Story of Kowak

Kowak was a Catholic mission started in 1930 by missionaries of Africa known as the "White Fathers", because of their garb. They were replaced by the Maryknoll Fathers and Sisters (Americans) in 1946. In addition to a large church (600 seats) Maryknoll built and operated a medical dispensary which became Kowak Hospital (172 beds) in 2009 and a school which became Kowak Girls’ Secondary School in 1992. Tanzanian priests and sisters of the Diocese of Musoma eventually took over from Maryknolls. The Bishop asked the Sisters of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (SABS) from India to take over management of the hospital about 1996 and the Girls’ Secondary School in 2013.

Maryknoll Sisters operated the Kowak Health Center until the 1980’s and then were replaced by the Maryknoll Lay Missioners (MKLM) until about 1996 when the Sisters of Adoration of the Blessed sacrament (SABS) arrived. Fr James Conard was a Maryknoll priest who had been in other parishes in Tanzania since 1956. He arrived at Kowak in 1978 and started making many improvements. He eventually expanded the health care center to a hospital and built a girls’ high school in 1992. It was started by American sisters and then given to a local African order of sisters. In 2013 they were replaced by the SABS sisters.  It is a boarding school for 500+ girls, most of who have attended English medium primary schools in the cities.

Fr Conard, the Maryknoll pastor at Kowak, enjoyed hosting lay missioners and American volunteers over the last 40 years and they really enjoyed their work at the hospital and high school. The lay missioners would usually stay for one MKLM contract or 3 ½ years while the short term volunteers would stay from 1 to 6 months. One couple from Poland, Barbara and Alex stayed for 6 years and Tom Scott from Kansas stayed for about 10 years after his contract as a lay missioner. He and Kathy and Jay Montgomery, a volunteer couple from Colorado decided to form this non-profit (NGO). Former volunteers Henry and Jeanne Lachowski from Utah are deeply involved, with Henry joining the FOK board in 2020. Our primary goal is to facilitate financial support of the mission and students with donations from friends, former volunteers, former supporters of Fr Conard and the general public.