Lion of Judah Academy Mourning a Great Loss

Dear Friends of The Lion of Judah Academy, a great sadness has come to our school’s community. Mzee Shinyanga (“Mzee” is Kiswahili for “wise old man”) died two days ago in a tragic bus accident.

Mzee Shinyanga

Shinyanga, a humble man of great faith and devotion to Jesus, has been a beloved and invaluable member of The Lion of Judah Academy family. He has been one of our most devoted supporters, almost from the school’s beginning. During the past few years he has served on the school’s board of trustees. He was the first president of the school’s parent group. He has given generously of his time and other resources. He will be sorely missed.

However, the greatest loss is to his family and grandchildren, several of whom have been orphaned and who are students at The Lion of Judah Academy. He and his wife have made many sacrifices to enroll and support these children during the past several years. Some of them were students in the first classes at the school and the oldest, Abia, was the first Lion of Judah Academy exchange student to study at The King’s Academy — our sister school in Pennsylvania.

Shinyanga’s death is a terrible loss for his wife and family, including his grandchildren. And we, at The Lion of Judah Academy, have lost a wonderful friend, supporter, and encourager. Please keep all of these in your prayers.

His funeral will be on Saturday, September 3, in Mwanza. Surely many people will be there, for his influence in the Christian community, as well as in in the secular community, was very great.

Shinyanga leading the first Parents Group

Work Team Off to a Great Start!

Greetings from Tanzania and The Lion of Judah Academy!

Nine of us are here. Five from The King’s Academy in Mohrsville, PA (Linda, Jeanne, Sarah, Kayla and Lillian), two from New England and Hart’s former church in Connecticut (Laura and Elizabeth), plus Hart and Lynn.

Work Team Arriving

Everything is great.

The new Lion of Judah Academy gardens are bringing forth lots of fruit and vegetables, even in these near drought conditions (see the photo). Lots is happening at the school…

 Form 5 (A level) has started;
 Over 500 students are here for the start of the new term
 A team from the campus ministry at Dodoma University came to lead a week-long teaching seminar, and helped the students get off to a great start for the new term;
 The faculty is getting stronger and more committed each year, and the vision of what The Lion of Judah Academy is growing quickly.

Of course there are always challenges, expected and unexpected. The water issues continue, and intensify. And The King’s Academy has invited one of the Form 3 students, Miriam Jacob, to come to the U.S. to study during the 2011 – 2012 school year, but getting her student visa has been considerably more challenging that in the past. We’ve almost completed the process, but it has been arduous and stressful.

On the positive side of the water issue is the fact that all parts of the new water system are now in place and ready to go, with the exception of electricity to the pump, and the water storage tank. Unfortunately, to get the electricity to the pumping station we need either,

a) the cooperation of the Tanzanian government, or,
b) about $25,000.

That is our most pressing need.

While here we are gathering tons of information, photos and video which we will share in the coming months, after we return to the U.S. But for now we wanted to let you know that all is well, and request your ongoing prayers for this work team.

We spent a fantastic day in the Serengeti on Saturday, seeing lots and lots of game and wildlife, including more elephants than I’ve ever seen in one day, and a wonderful pride of nearly 15 lions tracking down a group of gazelle, with us watch the whole time! Every trip into the Serengeti brings new songs of praise to our Creator!

Mtebe Showing Lynn Around the New School Gardens

Blessings to all….

More News of Academic Excellence — National Exam Results

By now, we are accustomed to receiving reports about the academic excellence at The Lion of Judah Academy.  Academic excellence, combined with Christian commitment, have become the hallmarks of the school, its students and staff.

However even we are amazed by what we have recently learned about the results of last fall’s Form 4 national examination!  Form 4 is roughly equivalent to 12th grade.  All form 4 students take this exam, and a student must do very well on it in order to qualify for form 5 (A-level, or Advanced level secondary school).  Simply passing the exam is not enough…their scores must excel.  If they don’t qualify, they will have no opportunity to go on to form 5, or university.

To put what we are going to tell you in perspective, only about 50% of all form 4 students who taken the exam, even pass the exam.  If a school has 2 or 3 students who qualify for form 5, they have reason to celebrate, because that school has done quite well.

Last year’s class was the first Lion of Judah Academy to take the exam.  We were hopeful the students would do well.  But this was a new experience for the school, as well as for all the students.  How well had we actually prepared them?

Well, the results are in.

Thirty-0ne out of thirty-eight students not only passed the exam, they received such excellent scores that they qualified for Form 5!!

That is absolutely extraordinary.  31 our of 38 qualified for form 5!

Study Group outside the Library, preparing for the exam

School director Mtebe, not known for overstatements or exaggerations, reports, “everyone is talking about it!”

That, in combination with the fact that The Lion of Judah Academy has welcomed its first form 5 class, continues to demonstrate God’s remarkable blessing on the school project.  By opening form 5 we have become the only school within about 50 miles to offer A level classes (form 5 and form 6).

We are praising God, and thanking you for your prayers and support!

Students in Science Classes

New Address — the Inlows have moved

Greetings Everyone!  It has been too long since we have written anything to you…we apologize.

This past February life took a sudden, dramatic and most unexpected change for us – Hart and Lynn.  The roller coaster has slowed briefly, so before it starts up again in a few days, we are taking this opportunity to let our friends, family, and the supporters of The Lion of Judah Academy know what’s been happening.

We are now living in south Florida!  We have moved here permanently.  Hart resigned his position as pastor of St. John – Hill Church.  Lynn liquidated and closed her gift shop.  We sold most of what we owned, and moved.

More about those things in a moment, but first our new contact information.

The new address for the Inlows and The Lion of Judah Ministries is:

The Lion of Judah Ministries

c/0 Hartford Inlow, 12523 SE Old Cypress Drive, Hobe Sound, FL  33455

The new telephone number is:           772-245-8693

Our email addresses remain unchanged.

So, what happened to cause this radical change on such short notice?  Did Hart get fired?  Some other kind of crisis or problem?  No, not really.

The long and short of it is this:  Lynn’s dad, 88 years old and still in fairly good health, was lonely, and struggling, and having a difficult time with life on the family farm in New Jersey.  He had moved there from Florida just over a year ago, when his second wife, Rusty, died.  He had hoped the move would be good for him, but it just wasn’t working out.  So we offered to be available to him, even to move back to Florida with him.  And, last February, he took us up on our offer.   We found a nice place to live in Hobe Sound, Florida (where he had lived for 15+ years prior to Rusty’s death, and still has friends).  We spent March and April selling a large part of what we own, and saying, “good-bye” to our former lives, and we moved in early May.  And that’s that!

But life HAS been a whirlwind for the past several months, and we apologize for being out of touch for so long.

We are traveling to Tanzania on July 3, and will try to post more information on the blog prior to our departure.

If you haven’t visited the blog, or signed up to receive notification of new postings, we encourage you to do so.

Please pray for us, and the team traveling to Tanzania, as we prepare for our upcoming trip in July.  Thank you!

Lynn and Hart Inlow

Graduation Videos and Slide Shows

The Lion of Judah Academy website now has several videos and slide shows related to the recent Secondary School Graduation.  One of them is posted below.

To see the others, visit this link.

(one of these videos includes some neat views of the new school chapel…worth seeing!)

Also, you we encourage you to take a few moment to read the Christmas – New Year 2010 Update, here:  2010 Newsletter Update

We trust this video will whet your appetite for the other video and photos on the website!

December 2010 Update Letter

Please click on the link below to view the Christmas – New Year 2010 Newsletter update for The Lion of Judah Academy.

2010 Newsletter Update

You may also want to visit this link for videos and slide shows of the Secondary School graduation in November

Lion of Judah Academy Graduation — new video

Here is a new video produced for the graduation celebration…it highlights the beginnings of the school, and the amazing things God has done!