists, Leaders, Women, and Children.

8) Organized village women for a three-year program in Women's Development.

9) Started two new dispensaries in order to extend health services.

10) Began upgrading one dispensary to a health center.

11) Began extending a large kindergarten to a primary school at the request of Christian
and Muslim parents.

12) Is searching for means to extend the Christian Formation Center into a Marine
secondary school.

13) Secured funds for a cooperative project of Catechists as a means to provide some
income for them.

14) Has involved laity in committees, boards, etc.

15) Have brought Christians to give evidence of the faith by using their Christian names.

Initiatives Under Consideration:

1) Christian communities in Mpendae and Kiboje on Unguja Island and Chake Chake on Pemba Island are to be developed from Sub-Parishes into full Parishes.

2) Proper religious dialogue in this predominantly Muslim population requires that our Church personnel receive specialized education, both formal and informal, in the Islamic faith and culture.

3) As a means of evangelization, the ecumenical aspect of the Christian community (notably Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran) needs to be strengthened so as to present ourselves as followers of Christ.

4) Due to the limitations and constraints in which this migrant Diocese exists, we must find some way to generate income. A house which had been nationalized has been returned to the Diocese. Located in Old Stone Town, it can be renovated to provide office space and some upper storey apartments which can be rented out for income.

5) In order that the Christians take ownership and responsibility for the Diocese, a Parish tax has been introduced this year. However small an income this will provide, it is a step toward self-reliance which, with help from outside in the present, we hope to achieve.

6) At the back entrance to the Cathedral is a fallen down building that belongs to the Diocese. There is no Catholic Bookstore here. Renovation of this fallen building would provide space for a Bookstore and two or three offices on the upper storey.

7) St. Joseph's Cathedral is the oldest Church in East Africa. The building was completed in 1897 and is greatly in need of repair. Because of its historical value, the government has placed certain restrictions on the work. It will he extensive and will require technical competence.

8) Because education is the most fundamental need of this society, we need to help those parents who have very talented children but are too poor to pay the small fees needed in our school. We need to develop a special fund designated for scholarships to he given from the yearly interest on the capital.

9) We need to provide the necessary training in development work for a  full-time Director of the Development Office.

10) In 1997 we had no Diocesan structures. Gradually we have been organizing the needed offices but they are scattered where we find we can make available space.We need to establish a small Chancery Office.

11) We won't he able to build another Primary School on Pemba or on the small Islets where other people live, so we hope to build a hostel for boys and one for girls at the Primary school being built up in Tomondo, allowing for talented youngsters to come from the other Islands and to care for gifted but impoverished children.

12) A Youth Center is needed on Pemba to minister to the large number of idle and uneducated youth.

13) We need to support a trained Montessori teacher to direct the three-year in-service
program we have for the single mothers who volunteer to teach in our kindergartens and to carry out the necessary supervision of their work in the Held. This demands both special training and transport.

14) Adult education, formal and informal, must go hand in hand with gender issues in order to bring awareness of joint responsibilities and complementarity of the sexes in accomplishing without tensions activities in which both are engaged.

15) Nothing has been done to set up a real Archives of this historic Diocese. Someone
has to be trained for that important task.

16) Once the basic work in Archives has been accomplished, we are thinking of providing a tourist center where tourists can come to see and learn about the Cathedral and the work of the Church since the faith was first established in East
Africa.

17) Building must be constructed to show development on property that the Church wishes to own in order to ensure legal title deeds.

18) The value of land is constantly rising. We need to secure a plot where a house can be built for the priests to meet. enjoy a free day of relaxation, spend quiet time when needed for recuperation. At present there is no such place. Development must take place on property in order to ensure title deeds.

Possibilities for Partnership:

There are many possibilities for partnership with the Diocese of Zanzibar. It might be in terms of acceptance of sponsorship for certain ministries such as School Fees for deserving students. In terms of strengthening our educational program in line with our primary goal. we are in the process of extending a large kindergarten into a primary school. The same is needed at our Christian Formation Center. The tutoring in English and Math has been so successful that each year we have made it possible for students to qualify for good secondary schools on the mainland. However, we have excellent young people who are very bright but are unable to go on with school because parents cannot pay the higher fees on the mainland nor the cost of transportation. To counter this problem we need to extend the Center to a full Marine Secondary
School. Not only will that enable more Christian parents to have their children in school: Having such a school will also then allow for Muslims to send their children to school. Additionally, this will assist in bettering the relationship between tlie two religions. The Muslims in the area are eager to learn English and many older people come to informal classes just for that, even though they do not receive any formal recognition.

Another possibility in the field of education is assisting young single mothers who carry the brunt of the work in the kindergartens to get a certificate in the methodology of Montessori
teaching. The program is designed and taught by qualified Montessori teachers over a three-year
period of seminars. Those who complete it are then qualified to teach in the schools here. During the time they are in the program, a supervisor is needed to work with them in the villages where they volunteer in the kindergartens.

Because it is only now that we are trying to provide the special competence needed by our Priests and Sisters working in these Islands, a partnership in obtaining scholarships for such
study as well as for laity to be qualified in the various professions such as medicine or law would be welcomed. There is much need for Christians to be educated in the professions. The Church needs to have someone who can assist with respect to understanding the law or as doctors in charge of our own dispensaries for example. Such persons could be educated and then fulfill a contract for some years in return for the gift of study.

A further area of partnership could be in the line of support for our Religious Sisters. All come from the indigenous congregations on the mainland. They have to be supported with living
expenses, yearly retreats, medical care. etc. and a contribution must he given to their congregations yearly so that the congregations can continue to provide education for the young
and needed care for the sick and elderly.

It might also be preferable to choose to be a partner in more general terms that could be
worked out together. In either case. the relationship would be of tremendous help to Zanzibar in more than just financial ways. It would be an occasion of and provide opportunities for the enrichment of our people, something that is beyond us now. It would be equally an opportunity for the enrichment of the people of the Diocese in partnership and a means to deepen their awareness of personal responsibility for the Mission of Christ as baptized Christians.