Amani Care for Africa

Working closely with communities in rural central Tanzania to establish and sustain:

Water Resources, Agriculture & Forestry Development, Education, Health and Nutritian

Billings Gazette Articles

Retired Rector Back (10-08)

Retired Billings rector now ministers in Tanzania (9-07)

Heart Leads Retired Priest

to bleak area (2-06)

Retiring Pastor Prepares to Head Non-Profit in Africa (8-05)

Faith & Values: School Opens New Options in Tanzania (7-05)

Fr. John Naumann

Director of the Amani Devopment Organization

Fr. John Naumann graduated from St. Francis Theological Seminary in 1966, then served in a series of churches in Australia, arriving at St. Stephen's in Billings, Montana in 1989.  In addition to St. Stephen's Billings, he served for eight years as the priest in charge in Glendive, Miles City and Forsyth, until another priest took on that duty.

In 1992, St. Stephen's invited the Rev. Ainea Kusenhia and his wife, Mary, to come visit from central Tanzania. Both were schoolteachers doing postgraduate work at Trinity Episcopal School of Ministry at Ambridge, Pa.  They accepted the invitation to come to Billings and that began this wonderful connection.  St. Stephen's began helping sponsor students who couldn't afford an education.

In 2000, Naumann spent much of his four-month sabbatical in Tanzania. It was then he realized the people desperately needed water.  So he came home and started raising money to build deep-water wells to supply the precious resource. The cost of to survey, drill and properly equip each well is $30,000.

For Naumann, it is a labor of love. The benefits of uncontaminated water are far-reaching, he said.  Life is totally transformed and the cycle of cholera is broken because the people have access to clean water.  The incidence of typhoid is greatly reduced and mothers no longer have to spend long hours walking to a distant source of water.. Eye infections in children practically disappear because sufficient water exists for proper hygiene. 

Now, drip irrigation is being introduced to help families and communities raise vegetables to improve their nutrition. A system called bucket irrigation helps families raise gardens using relatively little water.  In communities where there are deep wells, enough water is available for family gardens. Each kit costs $8 USD and two kits will provide a household of seven with vegetables for a full 12 months.