Shoulder to Shoulder has many partners supporting health care at Ilula. We are an affiliate of a larger partnership between the Iringa Lutheran Diocese of the ELCT in Tanzania and the St Paul Area Synod of the ELCA. This larger partnership is called Bega Kwa Bega which means Shoulder to Shoulder in Kiswahili. The Bega Kwa Bega partnership pairs about 70 Lutheran congregations in America with Lutheran parishes in Tanzania.
We are very indebted to our partnership with the Peter J King Family Foundation which has funded building construction for the Medical Education Center and Nursing School.
The Global Health Pathway program at the University of Minnesota Medical School has partnered with us to provide course credit for students participating in the annual trips to Ilula in January and February.
We have also partnered with Global Health Ministries for providing needed medical equipment and supplies and administrative help.
St Paul Partners is another affiliate of the Bega Kwa Bega program which has helped provide a well and water system for the Ilula Hospital.