Josiah Okeyo Kawira

Finance, Education and Development Administration

Josiah’s professional life combined finance, education, development administration and humanitarian service. Before completing his university studies, he worked as a financial analyst with Tanzania’s National Bank of Commerce in Dar es Salaam from 1970 to 1972. While living in Indiana after graduate school, he worked as an educator in the South Bend school system from 1980 to 1982.

In 1972, while studying in the United States, Josiah met Esther Lehman, then a college student from Goshen, Indiana. Josiah later remembered that they became acquainted while riding bicycles along the same route to their summer jobs. Their friendship continued during the years that Josiah completed his studies and Esther pursued her medical training. They married in Goshen in 1980.

In 1983, Josiah and Esther moved with their young family to Shirati. For Josiah, returning home was also the beginning of more than two decades of intensive development work with Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania. As Projects Director and head of the Department of Development and Planning, he worked with international donor agencies and administered projects intended to strengthen the infrastructure and institutions serving communities in northern Tanzania.

The range of this work was substantial. Josiah later identified among his major development efforts the expansion of the Shirati water system and electrification from Utegi to Shirati, undertaken with Dr. Glen Brubaker with support from EZE; renovation of the Shirati School of Nursing and Midwifery with support from the Dutch development organization ICCO; establishment of a Community Mobilization Project supported by EZE; and development of a community center initiated by Victor and Viola Dorsch.

These projects reflected an approach that would later become fundamental to SHED: identify practical community needs, build relationships with organizations capable of contributing resources or expertise, and provide strong local administration so that those resources become functioning infrastructure and programs.

Building SHED and Its Partnerships

After decades working within church development structures, Josiah joined other local leaders in establishing the Shirati Health, Education and Development Foundation in 2005–2006. He became SHED’s first Executive Director, serving alongside Rev. Manaen Kawira as Chairman, Josiah Magatti as General Secretary and Dr. Esther Kawira as Medical Director.

SHED allowed Josiah and his colleagues to build on years of experience while developing an independent Tanzanian organization focused on health, education and community development. Josiah brought to the new organization his background in economics, financial administration, donor relations, project management and community development.

One of SHED’s most important early relationships was its partnership with Village Life Outreach Project. Founded by Dr. Christopher Lewis in Cincinnati, Village Life became SHED’s principal international partner in work focused on the communities of Roche, Nyambogo and Burere.

Josiah played a central role in translating that partnership into projects on the ground. In Roche, where community members identified access to health care as a major need, SHED and Village Life began developing what became Roche Health Center. Josiah participated directly in discussions with Rorya District officials as SHED and its partners worked to secure government support for the new health facility.

He also helped oversee the practical work required to develop the project. Early project records show Josiah acting on behalf of SHED in arrangements for the Roche borehole and later managing banking and administrative matters associated with construction of the health center. By the final years of his life, the project had grown from its first treatment building to include staff housing and plans for a much larger health complex.

In Nyambogo, where access to clean water was identified as a central community need, SHED and Village Life worked with Engineers Without Borders at the University of Cincinnati. A borehole, water storage facilities and a distribution system were developed as part of a long-term collaboration involving engineers, SHED staff and local community leadership.

In Burere, the partnership supported the expansion of the local primary school, including construction of additional classrooms with Engineers Without Borders. Josiah’s work helped connect these international engineering and nonprofit partners with the local institutions and communities necessary to implement projects successfully.

Josiah was also directly involved in building Sota Health Clinic. In his own account of his life, he specifically recalled supervising construction of the permanent clinic, which was supported by donors in the United States. Sota became an important SHED health facility serving the surrounding community and supporting the medical work of Dr. Esther Kawira.

His contribution was not limited to construction. Josiah understood that sustainable projects required financial systems, contracts, government relationships, personnel management, banking, procurement, reporting and continuing communication between organizations separated by thousands of miles. His role as Executive Director placed him at the center of those relationships.

This administrative capacity became particularly important when SHED took on a role in international medical research through the Epidemiology of Burkitt Lymphoma in East African Children and Minors, or EMBLEM, Study. Supported by the U.S. National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health, EMBLEM brought together researchers and institutions in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and the United States.

SHED was contracted to coordinate important components of EMBLEM’s work in Tanzania. While Dr. Esther Kawira and Josiah Magatti led major clinical and study operations, Josiah’s leadership as Executive Director provided the organizational platform that enabled the work to function.

After Josiah’s death, Dr. Sam Mbulaiteye of the U.S. National Cancer Institute credited him with helping make EMBLEM’s work in Tanzania possible. He recalled Josiah’s strong work ethic, sense of fairness, positive outlook and determination to modernize Shirati. He particularly emphasized Josiah’s ability to navigate local sensitivities and build trust across cultures and institutions. Under SHED, the Tanzania team became an early leader in several aspects of EMBLEM implementation and regional collaboration.

Josiah’s role as a bridge between communities and international partners extended beyond EMBLEM. SHED hosted students, physicians, engineers, researchers and development professionals from the United States and elsewhere. Visitors relied on SHED not simply for logistical support but for local knowledge, relationships and guidance. Academic records from the University of Cincinnati era describe Josiah and Esther as mentors and hosts to researchers working in Roche, Nyambogo and Burere.

Josiah’s life remained closely connected to the church and community in which he had been raised. Looking back on his career shortly before his death, he described himself as someone who had always been interested in development and in reaching out to people in need. He took particular pride in having returned to Shirati after studying abroad and having remained there to serve his church and community.

His understanding of development was fundamentally long-term. Water systems, electricity, nursing education, community mobilization, schools and health facilities were not isolated projects. They were pieces of a larger effort to create institutions and infrastructure capable of improving people’s lives over generations.

Josiah died on March 26, 2017, at the age of 69. He had served as Executive Director of SHED Foundation from its establishment until his death. Memorial services were held in Indiana and Shirati.

Near the end of the statement he prepared for his own memorial service, Josiah reflected on the work he would leave behind. Among the things he specifically asked God to bless was SHED’s continuing work with its partners, particularly Village Life Outreach Project.

That partnership, and the facilities and programs built during Josiah’s leadership, continued after his death.

Josiah Kawira’s legacy within SHED is therefore not simply that of an administrator or organizational founder. He helped demonstrate how strong local institutions can connect community priorities with outside resources, technical expertise and international partnerships. The water systems, health facilities, educational initiatives and institutional relationships developed during his career remain part of the foundation on which SHED continues to build.

Selected Career Highlights

A Legacy of Development and Partnership

Josiah Kawira believed that development required more than temporary assistance. It required institutions, infrastructure, responsible administration and relationships built over many years.

From water and electrification projects undertaken through the Tanzania Mennonite Church to the health facilities, schools, water systems and international partnerships developed through SHED, his career was devoted to building structures through which communities could continue to benefit long after an individual project ended.

That principle remains at the heart of SHED Foundation today.