ITO MISSION REPORT TO MAHANGO
AUGUST 17-19, 2012
PREPARED BY EVELYN PARABOY KANEY
First of all I give thanks to our Father in heaven, our brothers, sisters and Workers Together With Him, USA, who made the mission trip to Mahango possible. Also, I would like to thank the ITO group who were willing to leave their children, cows, families and daily responsibilities behind to travel and minister to their fellow Maasai people of Mahango. The mission trip has been postponed several times due to deaths, traditional ceremonies and prayers that took place in July and August for both Mahango and Matebete. We thank God that finally, he gave us the permission to go to Mahango in August 17th.
We left Matebete around 11:20 AM. We hired a car that took the group directly to Mahango from Matebete. Thirteen people went to Mahango. There were six women and seven men. Eleven of those came from Matebete and two of those were from Mabadaga village. Mabadaga is about 15 minute drive from Chimala. As usual, people who attended the seminar came from four different churches of Matebete.
When Patrick notified people of Mahango about our visit in August 17t, our hosts in Mahango were resisting. They told him please do not come as we have a very important occasion called in “Lorbaak.” Lorbaak is a special friendship ceremony where a man finds another man from his age set with whom he has never quarrelled in life and he gives him a special part of meat to mark that friendship. The two will go on to respect each other. On behalf of ITO, Patrick told them this time we will go ahead and come to Mahango despite the ceremony. Indeed, when we arrived at Mahango around 2:30 PM, all people were still celebrating the Loorbak ceremony. We went directly to church where we unloaded our belongings and the car that brought us to Mahango left. Luckily a few minutes after our arrival, Charles, George Oripu’s brother, passed near the church. He had his motorcycle taking a person to the bus stand. He came to greet us. He started taking our belongings to his house. We prayed and thanked God for bringing us safely to Mahango. We continued to sing and praise. Women and children started to fill the church slowly. Women helped Charles t take the rest of our belongings to his place.
Patrick gave a brief introduction regarding our visit to Mahango. It was decided that since many people were still celebrating, we should decide a time to meet in the evening. Patrick asked people of Mahango the best time that will work for them in the evening. People said 8:00 PM after meals will be the best time to meet for teachings in the evening. Our group left to Charles' house for rest, lunch/evening meal. During the evening, the group was working on setting up the tent. I saw great team work in that process.
In the evening the service started by singing and praising. The service started around 8:15 p.m. Anna preached during the evening. The word of God was from Isaiah 58:8. She emphasized that people of Mahango and Matebete have same lifestyle. That is, they depend on cattle for their living. She said people of Matebete left behind cows, families and daily obligations to minister to the people of Mahango. She asked them to give their time and listen to what ITO has brought for them. Again, Patrick asked the people in the church the best time that will work for them to attend classes the next day. They said 12:00 PM is the best time for them. They had many chores in the morning including taking cattle to drink water, pasture and milking in the morning. We prayed and went to sleep around 11:30 PM. Some women slept in the tent while others slept in the house. The men also slept in a different house.
Mahango was very windy and dusty. I was among the women who slept in the tent. Around 3 AM, strong winds began. None of us could sleep! We slept again when the wind slowed down. It was very cold too. Winds were strong in the morning as well. The tent fell down.
August 18
We had tea in the morning and left for house to house visitations. The group was divided into three groups of four people each. You can see the groups in one of the photos that I sent you. Each group headed to a different direction. For my group, our first stop was at Masiyoi’s house. Members of my group included me, Anna, Julius (Patrick’s assistant) and Ricado. Masiyoi has been suffering from swollen legs and other parts of the body. It started when she was bitten by a scorpion. The swelling started with her left leg, then her left leg, her arm, face and now the chest. Masiyoi told us that her children have taken her to traditional doctors, different hospitals including Muhimbili Referral Hospital in Dar es Salaam, the largest referral hospital in the nation without any success of healing. During the visit, the following verses were read during the ministry in Maasai Language, 1 Corinthians 1:4 and Hebrew 1: 4-5. We prayed for Masiyoi’s healing. Masiyoi, who was sniffing tobacco, was advised to stop sniffing tobacco. She was told that in the Masan culture, if an elder was to give blessings, she must spit tobacco and then clean the mouth prior to giving blessings. Masiyo agreed to stop sniffing tobacco. I asked Masiyo permission to take photos of her swollen body and she agreed. We continued to minister to other homes then went for lunch.
Afternoon service began at 2:12 PM. The time that was set before, 12:00 PM, was not realistic. Patrick preached. He preached about “Now I am a Christian.” He said that a Christian life has many advantages. He read the word of God from Matthew 16:26. Christians should practice good faith and be good examples at home and not in church only. That is, they should be kind, respect, and love each other outside church premises. As it does not do good for Christians to show off that their kind, humble, loving, respect in a few hours inside the church. He also read Matthew 26:28. He asked the following question, “When do you stop to give advice to children? People answered; there is no specific time that we as parents stop to give advice to the children. The advice stops when the children have grown up and have children of their own whom they can advise! He went on to say we came to Mahango because of the wisdom of God.
The service ended at 3:28 PM. It was agreed to return at 8:00 p.m. after the meals for the evening session.
The evening session started at 8:30 PM. and had several teachers, each one teaching for ten to fifteen minutes. There were four teachers who taught during the evening. Leinge, Monika, Richard and Teten taught about different topics. Books that were read included 1 Corinthians 3:18 to 20 and Ephesians 6:9. Teachers emphasized the importance of obeying parents. We prayed and went to sleep.
August 19
On Sunday afternoon, Leinge from our group preached. Leinge is a minister for Tanzania Assemblies of God at Mabadaga. There was also an Evangelist from Kangaga who was present during the Sunday worship. He read John 4:9–16, John 11:25, and John 6:26-29. He said God has given us control to overcome many bad things through the word of God. We should also desire the word of God.
We left Mahango after the Sunday worship. We left at 4:00 PM. We hired a car from Mahango to Rujewa. We took a bus from Rujewa to Chimala and then hired a different car from Chimala to Matebete. We arrived at Matebete at 7:50 PM. The car brought us to the center where we prayed and had brief evaluation about our trip as to what was good about the trip what should be improved next time. After evaluations each person went home.
Observations
During our stay in Mahango, we noted that men were not coming to the seminar. Only women and children showed up. Our hosts said it is normal. That is the trend even on Sundays.
There are four Maasai stations (sub–congregations) within the Kangaga Lutheran Parish. One woman/church elder was telling us that the parish made a decision at a certain point to convince Maasai to leave their stations behind and go to worship at other non-Maasai stations. The Maasai stations include Mahango, Mogero, Jebegenja and Pakarambo.
The Maasai of Mahango were supposed to join Itunduma. The Maasai of Mogero were supposed to join Chang’ombe. The Maasai of Jebegenja were supposed to join Mawindi. The Maasai of Pakarambo were supposed to join Kigunge
According to the elder, the main reason that the parish wanted those Maasai stations to join non Maasai stations was due to low offerings. The elder said those claims were false. The parish has 14 stations total.
The Mahango have refused to worship at Itunduma. They told the parish that they will not go to worship at another place. They will continue to worship at Mahango until God gives them an evangelist. They went on to say that the parish did not help them with anything when they were building the church. The church elders were not happy about the decision made by the parish. They thought that the parish will do more ministering especially to their sons and husbands who were not coming to church, but instead it wants them to relocate! Elders at Mahango want to convince other Maasai living in the above stations to refuse the parish’s decision. Since Mahango people refused to go and worship at Itunduma, the parish continued to send them an evangelist.
There were some women from Mogero, a nearby village, who came to Mahango for the Loorbak ceremony. They told me that we should also remember to visit them on the coming mission trips!
Evaluations
1. The number of days for the mission trips should be increased to at least four.
2. Lanterns/flashlights are important during mission trips. It was dark at the place that we were staying and at church during the evening sessions
3. A second tent will be helpful so that women and men have a place to sleep during the mission trips
The above evaluations were given by the people who went to Mahango.
Here again is the link to see the PHOTOS from this mission.
This report was prepared by Evelyn Paraboy Kaney on August 22nd, 2012.
© Workers Together With Him, Inc.