Missions
Masai Ministry
How did the ministry begin?
When we visited Mwanza in 2006 there were already small groups of Masai tribesmen and women appearing in Mwanza. An American missionary had been reaching out to them and a small group of them met under a tree to learn about Jesus. We felt God was calling us to help this marginalised group.
Why are the Masai in Mwanza?
The Masai we met in 2006 had come to Mwanza to look for work. As traditional herdsmen they are increasingly in conflict with the need of the government to protect game in the national parks. The Masai herds are competing for scarce natural resources. With global warming this will get worse. Many come to find work as security guards guarding compounds at night. They sleep under trees by day as they have nowhere to call home. They were coming from the Ngorogoro region.
The Ministry develops
God lead us to employ two Tanzanians, James Shija and Joseph Marwa to teach the Masai basic literacy in Swahili and English in 2006. The Masai students graduate from our programme when they can complete a job application form. To begin with the teaching took place under trees, as you can see from the picture here, until the Nyasaka site was purchased and developed after 2010. It was our hope that as the Masai became literate they would read God's word and become believers in Jesus Christ.
Challenges in the Ministry
It has been a real challenge to reach the Masai for Christ. When we visited in 2012 and in 2014 we found they were happy to attend our education ministry but resistant to attending church. Thanks to the personal witness of those leading this ministry and persistent prayer, we have seen breakthrough and now many Masai
know Jesus as their personal Saviour. Over 800 Masai have passed through this ministry.
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Peter Yohana
Peter Yohana is a Masai tribesman who we met at Nyasaka in 2014. He was then doing the sound production at the Nyasaka church. He felt God's call to go to Bible College and we were able to fund him through a two year course at the East Africa Bible College in Arusha, near his home area of Ngorogoro. He has graduated and now serves as a youth pastor at the Nyasaka church. He got married in 2019 and feels called to serve the Lord in Mwanza. He now helps to teach his fellow Masai in our education ministry at Nyasaka.
Pastor Bahati Tate
Bahati has recently graduated (May 2020) from the East Africa Bible College in Arusha. We met him for the first time in June 2018. He wishes to plant churches amongst the Masai in the Manyara district. We are seeking to support him in this. He has planted his first church at Loliondo which has around 25 people currently. Please pray for God's blessing and favour to remain on him in this ministry.
The Masai refuge
When we visited in 2014 and 2018 the Masai asked us to build a refuge/bunkhouse for them at the Nyasaka site. This is so that they have somewhere to rest in the day after working at night. They often work as security guards protecting property and businesses at night. Without the refuge they have nowhere to stay when they first arrive in Mwanza and normally sleep out in the open under trees. We thank God that in 2019 we were able to meet this need as you can see in this picture of the completed refuge building. This will give them a start until they have earned some money and can find a place to rent.
In the past we had Masai attending our classes from the Ngorogoro area, but in 2018 we found that we have Masai now attending also from the Masai Steppe area and Morogoro. When we visited in June 2018 over 100 Masai came to greet us. Praise God for this ministry.
Football
The Masai love playing football, even in hot weather. When we visited in 2018 Josh and Dan played for an hour in conditions where the temperature was about 32 degrees centigrade. The Masai carried on playing for hours afterwards!! They normally play matches on Fridays and have their own team kit (red of course), as you can see here in the picture above.
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"Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning."
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Proverbs 9:9
Video of Masai in Class
Founded in 2008, we have been working to help the Masai through our literacy programme based at Nyasaka. We employ Mrisho and Peter Yohana to teach the Masai Swahili and also English.
Here is a video from James Shija showing the Masai learning English.