Chapter 8
Christianity, Pastoralism, and Development
Reference has been made several times in the earlier chapters of this study to the need for development plans and procedures to take account of the world view and the importance of religion to nomadic pastoralists. It is not the purpose here to evaluate the comparative features of various religious belief systems and their relevance to nomadic pastoralism as that is another subject requiring the attention of theologically qualified scholars.
In this study featuring the Waso Borana, only the two religions acknowledged and practiced by them are considered in so far as they affect the perception and effectiveness of other development interventions. Whilst Islam and Christianity are the two religions publicly acknowledged by the Waso Borana ample evidence was observed during the field research to show that the beliefs and practices of the Borana traditional religion still have residual influence (see the example of the examination of the goat's entrails in Chapter 5.1) No attempt was made in this research to examine the significance of these beliefs and practices as they are not so likely to affect the attitude of the Borana towards development interventions, as is the association of Christianity and Islam with holistic development.
In this study, Christianity is most frequently mentioned not because of its prominence and success in gaining acceptance with the Waso Borana but rather because of its relative ineffectiveness in attaining this position in spite of the great efforts made by Roman Catholic missionaries in seeking to introduce development which they felt was appropriate.
It is this lack of success which forms one of the major points for consideration in this study, not just in the failure of the "Christian" N.G.O. to make any significant impact on the religious beliefs of the Borana but also on the secondary effect that there appears to be a related dismissal of some other aspects of development attempted by Father Pius as being similarly inappropriate for them.
Notwithstanding the observed lack of success of the "Christian" N.G.O. operating in Eastern Isiolo, this chapter will seek to show that Christianity in particular is a religion which is uniquely appropriate for nomadic pastoralists. The fact that it has not been accepted and taken root is more of an indication of the inappropriateness of most attempts to present Christianity to nomadic pastoralists than a measure of its relevance to them.
In this study featuring the Waso Borana, only the two religions acknowledged and practiced by them are considered in so far as they affect the perception and effectiveness of other development interventions. Whilst Islam and Christianity are the two religions publicly acknowledged by the Waso Borana ample evidence was observed during the field research to show that the beliefs and practices of the Borana traditional religion still have residual influence (see the example of the examination of the goat's entrails in Chapter 5.1) No attempt was made in this research to examine the significance of these beliefs and practices as they are not so likely to affect the attitude of the Borana towards development interventions, as is the association of Christianity and Islam with holistic development.
In this study, Christianity is most frequently mentioned not because of its prominence and success in gaining acceptance with the Waso Borana but rather because of its relative ineffectiveness in attaining this position in spite of the great efforts made by Roman Catholic missionaries in seeking to introduce development which they felt was appropriate.
It is this lack of success which forms one of the major points for consideration in this study, not just in the failure of the "Christian" N.G.O. to make any significant impact on the religious beliefs of the Borana but also on the secondary effect that there appears to be a related dismissal of some other aspects of development attempted by Father Pius as being similarly inappropriate for them.
Notwithstanding the observed lack of success of the "Christian" N.G.O. operating in Eastern Isiolo, this chapter will seek to show that Christianity in particular is a religion which is uniquely appropriate for nomadic pastoralists. The fact that it has not been accepted and taken root is more of an indication of the inappropriateness of most attempts to present Christianity to nomadic pastoralists than a measure of its relevance to them.
8.1. The concern of early researchers of nomadic pastoralists.
Much of the earliest writing and research on nomadic pastoralists was done by missionaries or men who had strong religious beliefs. Many of them were socially sensitive Christians who were fascinated by the cultures in which they found themselves as well as motivated by evangelical zeal to go out to face the dangers and uncertainties which existed in remote areas of the world more than one hundred years ago. Some of them were great scholars, scientists and linguists whose work is still respected by later professional anthropologists such as Dyson Hudson who recognised their contribution even though acknowledging it comes from a missionary perspective. .
One of the first such pioneers was Robertson Smith who undertook study in Arabia and became a renowned linguist, and Old Testament professor in Aberdeen and Arabic professor in Cambridge. In the 1880s he wrote three important and controversial books which began to give fresh insights into the social systems of the Semitic pastoral people amongst whom he was living. He also commented on the characteristics of the religious beliefs shared by many of the ancient Semitic nations of the Old Testament who were also pastoralists and frequently nomadic. He calls these the 'higher forms of religion':
In Semitic heathenism the deity whom a tribe worships as its king (Moloch) or lord (Baal) is often identical with some supreme power of nature, with the mighty sun, the Lord of the seasons, or with the heavens that send down rain, or with some great planet whose stately march through the skies appears to regulate the cycles of time.
In lower types (of religion) the deity is a sort of fetish or totem more immediately identified with earthly objects, animals, trees or the like." (1881:227)
The High God and the Sky God
Other writers, such as Andrew Lang in "The Making of Religion" (!909) and Hastings in his contribution to the "Encyclopedia of religion and ethics" (1920 pp. 580 - 585) suggest that this concept of the 'High God ' or the 'Sky God' is particularly evident and meaningful amongst nomadic pastoralists. In the 1930s, Father Schmidt expanded on this theme in "The Origin and Growth of Religion, facts and theories" with a chapter (11) entitled 'The Supreme Sky God in the Pastoral Nomadic Culture'.
These writers showed that one of the main distinctions between nomadic and sedentary peoples is seen in their different view of God and religious practices. Farmers who can stay in one place are more likely to worship an inanimate object such as a tree, a rock or a particular sacred place on earth.
Nomadic people are more concerned with lofty powers in the heavens, as they can always be observed and honoured from anywhere on earth. It is not surprising therefore, that the acknowledged father of the main monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, was called out of a city to be a nomadic pastoralist. The revelations of God to the nomad Abraham, recorded in the book of Genesis, are immensely significant to pastoralists, and show the possibility of a relationship between God and man that is most attractive to them. There is nothing "primitive" in the faith of Abraham, and his religion seems superior to many religious practices today.
The early religious worship of the Jews - in a tent
It is also relevant to the religious beliefs of nomadic pastoralists that the children of Israel began their national religious worship in a tent. It moved with them for many generations, until a temple was eventually built and they became like other nations with a King and a settled house for their God. If Jehovah wanted His people to understand that he was markedly different from the earth-bound pagan deities, then they would be more likely to see it as nomads, semi -nomads or agro pastoralists.
Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle..... In all the travel of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out, until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels. (Exodus 40: 34-35)
When a nomadic pastoralist hears of a religion like that, and a God that is able not just to move but to lead His people, then that religion becomes a subject of great interest to him. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob clearly has no problem communicating with nomadic pastoralists. It is when that worship becomes confined to a particular holy place or consecrated building that pastoralists lose interest.
The temple in Jerusalem.
King Solomon, at the zenith of his power and success, was allowed to build a temple in Jerusalem, but even as it was being dedicated, he showed he understood that it could not contain the God of Israel. "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven cannot contain you. How much less this temple that I have built!" (1 Kings 8:27) The response recorded in the following chapter is equally revealing of how Jehovah is not attached permanently to any place on earth:
When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace and had achieved all he desired to do, the Lord appeared to him the second time .... saying to him, "I have heard the prayer and the plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple which you built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.... But if you or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land, and will reject this temple I have consecrated by my name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all people. And though this temple is now imposing, all who pass by will be appalled.... (1 Kings 9:1-3, 6-8)
This temple seems to have experienced several periods of decline and renewal before it was totally destroyed, 350 years later. It may have been the legendary wealth of the temple which was partly responsible for its desecration and destruction, as it must have attracted the attention of various military expeditions that passed by Jerusalem, moving up and down between Egypt and Assyria. Not only was the vast quantity of gold covering the walls of the temple and all the furnishings and trappings taken away, but many thousands of the most important people of the nation.
God speaks to His people through prophets
Robertson Smith suggests that the destruction of the temple, and the carrying away of the people into exile, were all part of God's purpose to bring His people back to their nomadic roots, and to teach them to listen to Him speaking through His prophets.
The work of the prophets of the Assyrian and Babylonian periods falls in the most critical stage of the history of the religion of Israel - when humanly speaking, it seemed far from improbable that that religion would sink to the level of the common Semitic heathenism, and perish, like the religions of other Semitic peoples, with the political fall of the nation that professed it. It was the work of the prophets which averted such a catastrophe, drawing forth with ever increasing clarity the elements of moral and spiritual truth which were well nigh lost in the corruptions of the popular worship, holding up a conception of Jehovah's holy purpose and saving love to Israel in which even the utter ruin of the Hebrew state appeared as part of a gracious plan, and so maintaining the faith of Jehovah unbroken and victorious when every other part of the inheritance of Israel was swept away by the ruthless tide of Assyrian and Chaldean conquest. Nowhere in Old Testament history is the victory of pure religion over the world, its power to rise superior to all human vicissitudes and bestow hope and peace which the world cannot take away, so clearly manifested as in this great achievement of the prophetic word. In the long struggle with the empires of the East the Word of Jehovah was tried as gold in the furnace and its behaviours under this crucial test is the best demonstration of its incorruptible purity and enduring worth. (1882: .17)
All attempts to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and restore the priestly worship have been short lived and doomed to destruction until the present day. Throughout the last 2000 years of the Christian era, there have been continuous attempts to 'put God inside' holy places such as monasteries, churches and cathedrals. Religious leaders have tried to follow the same sedentary pattern of worship, eventually leading to churches becoming ecclesiastical museums. Christianity is then regarded as irrelevant to the needs of a mobile society, whether it is moving geographically as pastoral nomads, or moving morally and technologically away from traditional church beliefs and behaviours. The irrelevance of an anachronistic institutional religion is evidenced by the paucity of numbers attending most European churches.
A new relationship rather than an old religion.
God declared His intention to begin a new relationship with men and women, even before the Jews returned from their exile in Babylon.
"The time is coming,'' declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,"...."This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time... I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother , saying, 'Know the Lord' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.... for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
This is a relationship which does not depend on buildings, rituals, priests or education. As will be seen in the New Testament references and contemporary models, it is the basis of a religion especially attractive to people on the move in any age or place.
Much of the earliest writing and research on nomadic pastoralists was done by missionaries or men who had strong religious beliefs. Many of them were socially sensitive Christians who were fascinated by the cultures in which they found themselves as well as motivated by evangelical zeal to go out to face the dangers and uncertainties which existed in remote areas of the world more than one hundred years ago. Some of them were great scholars, scientists and linguists whose work is still respected by later professional anthropologists such as Dyson Hudson who recognised their contribution even though acknowledging it comes from a missionary perspective. .
One of the first such pioneers was Robertson Smith who undertook study in Arabia and became a renowned linguist, and Old Testament professor in Aberdeen and Arabic professor in Cambridge. In the 1880s he wrote three important and controversial books which began to give fresh insights into the social systems of the Semitic pastoral people amongst whom he was living. He also commented on the characteristics of the religious beliefs shared by many of the ancient Semitic nations of the Old Testament who were also pastoralists and frequently nomadic. He calls these the 'higher forms of religion':
In Semitic heathenism the deity whom a tribe worships as its king (Moloch) or lord (Baal) is often identical with some supreme power of nature, with the mighty sun, the Lord of the seasons, or with the heavens that send down rain, or with some great planet whose stately march through the skies appears to regulate the cycles of time.
In lower types (of religion) the deity is a sort of fetish or totem more immediately identified with earthly objects, animals, trees or the like." (1881:227)
The High God and the Sky God
Other writers, such as Andrew Lang in "The Making of Religion" (!909) and Hastings in his contribution to the "Encyclopedia of religion and ethics" (1920 pp. 580 - 585) suggest that this concept of the 'High God ' or the 'Sky God' is particularly evident and meaningful amongst nomadic pastoralists. In the 1930s, Father Schmidt expanded on this theme in "The Origin and Growth of Religion, facts and theories" with a chapter (11) entitled 'The Supreme Sky God in the Pastoral Nomadic Culture'.
These writers showed that one of the main distinctions between nomadic and sedentary peoples is seen in their different view of God and religious practices. Farmers who can stay in one place are more likely to worship an inanimate object such as a tree, a rock or a particular sacred place on earth.
Nomadic people are more concerned with lofty powers in the heavens, as they can always be observed and honoured from anywhere on earth. It is not surprising therefore, that the acknowledged father of the main monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, was called out of a city to be a nomadic pastoralist. The revelations of God to the nomad Abraham, recorded in the book of Genesis, are immensely significant to pastoralists, and show the possibility of a relationship between God and man that is most attractive to them. There is nothing "primitive" in the faith of Abraham, and his religion seems superior to many religious practices today.
The early religious worship of the Jews - in a tent
It is also relevant to the religious beliefs of nomadic pastoralists that the children of Israel began their national religious worship in a tent. It moved with them for many generations, until a temple was eventually built and they became like other nations with a King and a settled house for their God. If Jehovah wanted His people to understand that he was markedly different from the earth-bound pagan deities, then they would be more likely to see it as nomads, semi -nomads or agro pastoralists.
Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle..... In all the travel of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out, until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels. (Exodus 40: 34-35)
When a nomadic pastoralist hears of a religion like that, and a God that is able not just to move but to lead His people, then that religion becomes a subject of great interest to him. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob clearly has no problem communicating with nomadic pastoralists. It is when that worship becomes confined to a particular holy place or consecrated building that pastoralists lose interest.
The temple in Jerusalem.
King Solomon, at the zenith of his power and success, was allowed to build a temple in Jerusalem, but even as it was being dedicated, he showed he understood that it could not contain the God of Israel. "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven cannot contain you. How much less this temple that I have built!" (1 Kings 8:27) The response recorded in the following chapter is equally revealing of how Jehovah is not attached permanently to any place on earth:
When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace and had achieved all he desired to do, the Lord appeared to him the second time .... saying to him, "I have heard the prayer and the plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple which you built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.... But if you or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land, and will reject this temple I have consecrated by my name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all people. And though this temple is now imposing, all who pass by will be appalled.... (1 Kings 9:1-3, 6-8)
This temple seems to have experienced several periods of decline and renewal before it was totally destroyed, 350 years later. It may have been the legendary wealth of the temple which was partly responsible for its desecration and destruction, as it must have attracted the attention of various military expeditions that passed by Jerusalem, moving up and down between Egypt and Assyria. Not only was the vast quantity of gold covering the walls of the temple and all the furnishings and trappings taken away, but many thousands of the most important people of the nation.
God speaks to His people through prophets
Robertson Smith suggests that the destruction of the temple, and the carrying away of the people into exile, were all part of God's purpose to bring His people back to their nomadic roots, and to teach them to listen to Him speaking through His prophets.
The work of the prophets of the Assyrian and Babylonian periods falls in the most critical stage of the history of the religion of Israel - when humanly speaking, it seemed far from improbable that that religion would sink to the level of the common Semitic heathenism, and perish, like the religions of other Semitic peoples, with the political fall of the nation that professed it. It was the work of the prophets which averted such a catastrophe, drawing forth with ever increasing clarity the elements of moral and spiritual truth which were well nigh lost in the corruptions of the popular worship, holding up a conception of Jehovah's holy purpose and saving love to Israel in which even the utter ruin of the Hebrew state appeared as part of a gracious plan, and so maintaining the faith of Jehovah unbroken and victorious when every other part of the inheritance of Israel was swept away by the ruthless tide of Assyrian and Chaldean conquest. Nowhere in Old Testament history is the victory of pure religion over the world, its power to rise superior to all human vicissitudes and bestow hope and peace which the world cannot take away, so clearly manifested as in this great achievement of the prophetic word. In the long struggle with the empires of the East the Word of Jehovah was tried as gold in the furnace and its behaviours under this crucial test is the best demonstration of its incorruptible purity and enduring worth. (1882: .17)
All attempts to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and restore the priestly worship have been short lived and doomed to destruction until the present day. Throughout the last 2000 years of the Christian era, there have been continuous attempts to 'put God inside' holy places such as monasteries, churches and cathedrals. Religious leaders have tried to follow the same sedentary pattern of worship, eventually leading to churches becoming ecclesiastical museums. Christianity is then regarded as irrelevant to the needs of a mobile society, whether it is moving geographically as pastoral nomads, or moving morally and technologically away from traditional church beliefs and behaviours. The irrelevance of an anachronistic institutional religion is evidenced by the paucity of numbers attending most European churches.
A new relationship rather than an old religion.
God declared His intention to begin a new relationship with men and women, even before the Jews returned from their exile in Babylon.
"The time is coming,'' declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,"...."This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time... I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother , saying, 'Know the Lord' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.... for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
This is a relationship which does not depend on buildings, rituals, priests or education. As will be seen in the New Testament references and contemporary models, it is the basis of a religion especially attractive to people on the move in any age or place.
8.2. Why is Christianity relevant to nomadic pastoralists?
In the initial discussion of the religious dimensions of development which is appropriate for nomadic pastoralists (Chapter 2.7) the statement was made that "The Christian Church in its many forms and expressions is the most ubiquitous, people-based organisation on earth with the widest possible penetration and diversity, capable of adaptation and acceptance as a normative part of all civil societies.." This chapter will seek to explore and expand the significance of that statement with particular reference to nomadic pastoralists.
The adaptability and flexibility of the Christian faith.
Christianity is always contextual. It is intended to be a universal religion to be taken and applied in every tribe and language and nation therefore was designed by God to be adaptable and appropriate to every society in any age, what is sometimes referred to as 'translatable'. This is in striking contrast to Islam which suggests that only the 6th century faith expressed in Arabic in Arab culture is authentically Muslim. (Nazir Ali 1991) This is probably the main reason why Islam is apparently more attractive to many nomadic pastoralists than Christianity as it has usually been shown to them, institutionalised and suitable for sedentary societies. They feel a closer affinity to an ancient, middle eastern religion than a modern well equipped mission station. Islam did originate in a desert and for centuries was spread by ascetic Muslim teachers or travelling traders. It will be interesting to see how effective or attractive Islam will be when propagated by the wealthy modern Muslim missionaries travelling in air conditioned Toyota Land Cruisers rather than by camel or on foot. The recent practice of using the wealth of oil rich Muslim countries to build large and impressive mosques across Africa and thus assert the supremacy of Islam seems to parallel the huge Christian cathedral building programmes of the Colonial era. These mosques may be meaningful to settled societies but they will mean little to pastoralists with a nomadic orientation.
In settled societies it is not so much of a problem when the Christian church is presented as an institution or as a group of people who meet in a particular building, but in nomadic pastoral societies such an association make Christianity appear irrelevant to them. It is perceived as a religion for sedentary people who 'belong in one place' and can afford the luxury of special buildings, robes and rituals.
The church is not a building and does not need buildings.
There is no doubt that church buildings and permanent facilities can be useful in most societies and may be highly desirable in certain climates, but amongst people whose essential orientation is nomadic, permanent structures are an unnecessary impediment to the presentation of Christianity and in their ability to understand that the church is appropriate for them.
Historically, it is worth noting that during the first two or three centuries of the existence of the Christian church there were few, if any buildings specifically used for Christian worship in the Roman Empire. It seems that the earliest Christians met in Jerusalem, at the Jewish temple. This pattern was suddenly disrupted by the persecution which exploded on the death of Stephen before Paul's conversion. "On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria". (Acts 8:1)
The New Testament refers to groups of Christians meeting in homes, a school, outdoors by the riverside or underground to escape persecution. The Church then was people, not a place or a building.
The church remained a mobile, largely underground society that was unable to get settled into special buildings for any length of time because of fierce persecutions that rose up time and again against them, throughout the Roman Empire.
The church is people and relationships.
Christianity is a religion which is based entirely on relationships, vertically to God and them horizontally to people, within families, to neighbours, outwards to the surrounding unbelieving community and onwards to all the peoples of the world, Reconciliation of man to God through the saving work of Jesus Christ, and of man to man, is the only foundation on which Christian relationships are established and on which any church is formed. "For no one can lay any other foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. 3:11.) There may well be other social programmes, such as education, which are helpful to understand the word of God, but no other structure or institution is essential.
This is why Christianity is so relevant and appropriate to nomadic pastoralists - people for whom relationships are supremely important. They are often in conflict with other ethnic groups with whom they compete for water and grazing, but their social strength within their families and clans is usually far stronger than in supposedly sophisticated societies, who do not know how to take care of their most vulnerable - the elderly or the children. St. Paul expresses the gospel to the pastoralists most effectively and eloquently in his letter to the Ephesians, referring particularly to ethnically polarised Jews and Gentiles:
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who had made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (ch. 2:13-22)
Buildings, an unnecessary obstacle to the pastoralists
The apostle Paul refers three times in his letters to the Corinthians to the subject of Christian believers being the temple of God, quoting from the Old Testament to show that God does not need buildings. "For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.'" (2 Corinthians 6 :16) This sort of promise is particularly meaningful to nomadic pastoralists, and therefore regrettable that the Christian church has become so closely identified with buildings and structures. These are entirely incidental to the real church of Jesus Christ; at best useful conveniences, at worst, a source of much conflict and a great waste of effort and resources.
In general, it can be said that the more buildings are constructed by Christian missionaries trying to share their faith amongst people of nomadic orientation, the more irrelevant they make Christianity appear. Many Christian missions begin simply, with an initial intention to avoid big building programmes, but the need for western people to have homes and storerooms, generators and workshops lead almost inevitably to little "oases" of western civilisation. After these comes the easily justifiable pressure to provide some sort of care for the poorest people who will begin to settle around the mission station - those with no animals left.
A clinic and a school are usually the next step, as that is what all traditional mission stations seem to have, so the buildings proliferate. Even where this institutional trend is resisted, and other development methods are sought, cultivation is most commonly attempted - usually with irrigation from some water source provided by extraneous technology. There may be a few failed pastoralists who are willing to try the cultivation option, but many pastoralists of West Africa who used to own slaves regard this "digging in the dirt" as suitable only for slaves. Some will resort to this expedient if food or other inducements are provided, but it is not necessary or desirable to make cultivation so closely associated with Christianity.
In some places and projects, Christianity is perceived as being synonymous with settling down and cultivation - thus creating an unnecessary obstacle in the minds of many pastoralists to accepting Christianity. If pastoralists want to drop out of the pastoral sector and take up cultivation, then they have that choice, and can be given assistance towards this end, but Christian witness should be deliberately and visibly separate from that activity.
A Muslim pastoralist's view of Christianity
The attitude of many pastoralists towards Christianity can best be summed up by a comment made by a Somali camel herder in northern Kenya, "When you can put your church on the back of my camel them I will think that Christianity is meant for us Somalis. I am a Muslim, because I am a nomad, and Muslims can pray anywhere. We only ever see you praying inside a church building on Sunday morning, when one man stands in front and talks to God, whilst all the others sit with their heads hanging down, looking as if they are sleeping." (Personal comment heard in 1988) Is it any wonder that Christianity appears as not relevant to nomadic pastoralists, whilst Islam appeals to their sense of community - their "umma".
Amongst the Borana of northern Kenya, featured in this study, cultivation has been practiced more and more over the last 30 years, beginning as a desperate means of survival following the disastrous stock losses during the shifta wars and the concentration camps. The Catholic church at Merti and the Protestant National Christian Council of Kenya (N.C.C.K.) at Kinna have tried hard to foster irrigated cultivation. There have been some successes in attracting a few families into this way of life, but most of those were from non-pastoral Borana-speaking people. In terms of arousing religious interest, or winning the hearts of the people for Christianity by this means, the results after 30 years are apparently zero. It was the estimate of the Catholic Fathers at Garba Tula that there was not one genuine convert to the Catholic church as a result of all Father Pius' work at Merti. The same is probably true of the Catholic mission work at Garba Tula, as the only Borana who attend their church are employees or recipients of Catholic sponsored welfare.
In the initial discussion of the religious dimensions of development which is appropriate for nomadic pastoralists (Chapter 2.7) the statement was made that "The Christian Church in its many forms and expressions is the most ubiquitous, people-based organisation on earth with the widest possible penetration and diversity, capable of adaptation and acceptance as a normative part of all civil societies.." This chapter will seek to explore and expand the significance of that statement with particular reference to nomadic pastoralists.
The adaptability and flexibility of the Christian faith.
Christianity is always contextual. It is intended to be a universal religion to be taken and applied in every tribe and language and nation therefore was designed by God to be adaptable and appropriate to every society in any age, what is sometimes referred to as 'translatable'. This is in striking contrast to Islam which suggests that only the 6th century faith expressed in Arabic in Arab culture is authentically Muslim. (Nazir Ali 1991) This is probably the main reason why Islam is apparently more attractive to many nomadic pastoralists than Christianity as it has usually been shown to them, institutionalised and suitable for sedentary societies. They feel a closer affinity to an ancient, middle eastern religion than a modern well equipped mission station. Islam did originate in a desert and for centuries was spread by ascetic Muslim teachers or travelling traders. It will be interesting to see how effective or attractive Islam will be when propagated by the wealthy modern Muslim missionaries travelling in air conditioned Toyota Land Cruisers rather than by camel or on foot. The recent practice of using the wealth of oil rich Muslim countries to build large and impressive mosques across Africa and thus assert the supremacy of Islam seems to parallel the huge Christian cathedral building programmes of the Colonial era. These mosques may be meaningful to settled societies but they will mean little to pastoralists with a nomadic orientation.
In settled societies it is not so much of a problem when the Christian church is presented as an institution or as a group of people who meet in a particular building, but in nomadic pastoral societies such an association make Christianity appear irrelevant to them. It is perceived as a religion for sedentary people who 'belong in one place' and can afford the luxury of special buildings, robes and rituals.
The church is not a building and does not need buildings.
There is no doubt that church buildings and permanent facilities can be useful in most societies and may be highly desirable in certain climates, but amongst people whose essential orientation is nomadic, permanent structures are an unnecessary impediment to the presentation of Christianity and in their ability to understand that the church is appropriate for them.
Historically, it is worth noting that during the first two or three centuries of the existence of the Christian church there were few, if any buildings specifically used for Christian worship in the Roman Empire. It seems that the earliest Christians met in Jerusalem, at the Jewish temple. This pattern was suddenly disrupted by the persecution which exploded on the death of Stephen before Paul's conversion. "On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria". (Acts 8:1)
The New Testament refers to groups of Christians meeting in homes, a school, outdoors by the riverside or underground to escape persecution. The Church then was people, not a place or a building.
The church remained a mobile, largely underground society that was unable to get settled into special buildings for any length of time because of fierce persecutions that rose up time and again against them, throughout the Roman Empire.
The church is people and relationships.
Christianity is a religion which is based entirely on relationships, vertically to God and them horizontally to people, within families, to neighbours, outwards to the surrounding unbelieving community and onwards to all the peoples of the world, Reconciliation of man to God through the saving work of Jesus Christ, and of man to man, is the only foundation on which Christian relationships are established and on which any church is formed. "For no one can lay any other foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. 3:11.) There may well be other social programmes, such as education, which are helpful to understand the word of God, but no other structure or institution is essential.
This is why Christianity is so relevant and appropriate to nomadic pastoralists - people for whom relationships are supremely important. They are often in conflict with other ethnic groups with whom they compete for water and grazing, but their social strength within their families and clans is usually far stronger than in supposedly sophisticated societies, who do not know how to take care of their most vulnerable - the elderly or the children. St. Paul expresses the gospel to the pastoralists most effectively and eloquently in his letter to the Ephesians, referring particularly to ethnically polarised Jews and Gentiles:
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who had made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (ch. 2:13-22)
Buildings, an unnecessary obstacle to the pastoralists
The apostle Paul refers three times in his letters to the Corinthians to the subject of Christian believers being the temple of God, quoting from the Old Testament to show that God does not need buildings. "For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.'" (2 Corinthians 6 :16) This sort of promise is particularly meaningful to nomadic pastoralists, and therefore regrettable that the Christian church has become so closely identified with buildings and structures. These are entirely incidental to the real church of Jesus Christ; at best useful conveniences, at worst, a source of much conflict and a great waste of effort and resources.
In general, it can be said that the more buildings are constructed by Christian missionaries trying to share their faith amongst people of nomadic orientation, the more irrelevant they make Christianity appear. Many Christian missions begin simply, with an initial intention to avoid big building programmes, but the need for western people to have homes and storerooms, generators and workshops lead almost inevitably to little "oases" of western civilisation. After these comes the easily justifiable pressure to provide some sort of care for the poorest people who will begin to settle around the mission station - those with no animals left.
A clinic and a school are usually the next step, as that is what all traditional mission stations seem to have, so the buildings proliferate. Even where this institutional trend is resisted, and other development methods are sought, cultivation is most commonly attempted - usually with irrigation from some water source provided by extraneous technology. There may be a few failed pastoralists who are willing to try the cultivation option, but many pastoralists of West Africa who used to own slaves regard this "digging in the dirt" as suitable only for slaves. Some will resort to this expedient if food or other inducements are provided, but it is not necessary or desirable to make cultivation so closely associated with Christianity.
In some places and projects, Christianity is perceived as being synonymous with settling down and cultivation - thus creating an unnecessary obstacle in the minds of many pastoralists to accepting Christianity. If pastoralists want to drop out of the pastoral sector and take up cultivation, then they have that choice, and can be given assistance towards this end, but Christian witness should be deliberately and visibly separate from that activity.
A Muslim pastoralist's view of Christianity
The attitude of many pastoralists towards Christianity can best be summed up by a comment made by a Somali camel herder in northern Kenya, "When you can put your church on the back of my camel them I will think that Christianity is meant for us Somalis. I am a Muslim, because I am a nomad, and Muslims can pray anywhere. We only ever see you praying inside a church building on Sunday morning, when one man stands in front and talks to God, whilst all the others sit with their heads hanging down, looking as if they are sleeping." (Personal comment heard in 1988) Is it any wonder that Christianity appears as not relevant to nomadic pastoralists, whilst Islam appeals to their sense of community - their "umma".
Amongst the Borana of northern Kenya, featured in this study, cultivation has been practiced more and more over the last 30 years, beginning as a desperate means of survival following the disastrous stock losses during the shifta wars and the concentration camps. The Catholic church at Merti and the Protestant National Christian Council of Kenya (N.C.C.K.) at Kinna have tried hard to foster irrigated cultivation. There have been some successes in attracting a few families into this way of life, but most of those were from non-pastoral Borana-speaking people. In terms of arousing religious interest, or winning the hearts of the people for Christianity by this means, the results after 30 years are apparently zero. It was the estimate of the Catholic Fathers at Garba Tula that there was not one genuine convert to the Catholic church as a result of all Father Pius' work at Merti. The same is probably true of the Catholic mission work at Garba Tula, as the only Borana who attend their church are employees or recipients of Catholic sponsored welfare.
8.3. Vincent Donovan's model amongst the Masai.
It is all the more instructive to find a very different model of Christian witness to pastoralists in Kenya, from another Roman Catholic Father, Vincent Donovan. Donovan determined, after working for a number of years on a large mission station, that he wanted to go out amongst the Masai to see if they would receive him and accept the Christian message, without any material inducements being offered. After five years of living amongst, and learning from the Masai as he taught them the Christian gospel, he was amazed to find more than 3,000 men and women not just professing to be Christians, but living lives which showed the difference it had made - yet all fully integrated into their pastoral society. The model he demonstrated was certainly most contextualised and exceedingly costly in terms of sacrificial living, probably only possible for an unmarried man with no other commitments.
Obstacles to be overcome in finding an appropriate model.
Donovan's ability to understand what sort of Church would be effective and attractive to the Masai is particularly commendable as he was working out of a model of the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical structure that was probably as far removed from the indigenous expression of the Church which emerged amongst the Masai as it is possible to imagine. The greatest obstacle he found he had to overcome to establishing an appropriate Church for the Masai was that of departing from the traditional view of the priesthood. This particular example will be mentioned as it is one which was most evidently still remaining as an obstacle to the growth of the Christian Church established at Merti by Father Pius.
As Donovan became more familiar with Masai society, he came to realise that his role as a priest in the Catholic Church very closely resembled that of the witch doctor and he did not like what he saw.
As I learned more and more about the pagan religious life of the people I had been working with, I took it all in with mixed feelings..... I felt a sense of respect for the life I saw, because I could only agree with St. Paul that all nations can seek and find God, and that each nation goes its own way with the evidence of God available in the good things he gives each nation. But as I watched the work of the witch doctor I also felt sad and slightly sick, if not ashamed. Every single thing I saw him do, I recognised, not from my acquaintance with other pagan religions, but from my experience as a priest in our own Christian religion.
The temples or sacred places kept up at the people's expense and labor; the class apart, witch doctors or priests, the privileged ones, the ones who make themselves the most important in the religions (sic) community, the ones who alone can talk to God, whether it be through words of incantation and blessing, or words of consecration and absolution; the ordinary people, especially women, completely at the mercy and whim and arbitrariness and exclusiveness of the holy one-not reaching the throne of God or even understanding the word of God, except through him; the discrimination against women; the offering for the sacrifice, and the daily sacrifice itself; the manipulation of sacred signs and relics; the air of unfathomable mystery about it all. There is scarcely a pagan trick that we Christians have overlooked or missed.
....Was it for nothing that Christ entered once and for all into the holy of holies and offered the one and only Christian sacrifice?....In that one supreme moment in his life when Jesus did offer sacrifice once and for all, he gathered into himself the whole meaning of priesthood and sacrifice, and obliterated forever the need of a priestly caste. The result of that action, and his entirely original contribution was, for the first time in the history of religion, to enable an entire people to be priest. Is this not one of the biggest differences between Christianity and all other religions on the face of the earth? (Donovan. 1978: 138)
Donovan goes on to apply this understanding of the essential difference between basic Christianity and the institutional religion in which he had been raised and trained by asking how could he go to the Masai and tell them about a belief system which was not only irrelevant to them but was untrue to the Word of God. Why should he have to tell them that the good news he brought them was that they should no longer rely on the power of the pagan witch doctor but, "they could transfer their trust to the power of the Christian witch doctor. That is no good news at all". Donovan maintains that the good news he wanted to give to the Masai is that they no longer need human mediators to enable them to approach God, but that the people of God, the laity in every society, "can reach even to the throne of God by the power given to them as a Christian community by Christ.
Donovan quotes from the words of the apostle Peter, to describe this new situation.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation. A people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people at all, and now you are the people of God. (1 Peter 2:9,10)
Peter deals with the two major obstacles that impede the understanding of nomadic pastoralists that the Christian Church is for them. It is worth noting that these twin obstacles of stone buildings and professional priests happen to be two of the most conspicuous features of a large sector of the Christian Church which claims to be honouring St. Peter most devoutly. "As you come to Him, the living stone - rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him - you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ....But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God..." ( 1 Peter 2:4,5,9)
The relationship between development and the Christian gospel
Donovan was a priest whose main concern was clearly the evangelisation of the Masai. He describes evangelisation as "a process of bringing the gospel to people where they are, not where you would like them to be." (Donovan 1978. vi). He lived that purpose single-mindedly for five years whilst other Catholic priests continued with the institutional work on the mission station.
Donovan does not deny the need for material and social development; he just felt that the usual mission activities were confusing the message they were seeking to bring and set about trying to correct the false impression. "No one would deny the connection between the gospel and development. But what has to be denied is the identification of the two things." (Donovan 1978:165)
Balanced development teams which complement one another
Donovan's situation was that of a priest and theologian, not a practical development worker, so for him his Christian witness was limited to a spoken one. This could be said to complement the usual type of educational and medical work of Catholic missions. An integrated development team should always include those with practical and those with communication skills. Donovan's work is exemplary in any development planning situation as he set out to live as close to the Masai as possible and to learn from them how before he began to teach them He realised that he needed to know how Christianity could most easily be presented and applied in their culture.
In the preface to the second edition, Christianity Rediscovered, Donovan writes, "The conviction of this book is the belief that the gospel itself, untied to any social service or other inducement, is a message filled with power and fertility and creativity and freedom. The main thrust of the book describes an attempt to empower a particular people with the freedom and total responsibility of that gospel. This experience lived out in the lonely pastoral setting of the Masai steppes of East Africa, is far removed from the spreading urban technological society in which we live." (Donovan. 1978: viii)
Integration of physical and spiritual dimensions of development.
The writer of this present study shares Donovan's views about the transforming power of the Christian gospel, but he also believes that it is possible and necessary to integrate the verbal declaration of the Christian message with the practical demonstration of it in what can be termed Christian community development.
This study is written from the perspective of someone who has worked for 30 years as a practitioner, mostly amongst nomadic and semi nomadic pastoralists, and who has seen that the most effective development work must include the spiritual and physical dimensions of Christian service. This is the contemporary equivalent of the type of witness which Jesus commanded and demonstrated whilst He was on earth. "When Jesus had called the twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Luke 9:1-2).
The writer believes that all the technological resources of modern development interventions are intended by God to be used to alleviate human suffering and to enable people to live more effectively in their natural environment, without the need for them to be westernised or sedenterised. He also believes that the elements of physical development are not in themselves an adequate expression of Christian witness, and certainly not a substitute for it. They need to be matched and balanced with a declaration of the Christian gospel, presented in the most appropriate manner
Christianity, - one of the strongest forces for social transformation.
The writer has learned from experience that a community development programme which ignores the spiritual dimension lacks a vital element. He has observed in practice that such a programme is not just deficient, it is defective. It will miss the transforming power of inner motivation, in particularly the liberating effect of the Christian gospel.
This has been described in by an American specialist in the sociology of development in the following way "Christianity is not only a supernatural, spiritual force, it is a social force for change. By its very nature, vital Christianity is an active social change agent." (Wilson 1989:14,5). Religion in general and Christianity in particular is one of the strongest, most powerful social forces affecting social transformation." (ibid. 146)
Development is transformation from within, moving outwards.
Another Christian anthropologist expressed his understanding of development thus: "Development is based on relationships, but its goal is transformation - the creation of new communities, in which people live in harmony under God, and enjoy the basic necessities of life." (Hiebert 1989:85)
This writer has had the opportunity over the last 30 years to observe this transforming power of Christianity in several ethnic groups which practised traditional religion. He has seen that Christianity has several effects which are very useful in development work.
Examples of Christian Community Development in action
First, it sets people free from traditions which can be described as negative in the sense that they are resistant to change and cling to old practices without being willing to consider whether the new ideas or old practices are beneficial or not to their way of life. One example of this was the tearing out of the uvula of little children with inflamed throats and the digging out of the embryonic teeth from the gums of babies with diarrhea. The national government had tried for years to stamp out these practices, but it was not until the Christian gospel had been accepted by the people that they were willing to break with it. Second, it makes people receptive to new ideas, which is a great help when development discussions are beginning and innovations attempted. Third, when Christianity is presented appropriately in third world societies it does not produce individual believers, as it usually does in the West, but whole communities of transformed people who will show the caring and sharing which is the hall mark of the followers of Jesus Christ. In spite of the general image of the Christian Church often portrayed and parodied in the West, this study is based on the experience and the conviction that the living Church is a remarkable virile and versatile, revolutionising and reconciling agency which can adapt to any society or ethnic group.
It is all the more instructive to find a very different model of Christian witness to pastoralists in Kenya, from another Roman Catholic Father, Vincent Donovan. Donovan determined, after working for a number of years on a large mission station, that he wanted to go out amongst the Masai to see if they would receive him and accept the Christian message, without any material inducements being offered. After five years of living amongst, and learning from the Masai as he taught them the Christian gospel, he was amazed to find more than 3,000 men and women not just professing to be Christians, but living lives which showed the difference it had made - yet all fully integrated into their pastoral society. The model he demonstrated was certainly most contextualised and exceedingly costly in terms of sacrificial living, probably only possible for an unmarried man with no other commitments.
Obstacles to be overcome in finding an appropriate model.
Donovan's ability to understand what sort of Church would be effective and attractive to the Masai is particularly commendable as he was working out of a model of the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical structure that was probably as far removed from the indigenous expression of the Church which emerged amongst the Masai as it is possible to imagine. The greatest obstacle he found he had to overcome to establishing an appropriate Church for the Masai was that of departing from the traditional view of the priesthood. This particular example will be mentioned as it is one which was most evidently still remaining as an obstacle to the growth of the Christian Church established at Merti by Father Pius.
As Donovan became more familiar with Masai society, he came to realise that his role as a priest in the Catholic Church very closely resembled that of the witch doctor and he did not like what he saw.
As I learned more and more about the pagan religious life of the people I had been working with, I took it all in with mixed feelings..... I felt a sense of respect for the life I saw, because I could only agree with St. Paul that all nations can seek and find God, and that each nation goes its own way with the evidence of God available in the good things he gives each nation. But as I watched the work of the witch doctor I also felt sad and slightly sick, if not ashamed. Every single thing I saw him do, I recognised, not from my acquaintance with other pagan religions, but from my experience as a priest in our own Christian religion.
The temples or sacred places kept up at the people's expense and labor; the class apart, witch doctors or priests, the privileged ones, the ones who make themselves the most important in the religions (sic) community, the ones who alone can talk to God, whether it be through words of incantation and blessing, or words of consecration and absolution; the ordinary people, especially women, completely at the mercy and whim and arbitrariness and exclusiveness of the holy one-not reaching the throne of God or even understanding the word of God, except through him; the discrimination against women; the offering for the sacrifice, and the daily sacrifice itself; the manipulation of sacred signs and relics; the air of unfathomable mystery about it all. There is scarcely a pagan trick that we Christians have overlooked or missed.
....Was it for nothing that Christ entered once and for all into the holy of holies and offered the one and only Christian sacrifice?....In that one supreme moment in his life when Jesus did offer sacrifice once and for all, he gathered into himself the whole meaning of priesthood and sacrifice, and obliterated forever the need of a priestly caste. The result of that action, and his entirely original contribution was, for the first time in the history of religion, to enable an entire people to be priest. Is this not one of the biggest differences between Christianity and all other religions on the face of the earth? (Donovan. 1978: 138)
Donovan goes on to apply this understanding of the essential difference between basic Christianity and the institutional religion in which he had been raised and trained by asking how could he go to the Masai and tell them about a belief system which was not only irrelevant to them but was untrue to the Word of God. Why should he have to tell them that the good news he brought them was that they should no longer rely on the power of the pagan witch doctor but, "they could transfer their trust to the power of the Christian witch doctor. That is no good news at all". Donovan maintains that the good news he wanted to give to the Masai is that they no longer need human mediators to enable them to approach God, but that the people of God, the laity in every society, "can reach even to the throne of God by the power given to them as a Christian community by Christ.
Donovan quotes from the words of the apostle Peter, to describe this new situation.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation. A people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people at all, and now you are the people of God. (1 Peter 2:9,10)
Peter deals with the two major obstacles that impede the understanding of nomadic pastoralists that the Christian Church is for them. It is worth noting that these twin obstacles of stone buildings and professional priests happen to be two of the most conspicuous features of a large sector of the Christian Church which claims to be honouring St. Peter most devoutly. "As you come to Him, the living stone - rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him - you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ....But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God..." ( 1 Peter 2:4,5,9)
The relationship between development and the Christian gospel
Donovan was a priest whose main concern was clearly the evangelisation of the Masai. He describes evangelisation as "a process of bringing the gospel to people where they are, not where you would like them to be." (Donovan 1978. vi). He lived that purpose single-mindedly for five years whilst other Catholic priests continued with the institutional work on the mission station.
Donovan does not deny the need for material and social development; he just felt that the usual mission activities were confusing the message they were seeking to bring and set about trying to correct the false impression. "No one would deny the connection between the gospel and development. But what has to be denied is the identification of the two things." (Donovan 1978:165)
Balanced development teams which complement one another
Donovan's situation was that of a priest and theologian, not a practical development worker, so for him his Christian witness was limited to a spoken one. This could be said to complement the usual type of educational and medical work of Catholic missions. An integrated development team should always include those with practical and those with communication skills. Donovan's work is exemplary in any development planning situation as he set out to live as close to the Masai as possible and to learn from them how before he began to teach them He realised that he needed to know how Christianity could most easily be presented and applied in their culture.
In the preface to the second edition, Christianity Rediscovered, Donovan writes, "The conviction of this book is the belief that the gospel itself, untied to any social service or other inducement, is a message filled with power and fertility and creativity and freedom. The main thrust of the book describes an attempt to empower a particular people with the freedom and total responsibility of that gospel. This experience lived out in the lonely pastoral setting of the Masai steppes of East Africa, is far removed from the spreading urban technological society in which we live." (Donovan. 1978: viii)
Integration of physical and spiritual dimensions of development.
The writer of this present study shares Donovan's views about the transforming power of the Christian gospel, but he also believes that it is possible and necessary to integrate the verbal declaration of the Christian message with the practical demonstration of it in what can be termed Christian community development.
This study is written from the perspective of someone who has worked for 30 years as a practitioner, mostly amongst nomadic and semi nomadic pastoralists, and who has seen that the most effective development work must include the spiritual and physical dimensions of Christian service. This is the contemporary equivalent of the type of witness which Jesus commanded and demonstrated whilst He was on earth. "When Jesus had called the twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Luke 9:1-2).
The writer believes that all the technological resources of modern development interventions are intended by God to be used to alleviate human suffering and to enable people to live more effectively in their natural environment, without the need for them to be westernised or sedenterised. He also believes that the elements of physical development are not in themselves an adequate expression of Christian witness, and certainly not a substitute for it. They need to be matched and balanced with a declaration of the Christian gospel, presented in the most appropriate manner
Christianity, - one of the strongest forces for social transformation.
The writer has learned from experience that a community development programme which ignores the spiritual dimension lacks a vital element. He has observed in practice that such a programme is not just deficient, it is defective. It will miss the transforming power of inner motivation, in particularly the liberating effect of the Christian gospel.
This has been described in by an American specialist in the sociology of development in the following way "Christianity is not only a supernatural, spiritual force, it is a social force for change. By its very nature, vital Christianity is an active social change agent." (Wilson 1989:14,5). Religion in general and Christianity in particular is one of the strongest, most powerful social forces affecting social transformation." (ibid. 146)
Development is transformation from within, moving outwards.
Another Christian anthropologist expressed his understanding of development thus: "Development is based on relationships, but its goal is transformation - the creation of new communities, in which people live in harmony under God, and enjoy the basic necessities of life." (Hiebert 1989:85)
This writer has had the opportunity over the last 30 years to observe this transforming power of Christianity in several ethnic groups which practised traditional religion. He has seen that Christianity has several effects which are very useful in development work.
Examples of Christian Community Development in action
First, it sets people free from traditions which can be described as negative in the sense that they are resistant to change and cling to old practices without being willing to consider whether the new ideas or old practices are beneficial or not to their way of life. One example of this was the tearing out of the uvula of little children with inflamed throats and the digging out of the embryonic teeth from the gums of babies with diarrhea. The national government had tried for years to stamp out these practices, but it was not until the Christian gospel had been accepted by the people that they were willing to break with it. Second, it makes people receptive to new ideas, which is a great help when development discussions are beginning and innovations attempted. Third, when Christianity is presented appropriately in third world societies it does not produce individual believers, as it usually does in the West, but whole communities of transformed people who will show the caring and sharing which is the hall mark of the followers of Jesus Christ. In spite of the general image of the Christian Church often portrayed and parodied in the West, this study is based on the experience and the conviction that the living Church is a remarkable virile and versatile, revolutionising and reconciling agency which can adapt to any society or ethnic group.
8.4. Holistic development and spiritual power.
In chapter two the concept was introduced of spiritual power being available for use in contemporary development practice. The supernatural powers demonstrated by Jesus Christ and frequently enjoined on his disciples are admittedly difficult to predict or plan for as they cannot be produced on demand. They will always be subject to the ultimate intervention of the sovereign God and according to His purposes.
A salutary example of this is given in the gospels where the disciples could not heal a boy who had been brought to them by his father to be healed. He subsequently approached Jesus with the appeal, "Lord, have mercy on my son...He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him." The response of Jesus is both illuminating and disturbing for Christian development practitioners. He did deal with the boy by rebuking the demon so that "He was healed from that moment", but he also dealt with his disciples with words that seem most humiliating: "Oh unbelieving and perverse generation", Jesus replied, "How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you." (Matthew 17:17)
The disturbing aspect of this example comes in reflecting on the role of the belief of the professed Christian practitioner in allowing the power of God to work in situations where spiritual power is needed.
Having acknowledged the limitations of human wisdom and even past spiritual experiences to allow firm predictions and to make definite plans in development intervention, the following list of principles are presented as being most pertinent to this study of holistic development.
1. Supernatural power will be seen operating in all societies - especially where the Christian gospel is first presented. God has given power and authority to his followers to confront and overcome evil powers. (Matthew 10:1, Luke 9:1-2)
2. That the power of the Holy Spirit has been promised to fulfill the command to take the Christian gospel in word and action to every ethnic group on earth.
3. That power may not be evidenced in supernatural miracles but can be seen in transformed lives of new believers and in divine grace and enabling for those ready to serve.
The Holy Spirit and holistic development
The role of the Holy Spirit in holistic development has become one of the major topics of interest amongst contemporary Christian development agencies.
In a recent study of seven models of effective holistic ministry in Asia the role of the Holy Spirit emerged as one of the most significant factors in each of the case studies presented at a consultation in 1994.
One of the participants at that consultation, Vinay Samuel noted that it is only during the last ten years that this recognition of the role of the Holy Spirit in the work of relief and development has arisen. In the seventies and eighties Christ's ministry in the gospels was usually taken as the model for holistic development. Samuel goes on to identify several areas in his review of the case studies from a theological perspective. "First, there is assumption in most of the case studies that a ministry shaped and empowered by the Holy Spirit will be holistic." (1995: 147)
Another important observation Samuel makes regarding the Asian case studies is that
the recognition of the central role of the Holy Spirit in holistic ministry enables the introduction of the understanding of spiritual warfare into relief and development activity. Spiritual warfare is identified not only as battling the tyranny of unbelief and untruth in individual and community religious life but also in addressing aspects of people's cultures that militate against development. Spiritual warfare is seen as the key strategy for empowering individuals and communities in their struggle to overcome poverty. This understanding restores a mission dimension to relief and development work. Struggles for justice, for human rights, against oppressive forces and against poverty are also at heart battles with principalities and powers and spiritual forces." (ibid: 148)
The balance of integrated holistic development
The Christian message which is as appropriate today as it was when first demonstrated by Jesus involves a two fold declaration. First by preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, secondly by engaging in whatever physical and spiritual intervention is appropriate. Jesus had the great advantage of being able to "heal all diseases and to drive out all demons," but he did not have or need modern medicine. The contemporary equivalent of his activity whilst on earth will therefore include the use of these modern medicines and procedures as well as using the power offered to us in the Name of Jesus to set people free from evil spiritual forces such as demons and beliefs which blind people to the truth of the Gospel.
On top of these interventions and the other biblical precedent of hunger relief are the whole range of modern development practices and technologies such as are described in the earlier chapters of this study. These will be of varied degrees of relevance in different societies, even amongst nomadic pastoralists in different parts of the world but the common feature desirable in all development interventions is the attitude of compassion, humility, identification with the needs of the poorest which Jesus Christ most perfectly exhibited. These qualities can often be well demonstrated by individuals who have no claim to Christian faith or commitment, in fact it appears that sometimes Christian activists may be the most insensitive in their approach to non Christian people. This will certainly be the case if they come with a strong conviction of their moral and economic superiority, usually combined with the common cultural arrogance that money and Western technology can cure all social problems and thereby convince people of the virtue of their Christian religion.
Misunderstanding by Christian missionaries.
It is regrettable that there is, more often than not, a large measure of distrust or mutual antipathy between Christian missionaries and secular development workers. They could learn much from each other and work together most effectively.
Conversely, it is even more regrettable that many Christian missionaries, and well intentioned Relief and development agencies, do not appear to appreciate the distinctly different features of nomadic pastoral societies which require different approaches. All too often the same development and church planting strategies are attempted as have been used to good effect amongst sedentary, cultivating peoples. For the latter it may be quite appropriate to build a mission station and splendid permanent church modeled on the structure that the missionary is familiar with in his or her home country. It is very interesting to see the variety of style, shapes and sizes of churches that have been built by Christian missionaries all across the third world and to note the national background from which the design came.
In chapter two the concept was introduced of spiritual power being available for use in contemporary development practice. The supernatural powers demonstrated by Jesus Christ and frequently enjoined on his disciples are admittedly difficult to predict or plan for as they cannot be produced on demand. They will always be subject to the ultimate intervention of the sovereign God and according to His purposes.
A salutary example of this is given in the gospels where the disciples could not heal a boy who had been brought to them by his father to be healed. He subsequently approached Jesus with the appeal, "Lord, have mercy on my son...He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him." The response of Jesus is both illuminating and disturbing for Christian development practitioners. He did deal with the boy by rebuking the demon so that "He was healed from that moment", but he also dealt with his disciples with words that seem most humiliating: "Oh unbelieving and perverse generation", Jesus replied, "How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you." (Matthew 17:17)
The disturbing aspect of this example comes in reflecting on the role of the belief of the professed Christian practitioner in allowing the power of God to work in situations where spiritual power is needed.
Having acknowledged the limitations of human wisdom and even past spiritual experiences to allow firm predictions and to make definite plans in development intervention, the following list of principles are presented as being most pertinent to this study of holistic development.
1. Supernatural power will be seen operating in all societies - especially where the Christian gospel is first presented. God has given power and authority to his followers to confront and overcome evil powers. (Matthew 10:1, Luke 9:1-2)
2. That the power of the Holy Spirit has been promised to fulfill the command to take the Christian gospel in word and action to every ethnic group on earth.
3. That power may not be evidenced in supernatural miracles but can be seen in transformed lives of new believers and in divine grace and enabling for those ready to serve.
The Holy Spirit and holistic development
The role of the Holy Spirit in holistic development has become one of the major topics of interest amongst contemporary Christian development agencies.
In a recent study of seven models of effective holistic ministry in Asia the role of the Holy Spirit emerged as one of the most significant factors in each of the case studies presented at a consultation in 1994.
One of the participants at that consultation, Vinay Samuel noted that it is only during the last ten years that this recognition of the role of the Holy Spirit in the work of relief and development has arisen. In the seventies and eighties Christ's ministry in the gospels was usually taken as the model for holistic development. Samuel goes on to identify several areas in his review of the case studies from a theological perspective. "First, there is assumption in most of the case studies that a ministry shaped and empowered by the Holy Spirit will be holistic." (1995: 147)
Another important observation Samuel makes regarding the Asian case studies is that
the recognition of the central role of the Holy Spirit in holistic ministry enables the introduction of the understanding of spiritual warfare into relief and development activity. Spiritual warfare is identified not only as battling the tyranny of unbelief and untruth in individual and community religious life but also in addressing aspects of people's cultures that militate against development. Spiritual warfare is seen as the key strategy for empowering individuals and communities in their struggle to overcome poverty. This understanding restores a mission dimension to relief and development work. Struggles for justice, for human rights, against oppressive forces and against poverty are also at heart battles with principalities and powers and spiritual forces." (ibid: 148)
The balance of integrated holistic development
The Christian message which is as appropriate today as it was when first demonstrated by Jesus involves a two fold declaration. First by preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, secondly by engaging in whatever physical and spiritual intervention is appropriate. Jesus had the great advantage of being able to "heal all diseases and to drive out all demons," but he did not have or need modern medicine. The contemporary equivalent of his activity whilst on earth will therefore include the use of these modern medicines and procedures as well as using the power offered to us in the Name of Jesus to set people free from evil spiritual forces such as demons and beliefs which blind people to the truth of the Gospel.
On top of these interventions and the other biblical precedent of hunger relief are the whole range of modern development practices and technologies such as are described in the earlier chapters of this study. These will be of varied degrees of relevance in different societies, even amongst nomadic pastoralists in different parts of the world but the common feature desirable in all development interventions is the attitude of compassion, humility, identification with the needs of the poorest which Jesus Christ most perfectly exhibited. These qualities can often be well demonstrated by individuals who have no claim to Christian faith or commitment, in fact it appears that sometimes Christian activists may be the most insensitive in their approach to non Christian people. This will certainly be the case if they come with a strong conviction of their moral and economic superiority, usually combined with the common cultural arrogance that money and Western technology can cure all social problems and thereby convince people of the virtue of their Christian religion.
Misunderstanding by Christian missionaries.
It is regrettable that there is, more often than not, a large measure of distrust or mutual antipathy between Christian missionaries and secular development workers. They could learn much from each other and work together most effectively.
Conversely, it is even more regrettable that many Christian missionaries, and well intentioned Relief and development agencies, do not appear to appreciate the distinctly different features of nomadic pastoral societies which require different approaches. All too often the same development and church planting strategies are attempted as have been used to good effect amongst sedentary, cultivating peoples. For the latter it may be quite appropriate to build a mission station and splendid permanent church modeled on the structure that the missionary is familiar with in his or her home country. It is very interesting to see the variety of style, shapes and sizes of churches that have been built by Christian missionaries all across the third world and to note the national background from which the design came.
8.5. The church in nomadic pastoral societies.
If it is to be appropriate and attractive to nomadic pastoralists, then the church will probably not be in a building or even in any particular place. In fact it seems quite obvious that whenever a Christian missionary builds a permanent church structure or institution he is giving a negative communication of the Christian gospel from the point of view of nomadic pastoralists.
The effect of the indigenous Christian church.
The positive potential of the Christian message to nomadic pastoralists stems from the understanding that Christianity is the greatest liberating and transforming agent for change in any society and that the Church is also totally appropriate and adaptable to any society. This transformed community will be the ideal basis for any holistic development programme which will meet the spiritual, social and material needs of that society. Unfortunately this concept of the Christian church is not always understood or practised by Christian missionaries and even less appreciated by most secular development workers.
The strength of pastoralist societies - relationships.
The values and strengths of pastoralists lie very little in buildings and ownership of property, but in their relationships to one another. The Christian church, was never meant to be a society for the amassing of wealth; or the construction and conservation of ecclesiastical architecture, but a dynamic body built entirely on relationships, first of all to God and then horizontally through the members of the body to the world at large.
Donovan has a helpful explanation of the difference in relationships between Western and African societies which carry over into the church. He observes that the main common denominator of different groupings in western society is usually competition within the group, referring particularly to North America.
An individuals worth within the group is pretty much determined by his or her achievements, talents, skill or beauty.---When I came into contact with African communities for the first time, one of the things I noticed about them was the lack of competition within the community. No one really tried to stand out in a community, perhaps did not even want to. Everyone would point out the greatest athlete, or the best dancer and rested hopes on such gifted people to bring honour to their community. All warriors were glad they had the bravest warrior in their midst in troubled times. The very notion of being chief or legwanan of an age group was not a sought after honour, even though it implied a nobility of character and personality. The ones on whom such an honour fell were invariably sad at the choice. Talents that people possessed and displayed were accepted and recognised by the community and put to good use by the community. People with lesser talents were accepted as such and were expected to contribute according to their ability. No one was rejected for lack of talent.
This system does not prohibit striving for excellence in the context of the community. It does preclude, however, competitive striving for individual aggrandizement, at the expense of the community. Flocks are herded in common, fields are tilled in common, and a family dwelling is built by the community. It is hard to go hungry in a community when food is available in a village, and hard to go uncared for when there is medicine available there. Old people have important functions in a community which makes them very valuable and wanted. And there are no orphans in a community. (Donovan 1978: 142)
It has to be noted that this rosy view of an African community is the traditional pattern before western individualism and commercial competition intrudes. Unfortunately the social strengths of such communities are rapidly being eroded in many places, particularly amongst urbanised and educated people.
Where these social strengths and highly desirable values still prevail, as in most pastoral societies, the Christian church can be most easily accepted as the same values on relationships and mutual support within the community can be applied.
If it is to be appropriate and attractive to nomadic pastoralists, then the church will probably not be in a building or even in any particular place. In fact it seems quite obvious that whenever a Christian missionary builds a permanent church structure or institution he is giving a negative communication of the Christian gospel from the point of view of nomadic pastoralists.
The effect of the indigenous Christian church.
The positive potential of the Christian message to nomadic pastoralists stems from the understanding that Christianity is the greatest liberating and transforming agent for change in any society and that the Church is also totally appropriate and adaptable to any society. This transformed community will be the ideal basis for any holistic development programme which will meet the spiritual, social and material needs of that society. Unfortunately this concept of the Christian church is not always understood or practised by Christian missionaries and even less appreciated by most secular development workers.
The strength of pastoralist societies - relationships.
The values and strengths of pastoralists lie very little in buildings and ownership of property, but in their relationships to one another. The Christian church, was never meant to be a society for the amassing of wealth; or the construction and conservation of ecclesiastical architecture, but a dynamic body built entirely on relationships, first of all to God and then horizontally through the members of the body to the world at large.
Donovan has a helpful explanation of the difference in relationships between Western and African societies which carry over into the church. He observes that the main common denominator of different groupings in western society is usually competition within the group, referring particularly to North America.
An individuals worth within the group is pretty much determined by his or her achievements, talents, skill or beauty.---When I came into contact with African communities for the first time, one of the things I noticed about them was the lack of competition within the community. No one really tried to stand out in a community, perhaps did not even want to. Everyone would point out the greatest athlete, or the best dancer and rested hopes on such gifted people to bring honour to their community. All warriors were glad they had the bravest warrior in their midst in troubled times. The very notion of being chief or legwanan of an age group was not a sought after honour, even though it implied a nobility of character and personality. The ones on whom such an honour fell were invariably sad at the choice. Talents that people possessed and displayed were accepted and recognised by the community and put to good use by the community. People with lesser talents were accepted as such and were expected to contribute according to their ability. No one was rejected for lack of talent.
This system does not prohibit striving for excellence in the context of the community. It does preclude, however, competitive striving for individual aggrandizement, at the expense of the community. Flocks are herded in common, fields are tilled in common, and a family dwelling is built by the community. It is hard to go hungry in a community when food is available in a village, and hard to go uncared for when there is medicine available there. Old people have important functions in a community which makes them very valuable and wanted. And there are no orphans in a community. (Donovan 1978: 142)
It has to be noted that this rosy view of an African community is the traditional pattern before western individualism and commercial competition intrudes. Unfortunately the social strengths of such communities are rapidly being eroded in many places, particularly amongst urbanised and educated people.
Where these social strengths and highly desirable values still prevail, as in most pastoral societies, the Christian church can be most easily accepted as the same values on relationships and mutual support within the community can be applied.
8.6. Models of a church for nomadic pastoralists.
There will be many inside and outside the Christian community who may find it difficult to imagine a church without any structure or buildings, but this is the sort of church which will be appropriate and attractive to nomadic pastoralists. The writer has personally witnessed the emergence and expansion of a culturally appropriate and attractive Christian church amongst one of the most nomadic of all the ethnic groups of West Africa, the Wo'odabe. This has occurred over the last 6 years without permanent church structure or resident missionary.
The church at Tassa Ibrahim.
The Christian community amongst the Wo'odabe are simply known by the name of the well of Tassa Ibrahim where the first believers came from, in about 1988. At their first baptismal ceremony in November 1993, 87 adults and young people were accepted by that community to be committed followers of Jesus Christ and were baptised alongside their well. That community of impoverished, but very nomadic Christian pastoralists, has continued to do what Wo'odabe have always done - to walk and to talk about what is most important to them, which is now their faith. By this means and motivation the Christian church is spreading outwards from Tassa Ibrahim, not only amongst their own Wo'odabe people but also to other nomadic pastoralists, their Fulani cousins and even some of their Tuareg neighbours.
The involvement of western development workers.
There has been no western missionary or even an African church leader from any other ethnic group who has been responsible for organising and directing this emerging Christian community amongst the Wo'odabe. This is probably why it has remained nomadic, without any of the usual building of churches and Bible Schools. The missionaries who have had most contact with them have all been qualified development workers who integrate their faith with their professional training, such as veterinarians, nurses or arid land silviculture specialists. The new believers and church leaders have shown not only an evangelistic concern to share their faith, but that characteristic openness to innovation referred to earlier. Some have taken training as pre-veterinarians, primary health care workers, basic commercial skills to serve as traders, and most have learned the value of and techniques for reforestation and regeneration of the semi desert over which they move with their few remaining animals.
The model of the church amongst the Wo'dabe has been presented as it contrasts markedly with the example of Christian activity introduced and maintained by the Roman Catholic Missions in Isiolo District amongst the Waso Borana who form the basis of the study. The comparison is made not to denigrate the sincere and sacrificial efforts made many sincere priests and nuns.
The penetration of Islam.
In those same 30 years, nearly all of the 20,000 or so people in the Waso Borana have become Muslims. This is even more remarkable if it is understood that the Borana received their introduction to Islam from their Somali neighbours with whom they had very troubled relationships over the last 80 or 90 years, since the first Borana left their home lands in southern Ethiopia to enter the northern plains of Kenya. There have been occasional truces and alliances, but much more frequently they have been fighting over water and grazing with huge losses of Borana cattle to the Somalis. The history of the Waso Borana during and since Independence in 1963 is one of tragic suffering, conflict, duplicity and the main cause of their present destitution. The Christian missionaries, both Protestant and Catholic who first went to the Waso Borana did so because of the terrible suffering and loss of human life and animals that came to them as a result of their attempt to form an alliance with the Somali.
The importance of being culturally attractive
The present status of Christianity in Waso Borana forms the basis for one of the theses being considered in this study,- that it is so important for a nomad pastoralists to remain in their traditional way of life that he would rather accept the religion of his enemies than that of his friends, if the latter is seen to be appropriate only for settled people.
There is no doubt that the Christian church in Kenya has been well established amongst the ethnic groups who live in urban or settled rural areas, but these have been historically in conflict with or subservient to the many other cattle herding groups. Where Christianity has been presented as part of the settling down process of development, then that has made an unnecessary barrier to the acceptance of Christianity, as well as to other aspects of development. A true and appropriate view of holistic development must include appropriate technological intervention and an attractive and relevant spiritual component.
The social strengths of nomadic pastoral societies
One of the features of pastoralist societies referred to in chapter one of this study is the quality they possess of social cohesion within their families and clans which bind them together, especially in adversity, to support one another. One of the characteristics frequently noted by this writer in the pastoralist societies amongst whom he has lived is that whereas the expressions of human love may be very different from technologically advanced societies, their loyalty and concern for each other within their extended families are much to be respected. These are qualities which would fit very easily into the standard of Christian family and community life taught in the New Testament but so sadly eroded in contemporary Western society. Particularly in their attitude towards the elderly and the almost total absence of abused and abandoned children it is possible to say that nomadic pastoralist societies are in no way socially primitive - however technologically backward they may appear.
In other words it behooves Christian development workers to come into such culturally remote societies with a large degree of respect and willingness to look for and learn from the virtues of such marginalised peoples as nomadic pastoralists.
The other area where the humble attitude of a learner is needed by outside development workers is in a willingness to take a long term approach to learning the world view and value systems of nomadic pastoralists. This is especially important for Christian workers who want to be culturally sensitive and to serve these people. In general it appears valid that the more distant the target society is from that of the development worker the more difficult it is for him to understand that world value and the longer the learning process therefore requires.
Taking the long view of holistic development
It behooves the development worker who enters a pastoralist society with a view to using a holistic approach to be prepared to spend a long time, probably several years learning, what that particular pastoralist group believe about God, the after-life, good and bad spiritual forces, forgiveness, reconciliation, and salvation. [1]
The high view of God held by nearly all nomadic pastoralists (see chapter one..) means that they need to be approached in a completely different manner than that used amongst sophisticated urban skeptics or agnostics with whom the missionary recruit has usually grown up and learned from. Whatever name is used for God, it is usually the most common word to pass the lips of pastoralists, not only in their greetings and their many blessings but with reference to every aspect of their lives. The awareness of their dependence on God as their provider and protector is frequently so strong as to make even a sincere Christian development worker conscious of his lack of practical trust in his God.
The common difficulty in adopting this long view of learning approach is that it is contrary to the expectations and inclinations and of nearly all well motivated outsiders, both western and third world urbanised and educated development workers. The outsider needs to do something and to prove to his donor agency or sponsor that he is hard at work. Unfortunately the hard work he or she engages in may not just impede the opportunity to learn but often may be negative in terms of appropriate development as noted in chapter two.
Semi-nomadic research as an entry point to the learning process.
This writer has found that one of the most acceptable roles to adopt when trying to acquire the opportunity and freedom to learn slowly and in depth is to enter the society as a researcher, especially if there is some small contribution he can make at the same time to meet the needs of that society which do not involve any capital intensive projects or permanent buildings. These conclusions were only arrived at after many years of attempting other strategies or more often trying to implement some other outsider's project proposals.
In the case of this research among the Waso Borana the main contribution that this researcher made was to bring in practical suggestions and insights gained from experience, often negative, in other pastoralists societies. [2]
As noted in the comments in chapter four on the benefits of conducting research amongst semi-nomadic pastoralists in a semi-nomadic manner using the benefit of a tent on top of a four wheel drive vehicle, this proved to be well accepted by the people involved in the field research. Comments were frequently made about the speed with which the tent could be unfolded and packed away again. That took about two minutes which understandably impressed the women who usually spend several hours dismantling and reassembling their houses of sticks and skins. The ability to produce a pan full of sweet tea sufficient for a large family in about ten minutes was even more appreciated. That simple gesture of friendship usually afforded not only an immediate welcome but often an invitation to join them at their camp for the night where a goat would sometimes be proudly presented and slaughtered as a reciprocal gesture of friendship and acceptance. The fact that the means of transport used during research was a turbo-charged diesel-powered Land Rover instead of the camel, donkey, or ox used by the various groups of pastoralists did not seem to arouse any comment or resentment amongst any of them. In their estimation these outsiders were very poor as they did not possess even one goat or sheep. One astute herd owner even said that he was sorry for us as our "camel" could not have babies like his did periodically. His only needed thorn bushes to keep them going, our vehicle required expensive fuel which had to be brought from outside. [3]
There will be many inside and outside the Christian community who may find it difficult to imagine a church without any structure or buildings, but this is the sort of church which will be appropriate and attractive to nomadic pastoralists. The writer has personally witnessed the emergence and expansion of a culturally appropriate and attractive Christian church amongst one of the most nomadic of all the ethnic groups of West Africa, the Wo'odabe. This has occurred over the last 6 years without permanent church structure or resident missionary.
The church at Tassa Ibrahim.
The Christian community amongst the Wo'odabe are simply known by the name of the well of Tassa Ibrahim where the first believers came from, in about 1988. At their first baptismal ceremony in November 1993, 87 adults and young people were accepted by that community to be committed followers of Jesus Christ and were baptised alongside their well. That community of impoverished, but very nomadic Christian pastoralists, has continued to do what Wo'odabe have always done - to walk and to talk about what is most important to them, which is now their faith. By this means and motivation the Christian church is spreading outwards from Tassa Ibrahim, not only amongst their own Wo'odabe people but also to other nomadic pastoralists, their Fulani cousins and even some of their Tuareg neighbours.
The involvement of western development workers.
There has been no western missionary or even an African church leader from any other ethnic group who has been responsible for organising and directing this emerging Christian community amongst the Wo'odabe. This is probably why it has remained nomadic, without any of the usual building of churches and Bible Schools. The missionaries who have had most contact with them have all been qualified development workers who integrate their faith with their professional training, such as veterinarians, nurses or arid land silviculture specialists. The new believers and church leaders have shown not only an evangelistic concern to share their faith, but that characteristic openness to innovation referred to earlier. Some have taken training as pre-veterinarians, primary health care workers, basic commercial skills to serve as traders, and most have learned the value of and techniques for reforestation and regeneration of the semi desert over which they move with their few remaining animals.
The model of the church amongst the Wo'dabe has been presented as it contrasts markedly with the example of Christian activity introduced and maintained by the Roman Catholic Missions in Isiolo District amongst the Waso Borana who form the basis of the study. The comparison is made not to denigrate the sincere and sacrificial efforts made many sincere priests and nuns.
The penetration of Islam.
In those same 30 years, nearly all of the 20,000 or so people in the Waso Borana have become Muslims. This is even more remarkable if it is understood that the Borana received their introduction to Islam from their Somali neighbours with whom they had very troubled relationships over the last 80 or 90 years, since the first Borana left their home lands in southern Ethiopia to enter the northern plains of Kenya. There have been occasional truces and alliances, but much more frequently they have been fighting over water and grazing with huge losses of Borana cattle to the Somalis. The history of the Waso Borana during and since Independence in 1963 is one of tragic suffering, conflict, duplicity and the main cause of their present destitution. The Christian missionaries, both Protestant and Catholic who first went to the Waso Borana did so because of the terrible suffering and loss of human life and animals that came to them as a result of their attempt to form an alliance with the Somali.
The importance of being culturally attractive
The present status of Christianity in Waso Borana forms the basis for one of the theses being considered in this study,- that it is so important for a nomad pastoralists to remain in their traditional way of life that he would rather accept the religion of his enemies than that of his friends, if the latter is seen to be appropriate only for settled people.
There is no doubt that the Christian church in Kenya has been well established amongst the ethnic groups who live in urban or settled rural areas, but these have been historically in conflict with or subservient to the many other cattle herding groups. Where Christianity has been presented as part of the settling down process of development, then that has made an unnecessary barrier to the acceptance of Christianity, as well as to other aspects of development. A true and appropriate view of holistic development must include appropriate technological intervention and an attractive and relevant spiritual component.
The social strengths of nomadic pastoral societies
One of the features of pastoralist societies referred to in chapter one of this study is the quality they possess of social cohesion within their families and clans which bind them together, especially in adversity, to support one another. One of the characteristics frequently noted by this writer in the pastoralist societies amongst whom he has lived is that whereas the expressions of human love may be very different from technologically advanced societies, their loyalty and concern for each other within their extended families are much to be respected. These are qualities which would fit very easily into the standard of Christian family and community life taught in the New Testament but so sadly eroded in contemporary Western society. Particularly in their attitude towards the elderly and the almost total absence of abused and abandoned children it is possible to say that nomadic pastoralist societies are in no way socially primitive - however technologically backward they may appear.
In other words it behooves Christian development workers to come into such culturally remote societies with a large degree of respect and willingness to look for and learn from the virtues of such marginalised peoples as nomadic pastoralists.
The other area where the humble attitude of a learner is needed by outside development workers is in a willingness to take a long term approach to learning the world view and value systems of nomadic pastoralists. This is especially important for Christian workers who want to be culturally sensitive and to serve these people. In general it appears valid that the more distant the target society is from that of the development worker the more difficult it is for him to understand that world value and the longer the learning process therefore requires.
Taking the long view of holistic development
It behooves the development worker who enters a pastoralist society with a view to using a holistic approach to be prepared to spend a long time, probably several years learning, what that particular pastoralist group believe about God, the after-life, good and bad spiritual forces, forgiveness, reconciliation, and salvation. [1]
The high view of God held by nearly all nomadic pastoralists (see chapter one..) means that they need to be approached in a completely different manner than that used amongst sophisticated urban skeptics or agnostics with whom the missionary recruit has usually grown up and learned from. Whatever name is used for God, it is usually the most common word to pass the lips of pastoralists, not only in their greetings and their many blessings but with reference to every aspect of their lives. The awareness of their dependence on God as their provider and protector is frequently so strong as to make even a sincere Christian development worker conscious of his lack of practical trust in his God.
The common difficulty in adopting this long view of learning approach is that it is contrary to the expectations and inclinations and of nearly all well motivated outsiders, both western and third world urbanised and educated development workers. The outsider needs to do something and to prove to his donor agency or sponsor that he is hard at work. Unfortunately the hard work he or she engages in may not just impede the opportunity to learn but often may be negative in terms of appropriate development as noted in chapter two.
Semi-nomadic research as an entry point to the learning process.
This writer has found that one of the most acceptable roles to adopt when trying to acquire the opportunity and freedom to learn slowly and in depth is to enter the society as a researcher, especially if there is some small contribution he can make at the same time to meet the needs of that society which do not involve any capital intensive projects or permanent buildings. These conclusions were only arrived at after many years of attempting other strategies or more often trying to implement some other outsider's project proposals.
In the case of this research among the Waso Borana the main contribution that this researcher made was to bring in practical suggestions and insights gained from experience, often negative, in other pastoralists societies. [2]
As noted in the comments in chapter four on the benefits of conducting research amongst semi-nomadic pastoralists in a semi-nomadic manner using the benefit of a tent on top of a four wheel drive vehicle, this proved to be well accepted by the people involved in the field research. Comments were frequently made about the speed with which the tent could be unfolded and packed away again. That took about two minutes which understandably impressed the women who usually spend several hours dismantling and reassembling their houses of sticks and skins. The ability to produce a pan full of sweet tea sufficient for a large family in about ten minutes was even more appreciated. That simple gesture of friendship usually afforded not only an immediate welcome but often an invitation to join them at their camp for the night where a goat would sometimes be proudly presented and slaughtered as a reciprocal gesture of friendship and acceptance. The fact that the means of transport used during research was a turbo-charged diesel-powered Land Rover instead of the camel, donkey, or ox used by the various groups of pastoralists did not seem to arouse any comment or resentment amongst any of them. In their estimation these outsiders were very poor as they did not possess even one goat or sheep. One astute herd owner even said that he was sorry for us as our "camel" could not have babies like his did periodically. His only needed thorn bushes to keep them going, our vehicle required expensive fuel which had to be brought from outside. [3]
8.7. Some practical suggestions for "entering" pastoralist societies.
A few practical suggestions will be made for the benefit of those able and willing to take the long slow approach to holistic development appropriate for nomadic pastoralists.
Making the first contact.
1. Representatives of most pastoral groups can be found in many town and cities of the third world where they have drifted as part of the urban ebb and flow. Some will be destitute and demoralised and certainly in need of some expression of concern. Others will still be active and enterprising - usually with part of his family remaining with the animals on the grazing land. Such a person is more likely to be ready and willing to return to their family and the herds if given an invitation. It has been found quire easy in several countries of both East and West Africa to make a friend in a town of someone who is from the particular pastoralists group being targetted. They are usually quite easy to spot in certain slum quarters or working as guards for the rich home owners. After a good relationship has been established, if the suggestion is made that you would like to meet his family and to see their animals there is usually a very positive response
The urban migrant will usually be eager to go as soon as possible and will want to send messages back to his family that he is coming with some special visitors as soon as a date is decided.
Building relationships in the bush.
2. When the visitor eventually arrives accompanying the family member they are almost certainly assured of a warm welcome. The urbanised nomad is being reunited with his family and is usually proud to bring the visitor to his family camp or settlement. He is accorded a special measure of respect, particularly if the visitor or his vehicle are the first to drive into that camp. The visitor would do well to bring some suitable gifts of food or clothing and will frequently find the host family reciprocating in the best manner they can provide as well as the customary generous hospitality. If the visitor is able and willing to eat and drink all that is placed before him or her it will definitely help establish good relations. Where this is not possible it is not an unpardonable offense if some valid reason is given for declining some particular item "on the menu".
3. If the visitor can stay for a few days he can begin to build relationships that can lead to a wider and wider network into the extended families and other clan members. This is the method that was used to good effect in establishing the basis for doing field research in all parts of the Waso Borana featured in this case study.
4. In some pastoralists societies where a significant proportion of the people are living a semi-settled lifestyle it may be appropriate and easier for the "outsider" to establish a base at one particular settlement where he can be accepted and integrated into that semi-settled community. In many situations these sedentarised people may be 'drop-outs' from nomadic pastoralism who no longer have enough animals to allow them to follow their traditional life style. In these cases such people may be willing recipients of whatever kindness and generosity the outsider may be able to bring but this all too easily leads to an unfortunate dependency relationship.
In other situations, pastoralists who adopt this semi-sedentary life choose to live like that because they are sufficiently well endowed with large herds and good grazing that they can afford to do so. At any one time a sizable proportion of the people, usually the youngest and the oldest, are able to stay in settlements with varying degrees of permanence. The milking cows are kept close to the settlement whilst the dry animals are taken further away and not brought back to the camp for long periods.
An example of the semi-sedentary approach.
In one "good" situation experienced by the writer in north Eastern Mali, a particular fortunate section of the Fulani people living fairly close to the Niger river had occupied the same site for several generations. Most of them were still living in dismantleable grass houses but a few had even adopted the mud construction techniques of the neighbouring sedentary farming people. At any one time about one third of the people belonging to that Fulani community were living in the village, another third were said to be out in the bush with the animals. The remainder of the people who were considered to belong to that settlement were away in distant towns working for wages or engaged as travelling traders or healers.
In that instance a Christian missionary couple had lived for several years in that settlement in a number of traditional grass houses that had grown as the size of their family had grown to four children. The couple had both been born in Africa and had been well trained and experienced in rural agriculture and medical care. For the first years of their stay in that settlement they tried to win the trust and acceptance of the local people by introducing various techniques and programmes which demanded much hard physical work. After approximately two years the Fulani elders came to the outsiders to tell them that if they wanted to be accepted as insiders in their community they must stop doing that manual work, even the medical programme and take their places as true Fulani "people".
This led to a drastic change of activity on the part of the outsiders but also in the attitude towards them of their Fulani neighbours. The hardest part of the new life style adopted by the outsiders was to be willing to do apparently nothing for most of each day. The husband began to spend many hours sitting on a mat talking with the Fulani elders. The wife found it particularly difficult to be able to sit for hours with the women of her elevated social status listening to their petty gossip and quarrels. She also missed the busy medical work which had attracted sick Fulani from miles around. She kept medicine only for her immediate family, the neighbours apparently accepting the fact quite naturally that they would have to go elsewhere to get medical help.
A broader understanding of holistic development.
This radical change of activity by the missionary couple may appear as a retrograde step in terms of the normal concept of development and was certainly not what they would have chosen, but in the broader understanding of holistic development in a society where relationships are more important than technology or programmes then it achieved positive results.
The husband changed his status and perceived function in the community by giving his attention to two new activities. First he began to consult with the leading herd owners about acquiring some good breeding cattle. He bought carefully with their advice when the price was right and divided his animals between two different herding groups in the settlement who he knew were in fierce competition. He had learned that there were two factions in the community divided over a long standing rivalry for leadership which had resulted in the two herding groups which competed to win his inclusion into their faction. Both sides wanted to sell him animals which would then be herded with their animals. He wisely avoided favouring one side or the other but bought from both herds and allowed them to compete to see how rapidly they could increase his stock by astute purchasing and good breeding practices. At the time of our visit he had more than 60 animals, almost equally divided between the two herds. At the time we first met him he was engaged in one of the only energetic physical actions expected of herd owners. He was branding his recently acquired animals, using the traditional method of an iron rod heated over a fire of dried dung. His only complaint was that it was not easy to do this work which involved moving quickly, in the long robe which he was obliged to wear as a respected elder and herd owner.
The second activity he engaged in was public prayer. He adopted the practice of praying in a posture which the local people would recognize as prayer but not in the Muslim prostrate position. He spent many hours of each day talking with the elders in the community who were all practicing Muslims. When they went into the Mosque to pray he would stand outside with his hands outstretched as he prayed to the Christian God.
He assumed the same posture early each morning in his personal devotions when he went to a quiet place near to his house but where he would be seen as he prayed. He was soon recognised as a man of prayer as the people said that he prayed more than anyone else. He came to be accepted as a Christian Holy Man and given the respect accorded a teacher, even to the extent that some Muslim teachers were coming to him to study the "injil", the gospels.
The cost and consequences of family sickness.
The wife's role was less conspicuous, as befits a woman's position in that society, but her ability to raise her family in the same simple conditions in their grass houses with no electricity or piped water earned her great respect. Her most significant experience came when her husband and all four children became seriously ill with dysentery which did not respond to the medicines she had at her disposal. They were so weak that for several days they could only lie on mats in the shade. Eventually the local elders asked her to take her family away to proper medical care as they did not want to see them die there. The family had the use of a pick-up truck to drive the two days to the nearest facility where intravenous fluids could be found but the wife had never tried to drive that long and rugged journey. Finally she realized that this was their only hope so the people helped load her husband and family onto mats into the cab and the back of the pick-up truck so that she could begin that long journey.
To everyone's surprise, they all survived the journey to the capital city, Bamako, where they could get proper medical care. It took several months for them all to recover but when they eventually returned as a family to their grass houses in the Fulani village, the people declared that "Now we know that you really care about us and belong to us. We never thought that you would ever want to come back after you left us so sick and near to death." This may seem to be a rather bizarre example of development but in that particular pastoralist society it was appropriate in so far as it met the perceived needs of the people and won their trust and respect. Even when the family began to change their living pattern to meet the needs of their children by moving to the city for several weeks after two or three months in the Fulani settlement, the people accepted this as quite appropriate for one of their community.
The benefit of being non-residential.
People of nomadic orientation can come and go freely without hurting relationships, which is a lesson that some long term missionaries find hard to accept. It has been found in practice that it is not good to remain too long in one place as the people who have a tendency to become dependent will begin to gather around the missionary's home, and in famine times, he cannot avoid getting embroiled in a feeding programme. If the missionary was not there, the hungry people would be more likely to go to other clan or extended family members who would be expected to provide for them
The basic principle for the most appropriate development planning and implementation amongst societies who are of nomadic orientation is for the agent bringing the intervention to adopt at least a semi-nomadic pattern of living and working amongst them. It has been learned from experience that the more nomadic a particular group of pastoralists are, the greater is the need for the outsider to find ways to live in a nomadic manner.
Water is the key to finding nomadic pastoralists.
5. The final recommendation that will be made in this list of suggestions for making contact and building relations with pastoralists will apply to those who are the most nomadic. These may only be a segment of a larger community who go out for varying lengths of time with the animals, depending largely on the condition of the grazing and the rainfall patterns. However far these herdsman have to go, they will have to come to water at the most every three days, preferably after two. In most cases observed by this writer in both East and West Africa the herdsman will find the best combination of grazing and water that is available to them then remain in that area until either of these is exhausted. This may be a matter of only a few days but more likely will be for several weeks.
If the outsider wants to make contact with these nomadic herdsman, he or she has only to remain near a water source that is currently being used and the same people will come back ever second or third day. It is not necessary or desirable for the "outsider" to try to find the people "in the bush" as they will then be preoccupied with watching the animals. It is when the animals come to the water that the herdsmen have the time and inclination to sit down and talk. Once the animals have been watered, they will usually stand still for several hours, especially if they have not drunk for three days, whilst they ingest the fluid, often quivering with the discomfort of having gorged themselves to sate their thirst. The herdsmen after they have lifted the water out of the well, or in the case of a bore hole, taken them to and then away from the trough, will usually sit down in some shade to talk for a while to catch up on news brought by other herdsmen gathering at the watering place.
If there is a visitor who wants to talk with them and learn their opinions, this is the time to make good connections. If he cares to boil a pan of tea and share it with the herdsmen, he will be doubly welcome and will probably be invited back to one of the distant camps where the animals are corralled for the night.
This may be quite a long distance away if the grazing nearest to the water is becoming depleted which is why it is helpful to have a suitable vehicle for transport and nomadic living. This has been found in practice to be the most useful opportunity and situation to meet with the herdsmen who are often key people whose trust needs to be won and their opinions sought in the long learning process. These are the people who are most likely to know the traditional views and values of their particular pastoralist society and happy to share them with someone who takes the trouble to visit them in their remote camps.
The importance of the evening hours
Once the animals have been settled for the night, as darkness falls, the men and boys and even the few women who may be staying out with the animals, will be quite happy to sit around a fire and talk for as long as the visitor wants to listen and ask questions. If it is a men only camp, little time will be spent on preparing food, but if it is a more favourable situation, where whole families can move and stay together, the men will be quite likely to tell the women to prepare a meal for the visitor--even providing a goat for a feast, if relations have been well established. In nearly all regions of Africa where nomadic pastoralists are found, the sun goes down before seven o'clock each evening throughout the year. These long evenings provide the ideal opportunity to learn what these key people think and care about; what they see as perceived needs or feel about development interventions they have seen or heard about.
This sort of relationship building in the field and pursuit of family connections along the network of clan associations is most valuable in preparing for effective holistic development. It is rather demanding and often exhausting for most western researchers and development workers, but invaluable in the eventual learning process.
A few practical suggestions will be made for the benefit of those able and willing to take the long slow approach to holistic development appropriate for nomadic pastoralists.
Making the first contact.
1. Representatives of most pastoral groups can be found in many town and cities of the third world where they have drifted as part of the urban ebb and flow. Some will be destitute and demoralised and certainly in need of some expression of concern. Others will still be active and enterprising - usually with part of his family remaining with the animals on the grazing land. Such a person is more likely to be ready and willing to return to their family and the herds if given an invitation. It has been found quire easy in several countries of both East and West Africa to make a friend in a town of someone who is from the particular pastoralists group being targetted. They are usually quite easy to spot in certain slum quarters or working as guards for the rich home owners. After a good relationship has been established, if the suggestion is made that you would like to meet his family and to see their animals there is usually a very positive response
The urban migrant will usually be eager to go as soon as possible and will want to send messages back to his family that he is coming with some special visitors as soon as a date is decided.
Building relationships in the bush.
2. When the visitor eventually arrives accompanying the family member they are almost certainly assured of a warm welcome. The urbanised nomad is being reunited with his family and is usually proud to bring the visitor to his family camp or settlement. He is accorded a special measure of respect, particularly if the visitor or his vehicle are the first to drive into that camp. The visitor would do well to bring some suitable gifts of food or clothing and will frequently find the host family reciprocating in the best manner they can provide as well as the customary generous hospitality. If the visitor is able and willing to eat and drink all that is placed before him or her it will definitely help establish good relations. Where this is not possible it is not an unpardonable offense if some valid reason is given for declining some particular item "on the menu".
3. If the visitor can stay for a few days he can begin to build relationships that can lead to a wider and wider network into the extended families and other clan members. This is the method that was used to good effect in establishing the basis for doing field research in all parts of the Waso Borana featured in this case study.
4. In some pastoralists societies where a significant proportion of the people are living a semi-settled lifestyle it may be appropriate and easier for the "outsider" to establish a base at one particular settlement where he can be accepted and integrated into that semi-settled community. In many situations these sedentarised people may be 'drop-outs' from nomadic pastoralism who no longer have enough animals to allow them to follow their traditional life style. In these cases such people may be willing recipients of whatever kindness and generosity the outsider may be able to bring but this all too easily leads to an unfortunate dependency relationship.
In other situations, pastoralists who adopt this semi-sedentary life choose to live like that because they are sufficiently well endowed with large herds and good grazing that they can afford to do so. At any one time a sizable proportion of the people, usually the youngest and the oldest, are able to stay in settlements with varying degrees of permanence. The milking cows are kept close to the settlement whilst the dry animals are taken further away and not brought back to the camp for long periods.
An example of the semi-sedentary approach.
In one "good" situation experienced by the writer in north Eastern Mali, a particular fortunate section of the Fulani people living fairly close to the Niger river had occupied the same site for several generations. Most of them were still living in dismantleable grass houses but a few had even adopted the mud construction techniques of the neighbouring sedentary farming people. At any one time about one third of the people belonging to that Fulani community were living in the village, another third were said to be out in the bush with the animals. The remainder of the people who were considered to belong to that settlement were away in distant towns working for wages or engaged as travelling traders or healers.
In that instance a Christian missionary couple had lived for several years in that settlement in a number of traditional grass houses that had grown as the size of their family had grown to four children. The couple had both been born in Africa and had been well trained and experienced in rural agriculture and medical care. For the first years of their stay in that settlement they tried to win the trust and acceptance of the local people by introducing various techniques and programmes which demanded much hard physical work. After approximately two years the Fulani elders came to the outsiders to tell them that if they wanted to be accepted as insiders in their community they must stop doing that manual work, even the medical programme and take their places as true Fulani "people".
This led to a drastic change of activity on the part of the outsiders but also in the attitude towards them of their Fulani neighbours. The hardest part of the new life style adopted by the outsiders was to be willing to do apparently nothing for most of each day. The husband began to spend many hours sitting on a mat talking with the Fulani elders. The wife found it particularly difficult to be able to sit for hours with the women of her elevated social status listening to their petty gossip and quarrels. She also missed the busy medical work which had attracted sick Fulani from miles around. She kept medicine only for her immediate family, the neighbours apparently accepting the fact quite naturally that they would have to go elsewhere to get medical help.
A broader understanding of holistic development.
This radical change of activity by the missionary couple may appear as a retrograde step in terms of the normal concept of development and was certainly not what they would have chosen, but in the broader understanding of holistic development in a society where relationships are more important than technology or programmes then it achieved positive results.
The husband changed his status and perceived function in the community by giving his attention to two new activities. First he began to consult with the leading herd owners about acquiring some good breeding cattle. He bought carefully with their advice when the price was right and divided his animals between two different herding groups in the settlement who he knew were in fierce competition. He had learned that there were two factions in the community divided over a long standing rivalry for leadership which had resulted in the two herding groups which competed to win his inclusion into their faction. Both sides wanted to sell him animals which would then be herded with their animals. He wisely avoided favouring one side or the other but bought from both herds and allowed them to compete to see how rapidly they could increase his stock by astute purchasing and good breeding practices. At the time of our visit he had more than 60 animals, almost equally divided between the two herds. At the time we first met him he was engaged in one of the only energetic physical actions expected of herd owners. He was branding his recently acquired animals, using the traditional method of an iron rod heated over a fire of dried dung. His only complaint was that it was not easy to do this work which involved moving quickly, in the long robe which he was obliged to wear as a respected elder and herd owner.
The second activity he engaged in was public prayer. He adopted the practice of praying in a posture which the local people would recognize as prayer but not in the Muslim prostrate position. He spent many hours of each day talking with the elders in the community who were all practicing Muslims. When they went into the Mosque to pray he would stand outside with his hands outstretched as he prayed to the Christian God.
He assumed the same posture early each morning in his personal devotions when he went to a quiet place near to his house but where he would be seen as he prayed. He was soon recognised as a man of prayer as the people said that he prayed more than anyone else. He came to be accepted as a Christian Holy Man and given the respect accorded a teacher, even to the extent that some Muslim teachers were coming to him to study the "injil", the gospels.
The cost and consequences of family sickness.
The wife's role was less conspicuous, as befits a woman's position in that society, but her ability to raise her family in the same simple conditions in their grass houses with no electricity or piped water earned her great respect. Her most significant experience came when her husband and all four children became seriously ill with dysentery which did not respond to the medicines she had at her disposal. They were so weak that for several days they could only lie on mats in the shade. Eventually the local elders asked her to take her family away to proper medical care as they did not want to see them die there. The family had the use of a pick-up truck to drive the two days to the nearest facility where intravenous fluids could be found but the wife had never tried to drive that long and rugged journey. Finally she realized that this was their only hope so the people helped load her husband and family onto mats into the cab and the back of the pick-up truck so that she could begin that long journey.
To everyone's surprise, they all survived the journey to the capital city, Bamako, where they could get proper medical care. It took several months for them all to recover but when they eventually returned as a family to their grass houses in the Fulani village, the people declared that "Now we know that you really care about us and belong to us. We never thought that you would ever want to come back after you left us so sick and near to death." This may seem to be a rather bizarre example of development but in that particular pastoralist society it was appropriate in so far as it met the perceived needs of the people and won their trust and respect. Even when the family began to change their living pattern to meet the needs of their children by moving to the city for several weeks after two or three months in the Fulani settlement, the people accepted this as quite appropriate for one of their community.
The benefit of being non-residential.
People of nomadic orientation can come and go freely without hurting relationships, which is a lesson that some long term missionaries find hard to accept. It has been found in practice that it is not good to remain too long in one place as the people who have a tendency to become dependent will begin to gather around the missionary's home, and in famine times, he cannot avoid getting embroiled in a feeding programme. If the missionary was not there, the hungry people would be more likely to go to other clan or extended family members who would be expected to provide for them
The basic principle for the most appropriate development planning and implementation amongst societies who are of nomadic orientation is for the agent bringing the intervention to adopt at least a semi-nomadic pattern of living and working amongst them. It has been learned from experience that the more nomadic a particular group of pastoralists are, the greater is the need for the outsider to find ways to live in a nomadic manner.
Water is the key to finding nomadic pastoralists.
5. The final recommendation that will be made in this list of suggestions for making contact and building relations with pastoralists will apply to those who are the most nomadic. These may only be a segment of a larger community who go out for varying lengths of time with the animals, depending largely on the condition of the grazing and the rainfall patterns. However far these herdsman have to go, they will have to come to water at the most every three days, preferably after two. In most cases observed by this writer in both East and West Africa the herdsman will find the best combination of grazing and water that is available to them then remain in that area until either of these is exhausted. This may be a matter of only a few days but more likely will be for several weeks.
If the outsider wants to make contact with these nomadic herdsman, he or she has only to remain near a water source that is currently being used and the same people will come back ever second or third day. It is not necessary or desirable for the "outsider" to try to find the people "in the bush" as they will then be preoccupied with watching the animals. It is when the animals come to the water that the herdsmen have the time and inclination to sit down and talk. Once the animals have been watered, they will usually stand still for several hours, especially if they have not drunk for three days, whilst they ingest the fluid, often quivering with the discomfort of having gorged themselves to sate their thirst. The herdsmen after they have lifted the water out of the well, or in the case of a bore hole, taken them to and then away from the trough, will usually sit down in some shade to talk for a while to catch up on news brought by other herdsmen gathering at the watering place.
If there is a visitor who wants to talk with them and learn their opinions, this is the time to make good connections. If he cares to boil a pan of tea and share it with the herdsmen, he will be doubly welcome and will probably be invited back to one of the distant camps where the animals are corralled for the night.
This may be quite a long distance away if the grazing nearest to the water is becoming depleted which is why it is helpful to have a suitable vehicle for transport and nomadic living. This has been found in practice to be the most useful opportunity and situation to meet with the herdsmen who are often key people whose trust needs to be won and their opinions sought in the long learning process. These are the people who are most likely to know the traditional views and values of their particular pastoralist society and happy to share them with someone who takes the trouble to visit them in their remote camps.
The importance of the evening hours
Once the animals have been settled for the night, as darkness falls, the men and boys and even the few women who may be staying out with the animals, will be quite happy to sit around a fire and talk for as long as the visitor wants to listen and ask questions. If it is a men only camp, little time will be spent on preparing food, but if it is a more favourable situation, where whole families can move and stay together, the men will be quite likely to tell the women to prepare a meal for the visitor--even providing a goat for a feast, if relations have been well established. In nearly all regions of Africa where nomadic pastoralists are found, the sun goes down before seven o'clock each evening throughout the year. These long evenings provide the ideal opportunity to learn what these key people think and care about; what they see as perceived needs or feel about development interventions they have seen or heard about.
This sort of relationship building in the field and pursuit of family connections along the network of clan associations is most valuable in preparing for effective holistic development. It is rather demanding and often exhausting for most western researchers and development workers, but invaluable in the eventual learning process.
8.8. A practical example of building relationships and wells.
Another similar good learning opportunity with a more practical component was observed in Northern Kenya amongst the Gabbra people whose grazing area is generally poor and therefore, their life usually extremely hard. A missionary with a natural aptitude for building, after several years of working amongst the Gabbra, realized that their main problem was in finding permanent water sources. Many of these were obtained by digging into dry sand river beds in certain places where it had been learned from long experience that water could be found most if not all of the year by digging deeper and deeper as the water table receded.
This meant digging out large quantities of sand to gain the necessary depth --a task usually left to the women. This was dangerous work resulting in several deaths each year. It also usually needed to be done again after each rainfall when flash floods would refill the wells with sand.
The missionary began talking with the Gabbra elders about the possibility of building some permanent wells in these well-known water-yielding locations. He suggested constructing stone linings that would extend considerably higher than the normal level of the river bed so that flash floods would not be likely to fill the wells with sand. The elders were pleased to hear of the idea but had some difficulty trying to decide which of the vital sources should be used as the initial experiment when they heard that any well chosen for construction would be unusable until the work was finished.
A model of cooperative participation
A decision was finally made and the people all agreed to contribute as much work as necessary in digging the hole to it's maximum depth at the driest time of the year. This was a difficult undertaking as that is the time of the year when the herds demand the most attention. The people also agreed to carry rocks from the nearest volcanic lava beds which were the only source of stone in that area. The missionary agreed to provide the cement and to bring in a couple of stone masons who would work alongside local Gabbra men and try to teach them the skills necessary for well lining.
There was an added complication in this task as the Gabbra lift their water out of their wells by means of passing it up a chain of people who have to balance them selves as best they can on the sloping and unstable sides of the hole in the sand. The depth of a well is measured by the number of men and women needed to get the water from the bottom to the drinking troughs at the top, 15 to 20 are not uncommon. A woman was always placed at the bottom as that was the most difficult and dangerous place involving much bending over. The water is carried in leather buckets made from the neck of giraffe.
A model of culturally appropriate technology
The missionary involved in this well lining project was not only technically proficient but also culturally sensitive and wanted to retain the traditional water lifting methods used by the Gabbra rather than depend on mechanical or solar powered pumps. He designed an inclined secondary shaft that connected with the main vertical well at its deepest point and protruded out of the sand at ground level to a similar height as the stone work of the vertical shaft. This secondary shaft was described as the spout of the tea kettle as all pastoralists know what a tea kettle looks like. It was made high enough for a person to stand upright and had a series of ledges in its floor to allow the human chain to stand safely with the correct distance between them so that the traditional buckets could be passed up the line and the water poured into troughs adjacent to the mouth of the inclined shaft. This is probably one of the best examples of appropriate technology to be found anywhere in an area where water is the main problem for a nomadic pastoral society.
The missionary added one or two other features which showed his awareness of Gabbra cultural values--for instance he designed a method of reducing the size of the opening at the at the top of the vertical shaft to prevent children and animals falling down the wells which were usually about three metres in diameter. He left a smaller hole at the top which allowed light to enter the well and could possibly be used to install a mechanical lift pump sometime in the future if the community ever demanded that level of technology. It would have been technically quite feasible to install a windmill or solar pump or even one operated by people activating a lever. The missionary engineer proved he was also sociologically astute by saying that he believed the value of people working together to lift the water was an important part of Gabbra working relationships. He suggested that if they ever insisted that he build them a mechanical vertical lift pump he would design it in such a way that it would take six to ten people to operate the lever to get any water. His intention in this was to discourage any tendency towards individualism and to maintain the traditional practice requiring people to gather and work together, usually with much singing and news sharing.
Relationship building is more important than well building
This example has been given at length as it shows an excellent model of socially acceptable appropriate development which was planned and implemented with the full cooperation of the most active members of that pastoral society. In actual practice the missionary decided that he would only continue with the well-lining work when it was possible for the local people to give their time to that work. In some cases this meant that the construction project came to a stop if there was a particularly severe drought which required the people to take their animals far away. He stated that it was not his goal to finish a well as quickly as possible, rather he saw that the construction work gave him good opportunity to spend time with the elders who were responsible for each well, besides the many visitors who came to watch, so he did not mind how long the work took. This demonstrates again that relationships are more important than results.
The cost of gaining insights and experience, commitment.
This level of cross cultural sensitivity and insight into what is appropriate development for a pastoral group like the Gabbra is not gained in a classroom or through a brief visit such as comprise many contemporary missionary projects enthusiastically embraced by some western churches or agencies well financed by Christian donors. The missionary engineer referred to in this example has spent about 20 years working with the Gabbra, together with his wife, a nurse, and two children. It is that sort of experience and commitment that is required to begin to make a valid demonstration of holistic development to nomadic pastoralists.
The scale of the challenge
The Gabbra are just one small ethnic entity numbering less than 20,000. There are some groups with a nomadic pastoral orientation numbering several millions in both Africa and Asia. The total number of people considered to be actively practicing nomadic pastoralism can be given anywhere between 20 million and 100 million. This depends largely on definition as noted in Chapter One. The number who consider themselves to belong to nomadic pastoral societies may actually be twice those amounts for reasons also given in Chapter One. The number of different ethnic groups who can be classified as within the nomadic pastoral peoples may be anywhere between 200 and 500, again depending on definition. For example, the Tamacheq (formerly known as Tuareg) of West Africa are usually reckoned to be one ethnic group numbering more than a million. A closer look suggests that they may comprise at least five separate ethnic entities requiring five separate presentations of the Christian gospel because of great cultural differences between such socially diverse groups as the noble class, the priest class, the blacksmiths, the freemen and the former slaves. They all speak more or less the same language as they have a common orthography and literature but the historic social barriers as well as clan distinctions make the missiological strategy much more complicated.
The challenge and the dilemma for the church.
This is where the great challenge arises to the missionary movement. It is a dilemma which would seem to be insurmountable if Jesus Christ himself had not declared that " the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as witness to every ethnic group, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14) Each one of these groups where there is at present no Christian witness will require the sort of commitment and experience referred to above shown amongst the Gabbra.
The extent of the dilemma referred to above is compounded by the realisation that the remaining ethnic groups where there is no Christian Church or meaningful demonstration of God's concern for them, are the most culturally distant societies and climatalogically difficult places for outsiders to enter and to live in such as the large majority of nomadic pastoralists.
Another similar good learning opportunity with a more practical component was observed in Northern Kenya amongst the Gabbra people whose grazing area is generally poor and therefore, their life usually extremely hard. A missionary with a natural aptitude for building, after several years of working amongst the Gabbra, realized that their main problem was in finding permanent water sources. Many of these were obtained by digging into dry sand river beds in certain places where it had been learned from long experience that water could be found most if not all of the year by digging deeper and deeper as the water table receded.
This meant digging out large quantities of sand to gain the necessary depth --a task usually left to the women. This was dangerous work resulting in several deaths each year. It also usually needed to be done again after each rainfall when flash floods would refill the wells with sand.
The missionary began talking with the Gabbra elders about the possibility of building some permanent wells in these well-known water-yielding locations. He suggested constructing stone linings that would extend considerably higher than the normal level of the river bed so that flash floods would not be likely to fill the wells with sand. The elders were pleased to hear of the idea but had some difficulty trying to decide which of the vital sources should be used as the initial experiment when they heard that any well chosen for construction would be unusable until the work was finished.
A model of cooperative participation
A decision was finally made and the people all agreed to contribute as much work as necessary in digging the hole to it's maximum depth at the driest time of the year. This was a difficult undertaking as that is the time of the year when the herds demand the most attention. The people also agreed to carry rocks from the nearest volcanic lava beds which were the only source of stone in that area. The missionary agreed to provide the cement and to bring in a couple of stone masons who would work alongside local Gabbra men and try to teach them the skills necessary for well lining.
There was an added complication in this task as the Gabbra lift their water out of their wells by means of passing it up a chain of people who have to balance them selves as best they can on the sloping and unstable sides of the hole in the sand. The depth of a well is measured by the number of men and women needed to get the water from the bottom to the drinking troughs at the top, 15 to 20 are not uncommon. A woman was always placed at the bottom as that was the most difficult and dangerous place involving much bending over. The water is carried in leather buckets made from the neck of giraffe.
A model of culturally appropriate technology
The missionary involved in this well lining project was not only technically proficient but also culturally sensitive and wanted to retain the traditional water lifting methods used by the Gabbra rather than depend on mechanical or solar powered pumps. He designed an inclined secondary shaft that connected with the main vertical well at its deepest point and protruded out of the sand at ground level to a similar height as the stone work of the vertical shaft. This secondary shaft was described as the spout of the tea kettle as all pastoralists know what a tea kettle looks like. It was made high enough for a person to stand upright and had a series of ledges in its floor to allow the human chain to stand safely with the correct distance between them so that the traditional buckets could be passed up the line and the water poured into troughs adjacent to the mouth of the inclined shaft. This is probably one of the best examples of appropriate technology to be found anywhere in an area where water is the main problem for a nomadic pastoral society.
The missionary added one or two other features which showed his awareness of Gabbra cultural values--for instance he designed a method of reducing the size of the opening at the at the top of the vertical shaft to prevent children and animals falling down the wells which were usually about three metres in diameter. He left a smaller hole at the top which allowed light to enter the well and could possibly be used to install a mechanical lift pump sometime in the future if the community ever demanded that level of technology. It would have been technically quite feasible to install a windmill or solar pump or even one operated by people activating a lever. The missionary engineer proved he was also sociologically astute by saying that he believed the value of people working together to lift the water was an important part of Gabbra working relationships. He suggested that if they ever insisted that he build them a mechanical vertical lift pump he would design it in such a way that it would take six to ten people to operate the lever to get any water. His intention in this was to discourage any tendency towards individualism and to maintain the traditional practice requiring people to gather and work together, usually with much singing and news sharing.
Relationship building is more important than well building
This example has been given at length as it shows an excellent model of socially acceptable appropriate development which was planned and implemented with the full cooperation of the most active members of that pastoral society. In actual practice the missionary decided that he would only continue with the well-lining work when it was possible for the local people to give their time to that work. In some cases this meant that the construction project came to a stop if there was a particularly severe drought which required the people to take their animals far away. He stated that it was not his goal to finish a well as quickly as possible, rather he saw that the construction work gave him good opportunity to spend time with the elders who were responsible for each well, besides the many visitors who came to watch, so he did not mind how long the work took. This demonstrates again that relationships are more important than results.
The cost of gaining insights and experience, commitment.
This level of cross cultural sensitivity and insight into what is appropriate development for a pastoral group like the Gabbra is not gained in a classroom or through a brief visit such as comprise many contemporary missionary projects enthusiastically embraced by some western churches or agencies well financed by Christian donors. The missionary engineer referred to in this example has spent about 20 years working with the Gabbra, together with his wife, a nurse, and two children. It is that sort of experience and commitment that is required to begin to make a valid demonstration of holistic development to nomadic pastoralists.
The scale of the challenge
The Gabbra are just one small ethnic entity numbering less than 20,000. There are some groups with a nomadic pastoral orientation numbering several millions in both Africa and Asia. The total number of people considered to be actively practicing nomadic pastoralism can be given anywhere between 20 million and 100 million. This depends largely on definition as noted in Chapter One. The number who consider themselves to belong to nomadic pastoral societies may actually be twice those amounts for reasons also given in Chapter One. The number of different ethnic groups who can be classified as within the nomadic pastoral peoples may be anywhere between 200 and 500, again depending on definition. For example, the Tamacheq (formerly known as Tuareg) of West Africa are usually reckoned to be one ethnic group numbering more than a million. A closer look suggests that they may comprise at least five separate ethnic entities requiring five separate presentations of the Christian gospel because of great cultural differences between such socially diverse groups as the noble class, the priest class, the blacksmiths, the freemen and the former slaves. They all speak more or less the same language as they have a common orthography and literature but the historic social barriers as well as clan distinctions make the missiological strategy much more complicated.
The challenge and the dilemma for the church.
This is where the great challenge arises to the missionary movement. It is a dilemma which would seem to be insurmountable if Jesus Christ himself had not declared that " the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as witness to every ethnic group, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14) Each one of these groups where there is at present no Christian witness will require the sort of commitment and experience referred to above shown amongst the Gabbra.
The extent of the dilemma referred to above is compounded by the realisation that the remaining ethnic groups where there is no Christian Church or meaningful demonstration of God's concern for them, are the most culturally distant societies and climatalogically difficult places for outsiders to enter and to live in such as the large majority of nomadic pastoralists.
8.9. The ultimate agenda of history.
There are a growing number of theologians and missiologists who are prepared to say that the command Jesus Christ gave his disciples before leaving them, about taking the gospel into all the world, was not only intended to be taken seriously, but is attainable in this generation. It will become a realistic goal when the Christian Missionary movement takes this challenge seriously, and re-deploys its resources where they are most needed.
It is estimated by missionary strategists that more than 90 per cent of the present resources of Christian missions are spent on areas where the church is already well established. In Africa this proportion may be as high as 95 per cent. If this imbalance in distribution of effort is not corrected then it is unlikely that the nomadic pastoralists will ever get a fair chance to hear and see what the Christian gospel means.
The translation of Christianity to any society.
It is the conviction of the writer that this message is entirely relevant to them in their traditional lifestyle without them having to be sedentarised. This is not just because of the biblical truth that God has no favourites, and has commanded that His gospel should be taken to every people group, but also because of the fact established earlier in this paper that they are most aware of the existence, of and their dependence on God. It is as unnecessary for them to settle down and behave like a stable cultivating sedentary ethnic group as it is for one of those to be expected to behave like an Englishman or an American before the church can be effectively established. The Christian gospel is totally relevant to every society, and the Christian church able to adapt to any viable socio-economic system, if God is allowed to do it His way.
Lessons to be learned from the Church of the pastoralists.
What the Church will look like that is appropriate and effective amongst nomadic pastoralists is a fascinating subject, not just for further study, but for the present day practitioners who are seeking to complete the ultimate agenda. The Western Church may be able to learn a lot from people who have no interest in real estate, only in relationships, where community is more important than competition and power struggles.
There are a growing number of theologians and missiologists who are prepared to say that the command Jesus Christ gave his disciples before leaving them, about taking the gospel into all the world, was not only intended to be taken seriously, but is attainable in this generation. It will become a realistic goal when the Christian Missionary movement takes this challenge seriously, and re-deploys its resources where they are most needed.
It is estimated by missionary strategists that more than 90 per cent of the present resources of Christian missions are spent on areas where the church is already well established. In Africa this proportion may be as high as 95 per cent. If this imbalance in distribution of effort is not corrected then it is unlikely that the nomadic pastoralists will ever get a fair chance to hear and see what the Christian gospel means.
The translation of Christianity to any society.
It is the conviction of the writer that this message is entirely relevant to them in their traditional lifestyle without them having to be sedentarised. This is not just because of the biblical truth that God has no favourites, and has commanded that His gospel should be taken to every people group, but also because of the fact established earlier in this paper that they are most aware of the existence, of and their dependence on God. It is as unnecessary for them to settle down and behave like a stable cultivating sedentary ethnic group as it is for one of those to be expected to behave like an Englishman or an American before the church can be effectively established. The Christian gospel is totally relevant to every society, and the Christian church able to adapt to any viable socio-economic system, if God is allowed to do it His way.
Lessons to be learned from the Church of the pastoralists.
What the Church will look like that is appropriate and effective amongst nomadic pastoralists is a fascinating subject, not just for further study, but for the present day practitioners who are seeking to complete the ultimate agenda. The Western Church may be able to learn a lot from people who have no interest in real estate, only in relationships, where community is more important than competition and power struggles.
[1] This writer has found that some have no word for love and mercy or that sin may mean something totally different in a particular pastoralist society. (e.g. the Bunna of Southern Ethiopia for whom sin meant hurting anyone in your own clan. To go to another neighbouring tribe, kill as many people as necessary to be able to steal their cattle was considered a good thing, even the essential requirement for establishing manhood and marriageable status.)
[2] His wife was probably of more practical use in using her medical training and wide experience in remote rural situations where she was the most advanced health care provider for hundreds of miles.
[3] They are well aware of the cost of fuel as the herd owners in that part of Kenya have to buy and bring the diesel fuel to the remote bore holes to be able to water their cattle at the connected drinking troughs.
[2] His wife was probably of more practical use in using her medical training and wide experience in remote rural situations where she was the most advanced health care provider for hundreds of miles.
[3] They are well aware of the cost of fuel as the herd owners in that part of Kenya have to buy and bring the diesel fuel to the remote bore holes to be able to water their cattle at the connected drinking troughs.