EDITOR’S NOTE: PASTOR HERB HAFERMANN HAS JUST RETURNED TO AFRICA AFTER A WELL DESERVED MONTH OF R&R IN WAVERLY, IOWA. IT DOESN’T TAKE HIM LONG TO RE-ENGAGE IN HIS BELOVED MINISTRY AND ITS VARIOUS COMPLEXITIES! ENJOY.

Dear Paul,
Sorry that I didn’t get back sooner. So far, the only functional computer is the old one in the common room and last night they locked the door early before I could get in.
This morning, we left for Mabwegere with Gale and Steve the Rotary president from Cedar Falls together with Raphael our young advocate who is in Rotary. He is the one who wrote up the big report about the water situation in Morogoro. He has been invited to go to Arusha to make a presentation about the Morogoro water situation to a UN sponsored conference next week. He has a number of contacts here in Morogoro dealing with water purification and even the problems regarding fluorides and should be able to help Laura to make many contacts without trips to Dar and possibly to Arusha. They are now in correspondence.
We went in the car of Leo the Finnish member of Rotary who also gave us his driver (The Iowans had to pay $85 for the car and driver and put $50 in diesel into the trip)..Luka was also along with us having been pretty much cured from his malaria. We had to cross three rather challenging rivers–you can only guess who ran before the car in the rivers. He also managed the change of the tire on the car when a thorn gave us a puncture.
We got there and back safely. We did see a very tragic accident where a big truck sideswiped a bus and as we passed, there were some dead people along the side of the road. Yes, we did say a prayer of thanks when we arrived safely.
We were very well received and fed twice at Mabwegere and the Rotarians were very impressed. We also have the promise that two wells will be drilled there with Rotary money. The place that they previously sent the rig has not yet succeeded in drilling the well despite his ability to dig the well that I brought the report about from Matongolo. The town Rotary members had been comforting themselves that Mabwegere was only a small group of people in which I had a special interest. Today the village elders read a report that there are about 3,200 adults in the village and an equal amount or more of children. I got a good chance to talk to the gathered group of over 100 and even told them that their village secretary and evangelist will be going to Iringa to study theology in the university there. The clapped and cheered when they heard that he had been given this chance.
On the way in we got to see the brick church at Matangani that Luka and his team built in my absence. It was very attractive and can seat 200. He built that one as well as raising the walls up to the roof at Lubaya where we worshipped Sunday. Because of all the help of the villagers, the built it for about $3,000 but of course it has no solid pillars like our other churches. We talked tonight about how it may be better to build in brick as there are many bricks available and the cost of cement and cement blocks has more than doubled. We are always on the roll trying out new ways and trying to cut costs. We will have plenty to talk about when you come.
Paul, you have already heard that the ordination of Paul and Raymond is now on June 15 in Chalinze. This means that you and your group can attend. There is another challenge for the Monday and Tuesday of the 23-24. On the 23 there will be the big Maasai gathering at Parakuyo with a subsequent baptism of probably many hundreds the next day. They had set this date in my absence but I hope we can adjust the schedule so that you can witness the big event–especially since you are also a respected elder.
Tomorrow I will be with Raphael again as we meet in the morning with Ng’ondavi our well driller together with the Iowans. I’ll try to see how much Raphael can arrange for Laura here in Morogoro without having to traipse all across the country for meetings when the time is so short.
I will close for now. Raymond should be back from Dar tomorrow with the news about the pick up. All for now as I should get into bed before this old computer changes into a pumpkin. Herb

Note: In this week’s feature, Herb Hafermann describes a particularly exciting worship service that is filled with unpredictability. The man’s stamina defies description as he makes trips like this 3 or 4 times a week. But, Herb would say that he has the easy part; God does all the hard work. Paul F. Kleine

Never a Dull Moment

Sunday already set the pace for the week with a church service at Lulenge with over 220 people in the church and baptism of two young Maasai warriors and eleven children. We had travelled with three young Methodist volunteers (two from Iowa) a Wartburg student and her parents together with her father’s friend (all from Minnesota) and a young Maasai language school teacher. The group enjoyed the hospitality of an established congregation with their own building and an orderly plan for worship and for entertaining guests. (After all the congregation is six years old) The group came back tired but excited by all that they had seen and the people at Lulenge were thrilled that so many guests had joined them for their worship.
Then came yesterday. I had planned to go to Kwambe for some time since I hadn’t been there for quite some time and wasn’t quite sure how their evangelist was doing. The guest list was down a bit as others needed to rest so Alana, the Wartburg student, her father the dentist from Minnesota and his friend who is a lawyer for the prison system in MN were the only fair skinned guests in the car. We were joined along the way by two of the new pastors and four evangelists (four more came by bicycle). Most of the trip was on improved road except the last mile or so on a road that you needed an imagination to believe that it was a road. When we came to the difficult passage through the dry valley of the riverbed there were a group of young Maasai morani(warriors) waiting for us to show the way.
They then led us into the little grass covered shelter that served as their church–they already had poles in place for an extension that more than doubled the size. Here we had the first ’sacrament’ of our Maasai congregations- ginger tea in milk, fresh milk and a bucket of fresh yoghourt together with chapatis and maadazi( a kind of donut). While the guests held back on the curdled milk I enjoyed two full cups of it.
We then went and looked at the cattle who had not yet gone out to pasture ( there really was no need since the church service went on until the cows came home). After that the evangelist, a new pastor and I visited the home of a woman whose son had been killed in a gruesome accident. A bus had swerved off the road hitting him on a bicycle and grinding him into pieces–the police gave the family his beaded armband and legware and later buried the plastic bag with his parts in the city council plot in town. The mother had raced down to hillside to see ( about a mile or two away) only to be restrained by the police from seeing the remains. This was a special shock for the congregation since another young man had been killed there the year before by a car that veered out of control and hit him while he was waiting for a bus. His widow with a child that had been born after that accident was there for the service as well as the mother of the latest victim.
A special upbeat side to the accident was that an uncle ( a year older than myself) and his wife had come to pay their respects to the family. The old man lived very close to our church at Mabwegere but had never gone and forbade his wife from going there. The two of them were received by baptism to the joy of the congregation and promised to return home and take part in the life of the church there. It seems that they had been brought into contact with the reality of their own mortality and decided that they needed to decide on following Jesus. Two young women were also baptized as well as five young warriors. In the midst of the service a young man came walking on the compound all dressed in suit and tie. To be honest, my heart sank as I saw him as this is the dress of some of the people from the opposition sects who come and try to discourage people from taking communion.
During the sermon he had called aside several of the young warriors who were baptized and I felt that my fears were being fulfilled. One of the more proactive senior evangelists went and joined the conversation (services here are not just a group of frozen chosen sitting looking forward from their stiffly arranged pews). The communion service was then led by the two newly ordained pastors and the evangelist came and whispered to me that the new guest wanted to come to communion but was asking if we could baptize him as well. After the nearly 50 people had communed he came forward after whispering to me his new name and was baptized and then communed by the new pastors.
The one whom I feared would be the opposition turned out to be the only young man from the village who had gone on to secondary school and was now heading up a security firm( night watchmen) in Dar es Salaam. He was so grateful that he had come in time to be baptized and after a warm conversation had to head back to the city.
Since we were about 100 people we had to abandon the small building early on and set up under the trees. It was at the services under these same trees last year that four women were violently afflicted by evil spirits and were exorcised in the name of Jesus. Now under the same trees a worship was held and the power of Satan could not be felt or heard. Everyone seemed conscious of the power that had come into this place by the presence of Jesus who promised that where two or three gather in his name , he would be present.
The day closed with a big meal and a slow leaking tire that needed to be changed at the filling station at the nearby town(Luka the great tire changer was not along.) We arrived safely at the seminary at about 8:30 and had a special prayer of thanksgiving for coming back safely and for all that we had been privileged to experience in our worship together with this new band of fellow believers. So it is here. I only hope that as I return home to the US that I will be able to adequately describe the power of the Spirit that we are so blessed to experience here. In His peace, Herb Hafermann

Here is a brief excerpt that shows the range of needs expressed by the tribes people in Tanzania. Pastor Herb continues to grapple with them as best he can with his limited resources.

Paul F. Kleine

Here is a short summary of what happened at Tuka on February 20. At a service attended by about 70 people ( the evangelist forgot to return to me the paper with the attendance figures). There were about half Maasai from our preaching place at Choza and half Kwere people who had come to us from Islam at that place. Three adults and six children were baptized including two young school girls who had been considered Muslim.
At the service was a young woman probably about 18-20 who was blind from birth. Her name was Mwanahamisi Mohammedi who has been attending the school for sight impaired in Kilosa and more recently at Tabora Girls School where they have a special class. She asked to sing at the service and sang several beautiful songs of faith. She was sitting with her great aunt who is now a Christian. Just after the baptism of the adults and children her father came storming to the edge of the service. The evangelist called him to the side and explained that his daughter had not been baptized and that she only came to hear. He sputtered and threatened that he was was going to divorce her mother for allowing her to come since she had done so secretly without permission. The evangelist promised that the father could talk to me after the service ( as probably a half dozen other people wanted their time to talk as well– ) After I had talked to the father Luka had to race the motor to give me a chance to jump in and and leave before it got dark.)
In the meantime I got to talk at length with this frail little woman in a very worn cotton dress. Her non-seeing eyes played back and forth as we spoke. She told of attending Lutheran services in Kilosa while in the school there and praised the present assistant to the bishop who was pastor there at that time. (When I shared this with him, he remembered her and said that she had been brought by others and had sat in the back of the confirmation instruction class as well.)
She then shared the problem that she had hoped to tell me if she would get a chance. Her brother who had been paying her fare to return to school and give her pocket money had now developed a conflict at home since his wife saw no need of paying for this blind person. She now feared that her chance at school was lost. I promised that I would check with Dr Nkya who has this new position that oversees social welfare programs to see what help could be found.
In the end the father came and apologized for his anger saying that if one leaves home in anger nothing good will come of any contacts he would make after that. I explained the problem that his daughter had shared with me and he promised that the brother would take her to Tabora to the school this week. I in turned promised to contact Dr. Nkya, which I have done. Now I will need to get some documentation that should help to get things moving to find some help for her.
A footnote. The man, who is a devout Muslim, later contacted
the evangelist and asked him for a time to meet for counseling so that he might be able to deal rightly with his marriage.
There were many other things that happened on that day, but I thought that this would be of interest. Herb

This report from Pastor Hafermann is a bit different from the rest. As a result of a course on Water and Sanitation Issues in Emerging Regions that I have been taking at the University of Oklahoma I asked him a series of questions about water borne diseases in his region of Tanzania. We have hopes of providing filtering mechanisms as well as water wells to improve the water quality and reduce death and disease among the Massai. Here are his answers.

Paul F. Kleine

Dear Paul,
As I have hidden myself away with a computer and Luka is away on a building project, I will try to address the many questions that have been pointed my way.

Regarding water borne diseases, I have no statistics. I do know that many of our chronically sick church members that we refer to St. Mary’s and pay their bills are diagnosed as having typhoid together with their normal malarial infestations. One can not really evaluate how many of the diarrhea patients among the children are sick because of polluted water and how many are displaying one of the symptoms of their chronic malaria. If the diseases get too severe because they cannot get to the hospitals, the evangelists do a good job of burying them. One of the biggest drawbacks for seeking medical treatment is the terribly high bus fares that have increased out of proportion to the meager incomes of our poor church members and all of their compatriots.
Do the Maasai drink water. Yes, their consumption is quite high whenever it is available. At many of our church services, there is a bucket of drinking water to slake the thirst of those attending those long, dry sessions. The Maasai have a tradition of mixing “drinking” water with amounts of milk and having that available at all times (if possible) for those who are thirsty. I have partaken even when the color of the mixture might suggest that of coffee, chocolate or pistaccio. It is always advisable to have a prayer before partaking!!
Most people in the area regardless of their tribal connection do store some water in an earthen pot in the house known as a mtungi. The Maasai would also store the milk and water mixture in one of their gourds which would be subject to thorough cleaning on a regular basis.
Some of the problems that we see are the results of previous polio infections that were probably water borne but as of now, we can not identify new cases. Old polio cases, high fevers from cerebral malaria and epilepsy are responsible for the many disabled that we find in most of the places where we go. Of course, there is the ever present scourge of AIDS and tuberculosis neither of which are water borne. Some of the cases of TB may come from drinking milk from infected cows.
It is interesting to see how many people want to come and teach sanitation. The poor sit there and listen and then mentally note all the conditions that make it impossible to put the lessons into practice. If the patriarch of the household is not interested in digging a toilet what alternative does mama have? If water is not readily available, much less an abundant supply of soap, who is going to insist that the kids wash their hands properly. I am impressed how much influence the existing mother and child clinics for new mothers do have. We also see a real need for some real training for the village midwives. As I register hundreds for child baptisms, I can see that most of the children were born at home and from very on have been exposed to all kinds of infections. Since their immune systems are sustained by breast milk in the first months they seem to survive and make the transition. We see very few allergies or asthma conditions among those who survive the initial infections that hit them. We would like to look into training of the local midwives in both hygiene and dealing with pregnancy and birthing complications. This has been mentioned a number of our evangelists and newly ordained pastors. Perhaps our new Junior Minister in the Community Development, Gender and Children will be able to be of help to us in this field once she gets her feet on the ground in this new job.
Let me not ramble on any more since I have other letters yet to answer. In His peace, Herb

Note the many elements contained in this short paragraph. It includes HIV-AIDS, baptisms, education, cultural, gender issues and more! Nothing comes easy in the Third World!

We stopped by to see Amina (NOTE; SHE IS A SISTER OF ONE OF THE EVANGELISTS WHO IS DYING OF AIDS) at St. Mary’s. She is still taking her ARV’s since they are afraid that it might be the end if they stop them. Her body and legs are badly swollen which seems to indicate some degree of kidney failure. She complains of the pain but tries to keep her spirits up. We prayed with her— and she was more at peace when we left.
We made it to Mkwajuni only to find that most of the people there were sick with Nairobi Red Eye. Nonetheless, they received us well and we were nearly 50 in the service.

The evangelist said that there were no people for baptism but as I headed to the car to put on my robe I saw a young warrior leaning against the tree. He was a bit poorly dressed and in his early teens. He kept looking at me and I went over and talked to him. I asked if he had been baptized but he said no. I asked if he wanted to be baptized. He said yes, but then went on to say that it probably wouldn’t be possible since he doesn’t go to school and has been chosen to herd the cattle. We told him to go and ask his mother and his uncle (his father died a couple of years ago and his mother came to live with the father’s younger brother) I was amazed since all the children from that household go to school and have been baptized. It seems that when they moved in to live with his uncle he was too old to start school and so he was chosen as the herd boy. His mother came and assured us that he could be baptized and he chose the name Heri after Heri Janga who is the new pastor for this preaching place as well.
The boy beamed throughout the service and I gave him one of the adult beginning readers. We could sense that probably this was the first recognition that he had really been given since his father died. He promised to get his younger cousins who go to school to help him learn to read with this book.
It was a joy to conduct the service with the new pastor–Heri Janga. He led the liturgy and we shared in the baptism and communion liturgies. Later I kidded him that it wouldn’t take many years before I would be bowing out but he will probably be carrying on in this for some 30 years from now.
We got back about 7:30 and then Luka and I filled the pay envelopes for this month’s 56 evangelists before he headed home on his bicycle.
Sorry that the cold continues in your part of the world. It is hard to fathom as I sit here in the office in my Tshirt with the AC on. Lots of love, Herb

NOTE: Here is the story that arrived today. What make this interesting is that it involves a young warrior rather than the more typical women who are involved.

As we were worshiping at Mtambani yesterday, I remembered that it was the place where I took you. (Was it two years ago now?). The day I took you there the whole scenario was rather discouraging and I often wondered what your impression of the place and our work there was really about.
Well, we were back for a service yesterday after an absence of many months. Now we have a full time evangelist living in the house there and there has been a great awakening.
First of all, we were able to repair the evangelist’s house since you were there and he was able to move in with his wife and three children. Then tragedy struck at the beginning of the year and a severe windstorm blew off the roof of the house. Amazingly the Christians there mobilized themselves and made an even better roof on the house and we had our tea and our meal inside. They also made use of our visit to have a fundraiser for the church that they hope to build of bricks which they have begun to gather. I think they raised nearly $200.
They have also erected a pole frame for a church over which they had spread a tarp. It is twice the sized of the former grass thatched structure that they had in the past. There were gathered for worship 123 people not counting the Maasai warriors who came several times, looked and listened for a while from the outside and then moved on. There were even 79 people for communion.
The baptism service was an event in itself. There were eight adults baptized and five children. One old Maasai grandmother in trying to determine her age, said that she remembered the Germans leaving before the British Army in the First war. She said that she might have been eight at that time. Her son, who is a church elder is about my age. Another Kwere man ( the Bantu group of that area) who also was baptized was in his 60’s. Two young men of warrior age were baptized together with their 60 something year old mother. One more brother was to be baptized but when he was called, he refused to come.
As were were closing down the service he began to convulse badly at the place where he was standing, some distance from the service. Some said it was an evil spirit as he was so violent that it took four young, strong warriors to restrain him and take him to a quiet place. Some of our evangelists went to pray over him and he soon was at peace. It is the first time I saw this from a young warrior although there have been a number of incidents with women this year.
As usual there was a hectic situation at the end of the service with some many people with special needs as well as recording the baptisms that had occurred without recording before the service ( as usual, people who came late). I had to put off some of the supplicants for help just to be able to speak to him in private. One of the other people who needed help was his brother whom I had to return to St. Mary’s hospital with either HIV(which will be determined today) or undiagnosed TB.
As I talked to this young man–Kirorwa Magolola –he told about this affliction which has troubled him for some time ( over a year). Some quickly diagnose this as epilepsy and others as an evil spirit. He was very open and happy that I had called him. He said that he would be troubled whenever he came near a worship service–he has had this awakened by going to several Pentecostal services where the volume and intensity is very great. As we talked, he said that the prayers of the evangelists claiming him for Jesus had brought him peace and he wants to be baptized. By good fortune, I will be going to Matuli ,the nearest preaching place to Mtambani, on Wednesday. We promised to meet with him and his evangelist there and share and try to sort things out and then he will be baptized.
Mtambani is one of the poorest places in our district both among the Maasai as well as among the farmers of that area who come to church. It is a joy to see how both the farmers and cattle herders have joined together in their poverty in the church. One leaves such a place with almost a feeling of guilt for leaving behind so much human need that could be helped.
I wish that when I come back for the month of April that we could have a chance to discuss what I saw and compare it to what you had seen in the past. Anyhow, it is a help to me just to be able to verbalize what has happened in just one day of travel to worship among the people. In His peace, Herb