The Eads to Tanzania

Departure Has Arrived

Today (Sunday) we are beginning our journey to Tanzania. We plan on going to church this morning to be with our church body, Parkers Lake Baptist Church, for one final visit. We will leave directly from church for the airport

There are a total of three (planned) legs to our journey. We have a 3:15 PM (CST) flight from Minneapolis. We will be in the air for 8 hours 15 minutes, arriving in Amsterdam at 6:30 AM local time (11:30 PM CST). This is the first leg.

We have a 3 hour 45 minute layover before we depart for Nairobi at 10:15 AM local time (3:15 AM CST). This is a 8 hour 25 minute flight, arriving in Nairobi at 7:40 PM local time (11:40 AM CST).

When we get to Nairobi, we plan to meet our friend Rob Howell. We are working with him and his family in Tanzania, and he is kind enough to come and meet us. We will spend two nights (Monday and Tuesday) there in Nairobi before we begin an 8-hour plus road trip across the Kenya-Tanzania border to Mwanza, where we will be living.

Please pray for safety and strength for our entire family during these travels. We hope to be able to report to you when (or if) we find some wireless internet service in Nairobi.

Islam and Banking in Tanzania

Many people ask me how much of the population of Tanzania is Muslim. I often respond that Muslims make up about 1/3 of the population. Some would say that this estimate is low and that as much as 45% of Tanzanians are Muslim.

This article illustrates how large a section of the population of Tanzania this is. The banking community in Tanzania considers the Muslim population substantial enough to specifically market a banking program to Muslims that is in keeping with Shariah law (Islamic law). KCB Tanzania Ltd., a Tanzanian banking institution, has recently announced a new banking product called the KCB Amana Account. It was a program that was developed in conjunction with the Islamic Advisory Board in Dar es Salaam. As the article explains, Shariah law prohibits a Muslim from charging interest on any money that he lends or from paying interest on any money that he is borrows. I am still trying to figure out how this is profitable for anyone. Maybe it is not intended for profit, just monetary safety. In any case, this will mean that Tanzania will now have an Islamic banking system that runs parallel to its existing banking system. It also represents a slow but growing influence of the Islamic community in Tanzanian life.

As I think of the vast percentage of Muslim people in Tanzania that may have never heard explained the significance of Christ's death, I have an increasing burden for this part of the population. Would you pray that as we minister in the Mwanza area that we may make a positive impact the Muslim community in there?

Presidents: Traveling and Dealing with Corruption

President George W. Bush is planning a trip to Tanzania beginning next week. This is a rather momentous occassion, and many Tanzanians are excited and proud about it. (See our friend, Rob Howell's comments about this.) Tanzania is one of six countries that President Bush will visit in order to see firsthand the benefits of his PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief) project.

In recent news today, Mr. Jakaya Kikwete, President of Tanzania, has had to dissolve his Cabinet and appoint a new prime minister, after the previous PM and two Cabinet members resigned due to corruption allegations. The BBC reports that the scandal has to do with the fraudulant purchase of energy from a US firm.The Washington Post reports the US firm does not even exist. There may be some political fallout for Kikwete because of this, but nothing else has surfaced yet.

By the way, if anyone is interested, I have a new feature on the blog that allows you to have an email subscription to my postings. That way you do not have to come out to the blog every day in order to get the latest posting. Look to the right if you would like to use this feature.

Mt. Kilimanjaro

Mt. Kilimanjaro has been named one of the top 53 places to see on the globe in 2008, says the New York Times. You can see the list here. (For our friends out at Inter-City Baptist Church, note the rank of the city of Detroit. Yes, it made the list!) The rank of #42 was given to Mt. Kilimanjaro, and this made the newspapers in East Africa. Some published it sooner (Dec. 16), and some published it later (today). The story originally ran on Dec. 10th.

(This is an interesting note for those at New Hope Bible Church that are planning on making the Kili trip)

Border Security

The US is not the only one that is having to discuss border security. The same question is having to be asked (and answered) in Tanzania. Due to the unrest in the Rift Valley of Kenya, the Tanzania/Kenya border has become a point of question. The Tanzanian government has said that for humanitarian and economic reasons, it plans to keep its border open with Kenya. Even in light of my earlier post, there would be a definite economic impact on Tanzania by shutting down its border with one of its largest trade partners.

Poverty and Witchcraft in Tanzania

Here is an article written by an East African about poverty in Tanzania. It was worth reading. He says (1) that Tanzania is not as poor as everyone says it is and (2) that one of the main inhibitors of its economic development is witchcraft. Interesting.

And on witchcraft, here is an article about the ever-present problem of witch killings among the Sukuma people, the tribe that is most prominent where we plan to minister in Mwanza. As a generalization, when something goes wrong (e.g. you contract malaria), the Westerner asks "What causes the sickness?" "Where did you contract it?" "How should you treat it?"; the Tanzanian is inclined to ask, "Who caused you to get sick?" (through the use of witchcraft). So, unlike us from the West, the Tanzanian is, sometimes on a daily basis, having to decide how to handle the possible presence of witchcraft. It seems that some have sought to deal with it by killing suspected witches.