Kabwa

A couple expatriate coworkers visit a Kabwa church


Paul Meja, one of the Kabwa translators, teaches in a reviewers workshop


The Kabwa language committee, plus John Masige (Kabwa translator) in the back row wearing the gold shirt


The Kabwa are the smallest language group we're working with, but that has nothing to do with the importance of the work or the vitality of the language. Kabwa speakers are estimated to number about 10,000, with about 1500 of those living outside of the main language area. They tend to be poor and to get by with little education, but that lifestyle also means that many of the children tend to stay near home and rely heavily on their Kabwa language for communication rather than the national language of Swahili.

Agriculture is a critical part of life for all Kabwa people, and that means they live vulnerable lives. No rain results in no food, and it's not at all uncommon for families to get by with just one meal a day.

There is little variety in churches. Most churches are either Roman Catholic, Anglican, or Seventh Day Adventist. Approximately 70% of the people claim to be Christian, but there are still a significant number of people who follow traditional religions. As with other nearby groups, men oftentimes prioritize other activities over attending church, so the ratio of women to men in a church service tends to be remarkably high.

John Masige, one of the Kabwa translators, beams every time he gets to tell to story of reading Luke 15 in one of the Catholic churches in the Kabwa area a few months ago. He says the "wazee" ("old guys") were overjoyed and absolutely loved it. Having the opportunity to hear God's word in their language just brings a huge smile to their face. Masige is one of many Kabwa men who face the challenge of living in Musoma town while their family stays in the village. Fortunately for him, it's only a half hour trip to get to the village and he's able to travel home every weekend, but it's a difficult sacrifice. His family (including his mother and father) maintains the farm plots where they grow cassava, beans, millet, and a little bit of corn. He has four children 10 and under, and the youngest has severe mental disabilities, requiring constant care.

Paul Meja is the other translator and his story is quite similar. He stays in town while his family stays in the village. He's the father of only two children, but his family also cares for the two children of his brother who passed away. They farm similar crops as Masige's family, adding sweet potatoes to the list (quite different than the sweet potatoes most North Americans are familiar with). He's actively involved in the Catholic church, and he contributes a lot of intelligence and many good ideas around the office.

We're excited with the progress that has been made by Masige and Meja with translation. The book of Luke is complete and ready to be printed, and we anticipate that this small but passionate group of people will be ready to celebrate later this year.

Zanaki

Andrew and Shem, one of the Zanaki translators


Futakamba, the other Zanaki translator


A Mennonite church in Bumangi, a Zanaki village


Cattle at the Buhemba Rural Agricultural Centre, a large training farm in the Zanaki area

There are about 100,000 Zanaki people. The first president of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere, was a Zanaki, and because he was the beloved father of the country, this gives great pride to the Zanaki. Nyerere was a strong Catholic and translated the gospels and Acts into Swahili poetry, as well as portions of Shakespeare. He also attempted to write a bit in the Zanaki language and did what he could to help his people. In the Zanaki area there is a museum dedicated to him and since he had a large family, many people are proud to be his relatives.

The gospel of Matthew was translated into Zanaki in the 1960s, as was a small hymnal. People found the gospel difficult to read and there were not literacy classes to teach people how to read in Zanaki, but the two books were quite popular. In the mid-1900s, Mennonite missionaries planted churches and many even learned the Zanaki language. The Anglican church began an agricultural mission and reached out to local people through teaching farming principles and helping people with projects like growing sunflowers to produce oil. There are many churches in the Zanaki area - Seventh Day Adventist, Catholic, Anglican, Mennonite, many small Pentecostal denominations, and a few others. There are some Muslim Zanaki and many still follow traditional religion.

In traditional Zanaki religion, there are many procedures which must be followed. For example, every clan has a taboo animal that they are not to touch or eat. Common taboo animals are hippos, snakes, and zebras. How someone is buried is very important - men must be buried in a blanket with their heads pointed east and women in a sheet with their heads pointed west. One must never walk over a grave, because it is believed that the spirit of a dead person hovers over the grave until a baby born into their clan is given their name, and then the spirit enters that baby. The spirit of a deceased man can cause both good and bad for his family, and the way to keep the spirits happy is to give them something (honey, milk, alcohol) every year or so. If something goes wrong, the witchdoctor will find out in a dream which spirit is unhappy and let the family know. And if someone in the clan does something wrong, often it is required to sacrifice a black sheep in order to be clean again.

There are two Zanaki translators, Shem and Futakamba. Shem is married and has four kids. We were the best man and maid of honor at his formal wedding (he and his wife had a traditional wedding years ago, but this was their church wedding) in October 2010, which was a very good experience. Shem grew up at the local Mennonite Bible college where both of his parents worked, so he's very used to being around international people, especially Americans. He's a leader in his local Mennonite church and loves to talk and laugh and be with people.

Futakamba is a pastor with the Anglican church and is married and has four children and has (informally) two orphans as well. He also loves to talk, so you can imagine what the noise level in the Zanaki office is usually like! Futakamba is very well-educated; he has studied theology at universities in Kenya and South Africa. He has a great sense of humor (as does Shem), and is good at coming up with creative ways to make a verse sound very good in Zanaki while still maintaining the accuracy of it.

Ngoreme

There are about 55,000 Ngoreme people. They live on the east side of Mara Region, relatively far from Musoma. The Great Rift Valley runs along their land, creating a long, high cliff and many hills and valleys.

The Ngoreme language was one of the first four languages with which the Mara Cluster began work back in 2006. Teams of Ngoreme people came into Musoma town to help with alphabet and writing system development workshops, and people from the Mara Cluster went out to Ngoreme area to do reseach and build relationships with local people. Two Ngoreme Bible translators were hired in February 2009, the same time as the translators in most of the other languages of the cluster. Unfortunately, both have since left the work and only two chapters of Luke have been completed. (Thus I do not have very much information about the Ngoreme people, nor any pictures of their area.)

We plan to restart work in the Ngoreme language in 2012. Please pray that we will be able to hire two good translators with a vision for the work and that there will be adequate support available to train and supervise them.

Suba-Simbiti

First of all, I apologize for promising a post about a different people group every two to three days and then taking quite a bit of time off! Due to Andrew's busy schedule, we've decided to not go in alphabetical order for the groups and will add more posts as we're able (we divided the groups between us).

The Suba and Simbiti are two different people groups that have a combined population of 98,700. They speak the same language and have a similar history. They live just north of Musoma town on a peninsula extending out into Lake Victoria and most people are fishers and farmers.

The first denomination to take root among the Suba-Simbiti was Roman Catholic, and it remains the largest to this day. There are also a few Anglican, Mennonite, and Pentecostal churches in their area. The Seventh Day Adventist church has recently built quite a few church buildings, but their attendance is still low. Some tensions exist between the Catholics and the other denominations, and when someone changes from attending Roman Catholic church to going to a different one, that person's family and friends often give him/her a very hard time. Other than one village which is almost entirely Muslim, there are not many Muslim Suba-Simbiti people.

Traditional religion is strong among the Suba-Simbiti. The sun is the primary god, and witch doctors and rainmakers are powerful people. As with neighboring people groups, they believe that the spirits of their ancestors must be kept happy, as they can cause both good and bad things to happen. Adherents to traditional religion persecute those who leave it to join one of the non-Catholic local churches and threats of curses and displeased spirits are issues for new believers.

The two Simbiti translators are pictured above (they are Simbiti, but are translating for the Suba as well). The one on the left who is pointing at the computer is Robert Mago, a pastor with the Free Pentecostal Church of Tanzania, a denomination with its roots in the Swedish Free Mission. He is married and has eleven children ranging in age from about 2-25 years old (including three sets of twins). The one sitting in front of the computer is Albinus Waynse, a pastor with the Mennonite Church of Tanzania. He is married and has six children (also including one set of twins - maybe twins run in Simbiti families?). They are dedicated to the work and believe that having Scriptures in Suba-Simbiti will create a significant impact among their people.

Jita

Some Jita ladies in the village



Magesa, Jita translator



Magoma, Jita translator



Neema, Jita translator


There are about 205,000 Jita people spread out over a large section of Mara Region. Their land borders on the lake and many Jita people are fishermen. They are one of the largest groups in Mara and in the past they have fought with various other groups and emerged victorious. There are not ongoing problems; those wars were quite some time ago, but the result is that the Jita are a strong group in the area.

The New Testament was translated into Jita in the 1950s, but unfortunately the translation used a mixture of three different dialects/related languages, and so people have a very difficult time reading it. The writing system was also a bit complicated and was not taught to new readers, so that alone prevented people from reading it. Now we are starting the translation project anew and being careful to make sure it is actually Jita!

There has been quite a bit of Christian outreach done among the Jita over the years and now there are many churches in their area. The largest is Seventh Day Adventist, followed by Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Mennonite. There are also Anglican churches and a wide variety of Pentecostal denominations. There are only a few Muslims.

However, just because a large percentage of Jita are Christians in name does not mean that they are not also practicing traditional religion as well. Traditionally, Jita people go to small tree groves and sacrifice animals to pacify spirits. Ancestor spirits are an important part of their worldview and people frequent witch doctors when they have problems to see which ancestor's spirit is causing trouble for them. The spirits can also cause good to happen; they are not only bad.

There are three Jita translators, all of whom are pictured above. Magesa and Magoma are both pastors with Pentecostal Assemblies of God, and Neema is an evangelist and choir leader with the Mennonite church.

Magesa is quite serious and is very focused on his work when at the office. He is married and has six young children. His wife still lives in their village home because she has to take care of Magesa's developmentally disabled younger brother, but he tries to go home one weekend a month to visit. He and his wife are also taking care of their niece, whose father is in prison and whose mother has AIDS. Magesa is very energetic and rarely sits still, and he's a force to be reckoned with on the soccer field when we have office games.

Neema is single, but likes to joke about finding herself a good man sometime soon. She's by far the best of the three when it comes to computers and likes to help the men when they are confused by their machines. She's a cheerful worker and servant - she refills everyone's water glasses in the office, helps the office cook during tea break, and volunteers to lead our morning prayer service when the usual leader is away. Singing is Neema's passion in life and she spends a lot of her free time working with her church choir.

Magoma likes to ask the difficult questions about the Bible. Even if he knows how to translate the verse into Jita, if he doesn't fully understand what the verse means, he wants to ask questions and discuss it until he feels confident that he knows the message behind the words. He's a slow, careful worker who is utterly befuddled by his computer. Magoma is married and has eight children ranging in age from quite young to in their late teens. It costs a lot to take care of a large family and he is often stressed by financial problems.

Ikoma-Nata-Isenye

One of the more unique church buildings in Ikoma-land



The Ikoma, Nata, and Isenye people groups (combined population 36,000) live on the edge of the Serengeti national park and it's not unheard of for elephants and giraffe to wander through their area. Musoma (the town in which we live, the regional capital) is the closest town to their areas, and it is about six hours away, so rural and remote are legitimate words to use when describing that part of Mara Region. Andrew did his village homestay in the Ikoma area, and as you might recall, it was far out enough that he had to take a bus, ride on the back of a motorcycle, ford a river on foot, and walk a while to get there!

The Ikoma and Nata languages are closely related and Isenye is a little bit different. At this point we are confident that the Nata people will be able to use the Ikoma Scriptures, but need to do a little more research before we know for sure about the Isenye. These three groups get along well, but there are two other nearby groups with which they have historically had problems - the Kuria, who look down on them, and the Maasai, who have cattle-thieving battles with them. Wild animals, particularly lions, have been these peoples' other main threat.

In the Ikoma area there are several denominations, including Roman Catholic, Mennonite, Anglican, and a few Pentecostal ones, but there are not many Christians. The god of the Ikoma is a pair of elephant tusks. Being Ikoma and worshiping these tusks are inseparable things. When people go to church and read the Bible in Swahili, others consider them to be practicing an outside religion.

A few years ago I had a moving conversation with an elderly Ikoma believer who was passionate about the Bible being translated into Ikoma. He told me that not until they can read the Word in their own language will Ikoma people see that one can be Ikoma and be a Christian. He has no doubt that the tusks and spirits associated with them are powerful, but the God of the Bible is even more powerful and he believes that one day the Ikoma will know this through the Ikoma Scriptures.

The two Ikoma translators are pictured above. Their names are Muya and Mussa, and they are quiet, hard-working men. The two of them get along very well and are great assets to the cluster project. Both are leaders in their churches - Muya is a pastor with the Pentecostal Evangelical Fellowship of Africa, and Mussa is an elder with the Mennonite Church of Tanzania. Muya's wife lives in the Ikoma area farming their land and taking care of their cattle, and he travels out to visit her on weekends when he has a chance. They have nine children, some of whom live with Muya in town, some of whom live with his wife in the village. Mussa's wife, who comes from a Muslim background, lives with him here in town with their three children. Mussa's parents live nearby him; his father is the man I mentioned in the paragraph above.

After reading about the rest of the language of the Mara Cluster, please let us know if you have a burden to pray for the Ikoma in particular and we'll let you know more, including specific requests as they arise.

Ikizu

There are about 132,000 Ikizu and Sizaki people, a few of whom are pictured here. While Ikizu and Sizaki people consider themselves to be different people groups, their languages are very closely related, and Sizaki is considered a dialect of Ikizu. There are a few minor pronunciation differences, but their vocabulary and grammar is essentially the same. The groups get along well, and the Sizaki (who are significantly fewer than the Ikizu) seem happy to accept the Ikizu writing system and Bible translation as their own.

As with all the groups in Mara (Mara is a region of Tanzania), there are Christians, Muslims, and people who practice traditional religion. Roman Catholic is the largest denomination, followed by Seventh Day Adventist. There are also Mennonite, Anglican, and a variety of small Pentecostal churches. Some villages have no churches at all and people have to travel to another village on Sunday if they wish to attend. In the traditional Ikizu religion, the sun is the main god, and deceased ancestors play an important role. There are various taboos to follow and special places to worship, such as groves of trees.

When the translation project began, there were two Ikizu translators. One of them has recently moved away and we are not able to hire another one right now. Rukia, the lone Ikizu translator at this point, is pictured above. Unfortunately, she has recently been plagued by health problems. Medical care in Musoma is a bit lacking, so Rukia really needs prayers for her health. Rukia is a widow; her husband died about fifteen years ago, leaving her with two small children. He had two wives (Rukia was the second) and when the first wife died, Rukia became responsible for that wife's son as well. She was raised in a Muslim family but left Islam after her husband died because she became frustrated with not being able to understand the Arabic used in services. After quite a few years of living without any religion, she recalled the kindness of her neighbors who reached out to her when she was left alone, and remembered that they were part of the Seventh Day Adventist church in town, so she began attending there. She became a believer after reading the Bible and learning more through her church and friends. Because of her own experience of not understanding what was said at religious services, she is determined that Ikizu people will have the Bible in the Ikizu language and be able to understand every word!

The Ikizu translation of Luke is almost ready for beginning the publication process. There are just a few final checks that need to be done. Unfortunately, with there being only one ill translator working on the project, these steps might take longer than planned. The book of Ruth and some tracts are also in process. A committee of Scripture reviewers and a language committee have recently been formed, each having their first meeting in February.

During the past five years of work going on at the Mara Cluster, it has always been a struggle to find Ikizu participants for our workshops and other events we’ve held. Different theories have been proposed (spiritual forces hindering us, there not being many Ikizu Christians, inadequate public relations on our part, etc.), and whatever the causes are we know we need prayer for the translation work and other upcoming activities such as the JESUS Film and literacy workshops.

We are tentatively scheduling to dedicate the Ikizu gospel of Luke in August 2011. We hope and pray this plan can become a reality!

Prayer for the Nine People Groups of the Mara Cluster

We are working with nine language groups here at the Mara Cluster, and we thought you might find it interesting to learn a little bit more about each of them. Also, if you are interested in committing to pray for one group, we would love to facilitate that! Please e-mail us if you want to be a prayer warrior for one of these people groups. Read all nine posts (once we have them up!) and see which one God puts on your heart and then let us know. We can update you with needs and praises as they come up.

The groups are: Ikizu, Ikoma-Nata-Isenye, Jita, Kabwa, Kwaya, Ngoreme, Suba-Simbiti, Zanaki, and Zinza.