A church in Tanzania has called on the Anglican Church in Canada to send volunteers as it faces a staffing crisis. The Canadian Church has responded with a call for more members to join its volunteering programme.

A letter from a partner church in Dodoma, Tanzania, to the head of the Volunteers in Mission (VIM) programme of the Anglican Church of Canada read, “The staffing situation will be desperate in July, so any help will be appreciated”.

Ms Cruse highlighted the letter as proof that the need for volunteers to support VIM, a programme that enables people from a variety of backgrounds to take part in voluntary service for one to two years, was now urgent.

The last time VIM suffered a shortage of volunteers was after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks – when people were reluctant to travel or venture out of their comfort zones, Ms Cruse told the Anglican Journal.

She added: "It's hard to predict when people will hear the call to serve overseas.”

The range of people volunteers that have been requested are varied, from teachers to communications officers and paramedics.

In the diocese of Colombo in Sri Lanka there is also the urgent need for more English teachers. Colombo Bishop Duleep de Chickera said: “We would normally require a two-year period but in the circumstances will be happy to receive people even for one year”.

Ms Cruse stressed that skills, qualifications and professional background was not an issue in the given situation. She said: “We are prepared to match their skills with the needs.”

The diocese of Masasi, Tanzania, has put in an urgent request for a new head of its English department in the diocese’s junior seminary, while Dodoma in Tanzania, has said it needs at least nine teachers for its early years and middle elementary schools.