Village #6: Mahuninga

Wasn't it Alexander Pope who said, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing?"

It's a caution well worth remembering on our travels from Minnesota to Tanzania, as we spend a mere eight to ten days a year with our partners, a few precious hours in each village, with language and cultural barriers between us that may muddy the communication. We may ask what seems a straightforward question and receive what seems a straightforward answer, only to ask the question again and receive a different straightforward answer. It's good to remember that our impressions are just that, impressions, and that even if the information we bring back is accurate, it may only be a piece of accurate information in a bigger, more complex mix of information.

With that caution, let me tell you what I know about the village of Mahuninga.

We visit Mahuninga on nearly every visit to Tungamalenga Parish. It is located on that main road out of Tungamalenga, take the left hand fork in the road away from Ruaha National Park, and continue past Makambalala, Makifu, past the turn off road to Isanga. Continuing past Mahuninga, you'll eventually climb the mountain toward Misufi and Kisilwa.

As we've driven through the village, we've seen a primary school about the same size as the one in Tungamalenga, and in recent years, a Roman Catholic dispensary under construction.



Kari Hurley took the beautiful photo at the top of this post during our first visit in 2002. What a beautiful, humble house of God, with its thatched roof and rough cross against the deep blue Tanzanian sky.

Inside, the sanctuary was decked out for our visit, with bouganvillea blossoms tucked into any crack or crevice in the deteriorating brick and stucco walls. The floor was dirt and the congregation sat on bricks for pews. The small chapel was packed, and the singing rocked the roof.


Four years later, the congregation had built the walls of a new, larger chapel around the foundation of the original.

By 2008, the original chapel had been dismantled, the new chapel had been roofed, and the congregation used the enlarged space while waiting for funds to finish the walls with stucco and to install a cement floor.

For some reason that we have been unable to ascertain during our yearly brief stops at this preaching point, when the construction stalled, the congregation seems to have, also.

In our early visits, we would be greeted by at least a hundred singing children and a couple dozen adults. The last time this was a scheduled stop, SOTV members were quietly greeted by about a dozen faithful members. When we asked where the others were, the responses were politely evasive. "They didn't know you were coming." "There is something else going on in the village."

One wonders what may have caused the decline in this congregation--was it conflict? or perhaps is the presence of other mission churches drawing from this congregation? or was the initial construction project a case of taking on more than the congregation could handle? We can guess, but we need to be cautious about thinking we know for sure. Congregational life anywhere is complex.

What can we know for sure about Mahuninga? There is a sturdy new chapel there, just waiting to be finished and filled. There are people of God there in that village, who have worshipped and praised and served God for many years. And your prayers and your gifts can encourage this congregation to rise up, to invite and gather the community to be the people of God in Mahuninga once again.