Reviewed by David G Maillu
This book by Dr Timothy N Ndambuki, Archbishop of African Brotherhood Church (ABC), is basically the history of how Christianity was planted in the hearts and in homestead of the Akamba people, for which the author should be given credit. It takes great effort to come up with something like this. Furthermore, the presentation is a bright illustration applicable to all the other missionary entries in Africa. According to the author, all missionaries coming to Africa had a common mission. That was, as they often put it, to bring the Word of God to Africans. Subsequently, the book forms the base of the argument as to whether Christian missionaries had any value to offer to the Akamba people.
“Bringing Word of God to Africa” is really the beginning and end of the argument. This is where, unfortunately, the book becomes great disservice to the intended inspiration. The obviously intended purpose is to argue convincingly that the SEED of Word of God was, indeed, relevant to natives.
Dr Krapf persisted in sowing the SEED of the Word of God in the hearts of Akamba, believing, even if they seemed uninterested at the time, the SEED of Word of God would take root in them and eventually bear the fruits of faith witness in the gospel and hope in God and that, by the virtue of Akamba reading of the Bible, they will develop the faith of knowing there was a correct procedure of approaching sin and mistakes. The author has a lot to thank Dr Krapf for and celebrate the mission by saying, “(Today) The large number of diverse churches led by leaders from the Akamba community is evidence of the fruits of this SEED.”
“The SEED and the Akamba Christian Heritage” as articulated by the title of the book, implies that the mission was a great blessing to the Akamba people (Africans). But, was that true? I let the same book answer that important and crucial question.
Any claim or implication that the sowed SEED and Word of God was a blessing to the community, by all means, means that Akamba (Africans) people were utterly ignorant of God, a popular belief in Whiteman’s world. That is, Africans were nothing else but heathens and that God was actually brought to Africa by the Whiteman and the Arab who brought the two religions Islam. The author lets the book even carry a naïve blurb saying, “The Seed God sent Dr Ludwig Krapf to plant among the Akamba, in East Africa, set the community on a path to discovery of God and His gracious love.” Unfortunately, that imported SEED of Word of God sowed does not deserve any credit other than the defamation of having destroyed the African’s traditional religiosity.
Which God are we talking about? To start with, if it is believed that human beings are created by God, then the thought that it was the Whiteman who brought God to Africa can pass a childish thought for God must have been living in Africa creating Africans. And if, by any chance, God had taken leave from Africa and migrated to the Whiteman’s world in order to be brought back to Africa by the Whiteman, then we must be talking about a different kind of God but not the one Africans had always known. And, as Africa had always known God, there was never a moment when God had taken leave from Africa and created a vacuum that demanded God to send missionaries to save Africa from spiritual calamity.
It is from that perspective that one can argue out that Dr Krapf and his lot of missionaries were not sent to Africa by the Almighty God but by their own mistaken thoughts and egoism. On the contrary, the book has published enough argument to support not only the irrelevance but also the naivety of the mission.
Of the Akamba people where Dr Krapf arrived ambitiously carrying his German SEED, the author shows how spiritually advanced and self-contained they were. The author kicks off by quoting the Akamba’s spiritual motto by says: “I am a true Mukamba who knows that the ‘Akamba herb rituals’ can open a barren woman’s womb to give her a child. One who knows how to offer sacrifices to God correctly in dry season till it rains. One who discerns that actions have consequences and hence avoids bad choices. One that cannot do harm to another human being because God sees all; and one that is also well-prepared in ritual initiations into boldness that dispels fear even of a changing rhino…..”
The author emphasizes, “The Akamba people loved peace. Even in times of war they were fair and conventional with their enemies and neighbours….. Akamba hospitality was demonstrated by their initial joy in hosting white visitors, be their missionaries or colonial administrators, who they regarded as trustworthy visitors, people who had come in peace for trade or settlement…. The Akamba people did not know of any illegitimate child, single homes or single motherhood. Any child belonged to the bigger family, as long as one followed the rules of their parents on both sides. Even a widow rarely noticed her widowhood. Orphans children in Akamba societies, had no notion of that world. They had a family, a father and mother. All their needs were met and they were much more loved and preserved than before. A widow had her husband’s brothers to take care of her too…. The Akamnba believed in eternal life. Life did not cease in death. When the physical body was destroyed the soul became a spirit that lived on and continued to monitor life from the unseen. Prof John Mbiti says, ‘The earlier records of African history show that the African of ancient Egypt were very religious people. Up to this day, Africans who live according to their traditional ways are also said to be very religious.’”
Could a people of that quality of spiritual civilization said above have needed someone to help them in the discovery of God?
In fact, social studies in Kenya, and even in the land of Akamba, show that communities which lead in crimes, insecurities, misconducts and immoralities are pockets which were most influenced by Christianity. In Akamba case, Machakos and Kangundo bear the best samples. Of this, Archbishop Dr Timothy Ndambuki laments, “Today, due to misinterpretation and disregard of the family values (in tradition) divorce abides among Christians everywhere, especially in the West. Many people are depressed and in despair. Many feel neglected and unloved even when they have family in the same estate or block. THIS IS BECAUSE, AS CHRISTIANS, WE NO LONGER VALUE OUR ROOTS AND TRADITIONS. The Archbishop of the African Brotherhood Church should have added, “…. because of the result of the SEED of Words of God sowed by Dr Krapf and other missionaries.”
Should Akamba people celebrate that heritage? One of the White missionaries who followed Dr Krapf later, George Rhodes, founder of the African Inland Church, who was a cobbler in America before he arrived in Kenya, established himself strongly in Akambaland where he mastered Kikamba language. The AIC ambitiously preached that people should forget earthly things and invest their harvest in Heaven where there is neither rust nor weevils. The Church was heavily sanctioned by colonial government to brainwash the natives against material things, which included education. The late Thomas Malinda, once upon-a-Member of Parliament, in his memoir, reports an encounter with George Rhodes when Malinda was a young man. George Rhodes told him in Kikamba, “Akamba makaekakutumanayilangitiikathelwaningala.” The Akamba people will stop being stupid when dogs will have no more flies.
Christianity, of course, was founded by Jesus Christ who preached about God’s forgiveness of sins and having everlasting life in Heaven where, forever, believers in God will live with God forever and ever. That will be after the forgiveness-less God (bearing no blame for creating imperfect human beings) shall have thrown all sinners into hell for total destruction.
Africans religion has got its own belief regarding life after death. Why should they drop their belief in favour of the imported one? The quotation at the beginning of this article articulates the faith Akamba people have in answering their prayers. Christians claim that God answers their prayers. So do Muslims, Hindus and believers in other religions. If God can answer their prayers, on which side does God stand? Either God has no religion or, after all, God does not exist.
