Before the Throne of God Above, Rock of Ages, And Can it Be: these are some of the hymns I sing to Elliot as I rock him to sleep. They are the hymns I love because their themes stir my heart. They’re about the work of Christ on the cross, […]
Mnyampala notes that life for the Wagogo changed significantly with the coming of colonialism. Even naming is significant. Prior to colonialism, the inhabitants of Ugogo still primarily identified by clan; to speak of the Wagogo as a tribe was an artefact of colonial organisation and labelling. Aside from being drawn into European conflict […]
Continuing in our series on Mnyamapala’s The Gogo: History, Traditions and Customs, which was written in 1954 about the region where we now live… The Wagogo were not an ethnically pure tribe: there were the original Bantu migrants but lots of other people passed through Ugogo region for trade. On […]
A lady turns up at our gate. She’d seen us at Mama Velo’s wedding near her home. She wasn’t a guest at the wedding and doesn’t know Mama Velo but somehow she’s tracked us down. She asks for money. Primary education is free in Tanzania, but all children require a […]
I mentioned in my brief timeline of the Ugogo region, that Mnyampala’s The Gogo: History, Customs and Traditions was commissioned by the colonial authorities. The introductory essay explains that the colonists were worried about the rise of nationalism, which could potentially throw them out, and so they commissioned studies like […]
Ugogo is the region of Tanzania that Dodoma is in – basically, it’s the middle bit. The people of Ugogo are called Wagogo (plural); one person is an mgogo. Recently I’ve read an English translation of Mathias E Mnyampala’s The Gogo: History, Customs and Traditions written in 1954. While much of […]
Is ‘Africa’ really rife with a false gospel? Here’s one version of the story: As we’ve seen, however, examples like Lizzy and Mwakatwila mean we can’t automatically equate prosperity talk with ‘prosperity gospel’. Tanzanian headspace is concerned with everyday questions, and Tanzanian Christians are connecting those questions with the parts of […]
Meet Jesus at uni 