The Buhingo Parish is located 80 kilometers from Mwanza city, very close to Lake Victoria. It is situated in the Misungwi district of the Mwanza region, northwest Tanzania. Currently, it is the largest parish in the Mwanza Archdiocese. Buhingo Parish borders the parishes of Missungwi, Ngw’amashimba, Mbarika, the Misasi Mission Station, and Salawe in the Shinyanga Diocese. After the Misasi Mission Station became independent in January 2024, Buhingo Parish retained the mother parish of Buhingo with 23 outstations and the Ibinza Mission Station with 13 outstations and 130 small communities. The Buhingo area has a population of 60,000, of which 25,000 are Catholic believers. For 100 years, it has been served by various priests, including missionaries, particularly the White Fathers (Missionaries of Africa), along with early local priests in Tanzania such as Wilbald Mupapi, Angelo Mwilabure, and Celestine Kipanda “Kasisi.” Mupapi and Kipanda served in Buhingo for approximately 16 years at different times. Buhingo has also been served by the late Bishop Renatus Butibubage of Mwanza. It should be noted that Buhingo Parish traces its history back to Bukumbi Parish, the very first parish established in the Mwanza Archdiocese. Missionary priests arrived in Bukumbi in 1883 from Uganda after facing strong opposition from Protestants and from Kabaka, the king of Buganda. Upon their arrival, they were welcomed by Chief Kiganga of Kigongo and were given land to establish a mission in Bukumbi. Thus, Bukumbi became the first parish of the Mwanza Archdiocese, and various spiritual services began immediately. Later, the missionaries saw the need to expand their spiritual services to various areas, and in 1902, the priests serving Bukumbi Parish opened several outstations in the southern area of Bukumbi, namely Buhingo at that time. The outstations opened in Buhingo during those days included Igudija (Bugisha), Isesa (Gukuma), Igenge, Nyabuhele (Mbalika), and Sasi (Ng’wasagela). The request of Helena Majenga from the Isesa (Gukuma) outstation After the opening of the Isesa (Gukuma) outstation, in 1920, a young girl from that outstation named Ng’wana Majenga bravely went to Bukumbi to request baptism. She was taught Catholic doctrine for two years. In Bukumbi, Ng’wana Majenga was fortunate to meet another girl from Kasololo named Bibiana Fundi, who was 16 years old. Ng’wana Majenga was baptized and given the name Helena. Upon returning to Gukuma (Isesa, now part of Mbalika Parish), she inspired two other girls to embrace the faith. These two girls were baptized and given the names Fransiska Shinaga and Margareth Izengo. Helena Majenga and her friends regularly traveled by boat to Bukumbi each month to receive the Holy Eucharist. During their journey to Bukumbi, they often faced dangers, especially on the lake (Lake Victoria), as they had to ride a boat from Gukuma (Mbalika) to Bukumbi, facing the risks of crocodiles and capsizing. Even after leaving the lake, they had to walk, encountering threats from wild animals along the way. These dangers led Helena Majenga and her friends to write a special message to Father Vekemans (popularly known as Venge), who was serving in Bukumbi: “It’s better for you to come to us in Bulima with Chief Nkondo Lunyalula; ask for a plot to build a mission…” Father Vekemans did not hesitate, and in 1921 he went to Chief Nkondo to request land, where he was given a plot in the Nyabuhele area, about 3 kilometers from Mbalika. However, later, the relationship between Chief Nkondo and Father Vekemans soured after Chief Nkondo believed that the priests would change his children's thinking, leading to differing stances against him. This situation prompted Father Vekemans to confront the chief and “drop the chief's hat” with firmness. Due to this conflict, Father Vekemans decided to move to Kashishi after being warmly received by Chief Mpuya bin Kwangu of Busongo. The missionaries succeeded in establishing a “bush school” in the Kashishi area. In 1922, the priests of Bukumbi recognized Kashishi as a center connecting Buhungukila (south), Nera (east), and Bulima (north). This marked a good beginning for the spread of the Gospel in the areas surrounding Buhingo. Between 1922 and 1923, Father Michel Gass, a French national serving in Bukumbi Parish, tried to start building the first mud church and a temporary house for priests in Kashishi. Initially, it had only two rooms: a dining room and a small room for three people to sleep. The priests slept very cramped, with some sleeping on grass. Later, two priests, Wilbald Mupapi (the parish priest) and Trifoni Rwechungura, arrived by bicycle from Bukumbi to continue the construction work in Kashishi. However, the construction work was not easy as laborers were scarce, some locals refused to help carry stones, timber, and grass, and skilled workers were not easily available. Nonetheless, where there’s a will, there’s a way, for on October 21, 1923, Father Vekemans (Venge) arrived to bless the completed church. It was a day of great joy, as the celebration lasted for two consecutive days, with people eating, drinking, and dancing to traditional drums. On April 19, 1924, the first believers were baptized in the Kashishi Parish. On December 27, 1924, Bishop Joseph Sweens from Bukoba came to inspect the Kashishi mission and even borrowed a vehicle to transport stones for the ongoing construction work there. Bishop Sweens used a donkey for transport. Frequent disasters necessitated the relocation of the parish to the current Buhingo In 1928, there was significant flooding in the Kashishi area due to heavy rains, causing severe damage to the mission there: the priests’ houses were destroyed, structures collapsed, the church roof was blown off, and sacred items were severely damaged. This situation forced the priests to move to the school in Kashishi with great sorrow. The frequent disasters caused by the rains continued to be a major challenge as Kashishi was situated in a lowland area. This prompted Bishop Sweens to sympathize with the priests and decide to move the Kashishi parish to the higher ground of Buhingo, which was drier. The name "Buhingo" is not originally a Sukuma word but comes from the Balongo tribe, as the area was settled by people of the Kilongo tribe who were engaged in the crafting of iron hoes ("magembe") and were also skilled at smelting stones to create iron pieces shaped like tennis balls. The iron piece was called "kihingo." Since the iron piece was called kihingo, the Sukuma began to refer to its makers as Bahingo. Over time, the place where they worked became known as Buhingo. After Bishop Sweens' decision to relocate the parish from Kashishi to Buhingo (where it is currently located), on June 6, 1933, Bishop Sweens arrived in Buhingo with Brother Beatus, a construction expert (who also built Nyegezi Seminary), to begin surveying the land for the Buhingo Mission and collaborated with the faithful to clear the area and drive away wild animals. They decided to build a church using the design of the traditional Sukuma houses of that time. This is how the Buhingo mission was born. The first believers were Helena Majenga, Margareth Izengo, Fransiska Shinaga, Sabina Kadito (grandmother of the late Br. Rocy Mwebeya), Elizabeth Nyigesa, and Helena Ngw’elemi (mother of Honorata). The first catechist to serve in Kashishi was Raymund Muswaga. Later, a school was built. Currently, Buhingo Parish has 36 outstations and the Ibinza Mission Station. Over the past 100 years, Buhingo Parish has made significant developmental strides, including the construction of strong and permanent churches at the outstations, building priests' houses in the mission station, improvements to the large priests' house built by the missionaries, and the construction of a new priests' house in Buhingo. In these 100 years, Buhingo Parish has produced three local priests: Father Alex Kitwala, Father Moses Mapela, and Father William Ndhone. Buhingo Parish also has major seminarians in training for the priesthood and minor seminarians in the seminaries of Nyegezi, Makoko, Shanwa, and Sengerema. However, despite these successes, there remain harmful customs, beliefs, and practices in the Buhingo area, such as the belief that children born as twins bring curses to the community, residents collecting money to bring in someone to invoke rain (abagemi ba mbula) during droughts, and the killing of women under the belief of gaining wealth. Alongside these challenges, the size of the parish and the number of outstations have posed obstacles to effective pastoral care. Buhingo Parish celebrated its 100th Anniversary on July 22, 2023. The Mass was led by Bishop Simon Masondole of the Bunda Diocese, along with His Grace Archbishop Renatus Nkwande of the Mwanza Archdiocese, and was attended by priests and thousands of faithful.