Christianity in Central Tanzania by Mwita Akiri

Author:Mwita Akiri
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783688029
Publisher: Langham Creative Projects

Loi (whose date of birth is estimated to be 1890) lived many years after her ordeal during the First World War and died on 2 February 1979.[310]

6.4 Conclusion

This chapter has explored the missionary contributions of the indigenous teachers, besides their work in literacy training and the catechetical process. It has examined the life and work of some of the leading indigenous staff and has analysed their wartime experiences and contributions. It has been noted that their work was indispensable to the expansion of the mission work. The biographical notes of some of the leading teachers have shown that they had different qualities, ranging from Damari Sagatwa, one of the indigenous women missionaries and a prominent Bible woman, who was constantly on the move; to trustworthy leaders like Andrea Mwaka.

The analysis has shown how others, like Yohana Malecela, became poachers-turned-gamekeepers – the rainmaker who became a pioneer missionary and drew other rainmakers into the Christian faith. The contribution of Danieli Mbogo, a reliable companion of many CMS missionaries and a man who often suffered greatly in his missionary career -- and had a price on his head during the First World War – has been noted, as well as the suffering of Loi, his wife. Kaguru leaders with pastoral and communication gifts, like Haruni Mbega and Daudi Muhando (the latter being able to write and publish), have been studied. These indigenous missionaries and teachers assimilated the Christian teaching they received and made it their own, becoming examples to those they led. So much so, that when they were taken away and interned hundreds of miles away at Tabora, the Christians themselves could not let the work suffer and vanish.

Yet, it shouldn’t be forgotten where it all started: under baobab trees and in mud and wattle huts – the literacy centres and preaching places. Some of the inadequacies of that type of education in helping converts interact with their pre-Christian religious life were examined in chapter 5. Despite that, their contribution as defenders of the “Christian ideal” was acknowledged.

Yet, their contributions and loyalty to their God and the mission during the war was later to be faced with new challenges. The Germans now gone (after the First World War), the British took over the administration of Tanzania. The system of education within which they served – one dominated and characterized by the out-schools – became a focus of criticism. It was viewed as one that failed in other respects, particularly in relating classroom knowledge to real life situations. Its evangelistic and literary nature were now to be scrutinized – a process that began soon after the First World War but gained momentum in Tanzania in the mid-1920s. It is the issues surrounding mission schools in the post-war period, and the supposed redefinition of the role of the indigenous teacher, that are addressed in the next chapter.

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