“Two things have changed life in East Africa”

In Kenya, we were told there are 2 things that have changed life in Kenya – the cell phone and the motorcycle. The same seems true in Tanzania. The cell phone has made communication much easier and almost every adult has one. They are often in contact with friends and family members from a distance, or they are conducting some kind of business. And motorcycles are abundant. The government has allowed their import with reduced taxes so they are more affordable and many are used as taxis. It is not unusual to see 3 or 4 adults on a motorcycle that they have hired. There are usually several motorcycles waiting at any bus stand or other town center, available for hire. They have made quick transportation available to those who can pay a little more than they would pay for a seat on a minibus. It makes it a little tedious driving through towns, because the motorcycles seem almost as abundant as mosquitoes, darting out into any space that opens up. In the more developed countries, we tend to take communication and transportation for granted. They provide for efficient, productive interactions between persons, and it is good to see it developing in Africa, where people are motivated and creative, but sometimes hindered by the lack of infrastructure for efficient communication and transportation.

Weekend in Shirati

Last Friday we drove from Nyabange to Shirati, where we lived for 4 years in the 1980’s. We have been in Nyabange almost a week and have been doing repairs and cleaning the house, finding places to put our things, talking to old friends to get reacquainted. It has been a week of many feelings and memories. People ask us if we see changes. There are more houses in the surrounding village, so the population has increased. The main road has been built and transportation is much easier between towns. Yesterday’s trip to Shirati took us half as long as it used to, about an hour and a half.
Yet, life in the village is not easy. Many do not have cash-paying jobs and rely on their gardens to produce food to eat and a little to sell. Water supply is a problem many places. Our house in Nyabange is about one mile from Lake Victoria and there is a supply system, but the pump has been stolen and has not yet been replaced. We do not have “running” water, we have “walking” water. We are grateful for a water tank that catches rain water from the roof and provide us with a regular supply, just not in the pipes that supply the kitchen and bathroom.
Shirati is the placed where the first Mennonite missionaries entered Tanzania in 1934, almost 80 years ago. The tree where they built their first temporary house is still standing. It is also the location of the hospital that developed out of the early efforts to meet medical needs. Today it is a government-supported hospital that provides quality care. It also has a nursing school that has developed a good reputation. The church views the physical care offered at Shirati as a part of the gospel, the good news that God cares for people. They say that Jesus preached and taught, but he also healed physical illness, so therefore both are essential parts of the Good News of the Kingdom of God. And that is the gospel being presented at Shirati.

Kenya Mennonite Church

As of last weekend, we have now visited all seven dioceses of Kenya Mennonite Church (KMC). Most of the Mennonite churches in Kenya are in the southwest, in Nyanza Province. The first churches were the result of evangelism by believers from Tanzania Mennonites who were touched by the East African revival movement and their fellow Luo tribespeople across the border in Kenya about their newfound vibrant faith. The growth of the church was also strengthened by families who had moved to Tanzania for jobs, returned to their homeland after Tanzanian independence.

An early Mennonite church near Muhoro Bay, Kenya, built by missionary Clyde Shenk in the 1970's

Kenya Mennonite Church became formally independent in the 1970’s and has continued to grow. From reports I have gathered from the bishops, the present membership in KMC is about 6,000 members. The churches are located across Kenya, from a small congregation in Malindi on the Indian Ocean, to Siaya District in the west, near Uganda.

With bishop Elisha Osewe and pastor Charles at Kigoto Mennonite Church

In all the churches we visited, the bishops spoke of the need to train leaders for their churches. It is 20 years since the TEE (Theological Education by Extension) training program was offered in KMC, and many of those who participated in that have now retired. A few persons have studied at a residential theological college, either the Mennonite Theological College in Tanzania, or a college in Kenya. But it does not provide enough leaders to meet the need.
We are encouraging the bishops to consider “grass-roots” training that is locally led and focuses on the practical aspects of ministry, instead of relying on resources and “experts” from outside. We are preparing training sessions to equip the local pastors to train their lay leaders, following the example of Jesus training his disciples, and Paul, as he wrote in 2 Timothy 2:2, encouraging Timothy to pass on what he learned from Paul, to “faithful men who will teach others.” It is a new way of looking at leadership development for most of the present leaders, because the normal educational models emphasize academic learning based on lectures. We expect to begin the program in early 2013.

Children gathering for worship on Sunday, October 14 at Kigoto Mennonite Church, Victoria Diocese

Now we are ready to move on to Tanzania and begin a similar round of visits to the Tanzanian dioceses. We are encouraged to see the commitment of the bishops and pastors to strengthen the church through leadership development. Continue to keep these efforts in your prayers. Pray for the leaders in Kenya Mennonite Church. Most are bivocational and are supported by other jobs, since the church does not have funds to pay them, so they often feel stretched and tired. But they are not giving up. We are looking forward to walking with them for the next few years.

Africa Update

We have been in Kenya about 2 weeks now, and will be here for about another week. We had one trip to western Kenya on the first weekend to talk with the Mennonite bishops in that particular area about the needs as they see them for training leaders in their churches. The one that probably impressed me the most is the bishop who said that he oversees 8 pastors, and only 1 of them has any training in church leadership or biblical studies. He also said that he oversees 11 churches, but 2 of them are "dying out" because they have no leader. I asked him if he has plans to start any churches in the next year, he said there are 4 towns he would like to start churches, but he has no one with leadership experience or training to put there. All the leaders I talk to tell me the same thing. So we are looking at ways we can respond to help them provide training.

The Mennonite church was started in Tanzania almost 80 years ago, and now there are about 400 churches and around 60,000 members. By comparison, Lancaster Mennonite Conference dates back over 200 years, and has grown how large? It seems it does make a difference when the church makes it a clear priority to reach out.

It has been a good experience getting acquainted again with the African setting. We enjoy warm days, not too hot, and cool nights. Nairobi is about 1 mile above sea level, so that keeps it from getting too hot. Nairobi is busy city with too many cars and buses, and lots of people. Language has not been a problem, out Swahili came right back. The same with driving on the left side of the road, which is where we drive in East Africa, unless it is to go around a pothole, which there are plenty of! Our days have been fairly relaxed, with occasional meetings with people about some part of church leadership. Tomorrow we leave for another round of visits with church leaders in another part of western Kenya, and we will be gone almost a week. Then we come back to Nairobi, collect our luggage, and leave for Tanzania. We expect to use most of the rest of the year to travel to churches and talk with the leaders about their training needs, and then begin with a program early 2013.

We have been able to stay in touch with our family. A cell phone call from Kenya is only about 3 cents a minute to call the US, so we take advantage of the cheap rates. We have not yet been able to Skype, but we plan to do that once we get a little more settled. The technology available today really makes a big difference from when we first went to East Africa 34 years ago, when we had letters only that took at least 3 weeks to get there, by airmail. Now it is much easier to keep in contact.

We are staying at the Mennonite Guest House when in Nairobi, and it is a sort of oasis in a crowded city, with a large grassy yard,good meals, and facilities mostly up to western standards. But we will also enjoy getting out and enjoy the down-to-earth life of rural Africa. So that is a little glimpse into our world. Thank you for your generous, sincere support of us, and continue to pray - for our safety in traveling, for our physical health, and for clear thinking about how to do our part in strengthening the churches in this part of the world.

Joe and Gloria Bontrager

Sunday, October 7

We are sitting on the veranda at Mennonite Guest House in Nairobi, listening to the birds singing, enjoying the flowers, and the sun is beginning to sink. At the time I am writing, most of our family and friends in the US are in church. We have already been to church, had lunch, and evening is coming. It is a pleasant evening, not too hot, and a light breeze. This morning we worshiped with Nairobi Mennonite Church, pretty much on the other side of the city, and it is where our family attended during the 2 years we were in Nairobi over 20 years ago. It was good to hear the spirited choir and to interact with the people there. Most of the congregation is young adult, some are students, and most of them are unemployed, or only occasionally employed and that makes it difficult to maintain a thriving congregation. Last Sunday we worshipped with a rural congregation in an isolated area where most of the members are subsistence farmers with little cash income. But in all these situations, we see expressions of faith and hope, which carry them forward.
This week, Wednesday, we will drive to western Kenya again, this time to the southern part, to visit 3 more church areas, and we will be there through the weekend. In the places we have visited so far, we have found a good bit of interest in leadership development. The bishops tell us of their plans to start new churches, but they have no one with training to provide leadership. A bishop told us that only 1 of his 8 pastors has any kind of training for church leadership. So a vision is emerging for a locally-based program that will provide the basic training in biblical studies and leadership skills. We have asked ourselves, how did our fathers manage to be pastors with their limited education? They were mostly self-taught and did a lot of reading and study. Here, reading material is limited so there is not much opportunity to learn from others. Our goal is provide access to training that will give new leaders a good foundation for their leadership.
This week we applied for a new passport for Gloria, because her present passport expires in January. Yes, we should have done that before we left the US, but it did not seem so urgent then. But it affects how we get work permits and visas, so we have submitted the application and it takes up to 2 weeks to get here. That will delay our travel to Tanzania, but we are using the extra time to make some contacts here.

Safari to western kenya

Joe Shenk, former missionary to Tanzania used to tell us, "Every safari should be an adventure." We seem to agree that at least here in EA, that this often is true. We pray for safety in travel, we are wished a blessing by everyone before we leave for safe arrival, and even though we sometimes experience difficulty, we can also see God's hand of provision in our travels. On this trip we traveled over roads that needed lots of repair, so frequently we found ourselves off the side of the road on detours while the people walking were on the road surfaces.We also had trouble with the engine overheating several times, so were delayed several hours trying to cool down the engine by any means we had, such as using our supply of drinking water, and asking for assistance from local people who congregated around us. But we did arrive safely at the locations in Songhor and Siaya districts and were received very warmly by our leaders there.

Here is Bishop Moses Otieno and his wife at their home.

The desire for and expectations of our work among the churches was evident. We had conversations and listening sessions in groups of two or three in Songhor and also with a group of 12 leaders in the Siaya district. This is a picture of the Mennonite church at Songhor, including Gloria, the bishop, and several other persons.

Pray that the Holy Spirit will bring together their vision and our vision of leadership training to be one. We thoroughly enjoyed our times of brainstorming, but did sense that it might take a while to figure out a program that is realistic with their resources and our capabilities. We are excited about what we see is already being done and hope to encourage and enlarge their vision.

Taking a rest stop along the way at the Tea Hotel, Kericho.

Gloria, for Joe and the Menno churches in EA!