In the English dictionary, ustawi (ooh-STAH-wee) is prosperity or welfare; mafanikio (ma-fa-nee-KEE-oh) is accomplishment or success. The latter is a very popular topic for teaching in Tanzania. The former does not feature as much, but a long-time missionary suggested it to us as an alternative to mafanikio to distinguish prosperity […]
Remember when #WeAreN went viral in 2014? We changed our profile pictures to ن and our hearts went out to Iraqi Christians and we gave to emergency appeals. What we probably didn’t register was that ISIS was also using an ‘R’ to label Shiite houses. ISIS was also targeting Turkmen, […]
Here we are at Easter Sunday. Resurrection Day animates the Christian hope, without which our faith is meaningless. Red Twin loved Easter Sunday. My feelings are complicated. I’m not so numb this year. When I think of the resurrection, there is a stirring in me; a feeling wells up, but […]
What is the message of Good Friday? Until I lived in Tanzania, I would have thought it was fairly straightforward: the focus is the death of Jesus for our sins, in short, the atonement. But at our church yesterday, the atonement was present, but characteristically not the focus. The ‘liturgy’ […]
When Red Twin died, my world collapsed. It wasn’t that she was my whole world, but that grief was so encompassing, it touched everything in my world. You know how in Inside Out there are the ‘personality islands’, the things that make up who Riley is and energise her personality? […]
The next time someone laments to you about the sad state of theology in Tanzania, or the poor examples of Christian leadership, ask them about Christopher Mwakasege. Mwakasege is not a pastor or apostle or prophet: he uses the title “Mwalimu” (teacher). He’s an itinerant teacher, moving from place to […]
Do you know what’s harder than being in the soul crushing fog of grief? Coming out of it. Overall in life, things are starting to normalise a little more. You know that thing where your kid’s been sick and he’s not well enough to go to school yet but he’s […]
Meet Jesus at uni 