Update: You Did It!Thanks to your donations, an ambulance was purchased for Saint Anthony of Padua dispensary in Mbahe Arisi County within the Catholid Diocese of Moshi, Tanzania. Thank you for your support!
Have you ever had to call 911, for a friend, a family member, maybe even yourself? You wait for the ambulance, looking out the window, peering into the night. Perhaps you send someone out to the street to help flag the ambulance down. And you pray. You pray to God that the ambulance will arrive on time; because time is of the essence. Then after an interminable wait, the ambulance arrives, generally in five to ten minutes, and whisks your loved one to the hospital, where frequently it has played a role in saving the life of the person you love. The people of Mbahe,Tanzania, Father Deogratias Ruwaainenyi's home town, are not so fortunate. There are no ambulances. 
Parishioners at St. Anthony Church in Mbahe,Tanzania
Indeed there are few vehicles. In a medical emergency, family members of the injured person must rush out frantically looking for a pick up truck to take their loved one to the hospital. The pick up truck must be rugged enough to travel the rutted, pitted roads of Mbahe.
Then before the driver will take the injured person to the hospital, the driver's fee must be negotiated and paid. Typically, the family members do not have money to pay the fee, so they go out into the community, seeking donations, borrowing money from friends, neighbors, and other family members. It is an ordeal that can impoverish a family.
Meanwhile the injured person waits. They may be suffering from a heart attack, or snake bite, or perhaps they are a mother about to deliver a baby. They wait and suffer. The waiting stretches into hours. Their condition worsens. By the time many people arrive at the hospital, it is too late to save them. They die.
Then in a cruel irony of life, the family members must repeat the process of finding a pickup truck, and collecting the fee, in order to bring the body back home for burial. Saint Anthony of Padua Parish in Mbahe,Tanzania is just completing their clinic/dispensery and wants to be able to provide an ambulance service. 
Saint Anthony of Padua Church in Mbahe,Tanzania
The ambulance will be able to bring people to the clinic, and when necessary, transport people to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, which is over 100 miles away. Father Deogratias has raised over $17,000 toward that goal. But the ambulance, a Toyota Land Cruiser Ambulance 4X4 costs about $45,000. You can help.
Donations can be sent to : The Saint Theresa Ambulance Fund
Our Lady of Peace Church
12601 Shaker Boulevard
Cleveland, Ohio 44120 Let us help Father Deogratias help to save the lives of the people of Mbahe.
Father Deogratias Ruwaainenyi is a Catholic priest serving in the greater Cleveland, Ohio area. When he returned to Mbahe in 2009 for his mother's funeral, he became aware of Saint Anthony of Padua's project to relieve the suffering of the residents of Mbahe. With your help, he hopes to be able to provide St. Anthony's with the the ambulance. Father Deo is beginning a new assignment at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Wickliffe, Ohio shortly. Questions can be directed to Father Deo at ruwadeo@yahoo.com.
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