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.