Category: How Africans Think

(witchdoctor advertisement in Dar es Salaam)

In Tanzania, albinos are regularly kidnapped, murdered, and their body parts used in witchcraft rituals.

It sounds like the plot to a horror movie. But it’s real.

Albinism is rare worldwide, occurring about 1 in 20,000. However, in Tanzania, for some unknown reason, it occurs much more often–1 in 1400 or maybe even more. And as you can imagine, in Africa, a person who lacks any skin or hair pigmentation sticks out a whole lot more than in light-skinned countries.

Sticking out is only one of their hardships. They also struggle with eye problems and a prevalence of skin cancer. But most horrifying of all, somewhere along the way, some people got an idea from the pit of hell that albino body parts can make you rich or successful or irresistible.

And the West gasps in horror and comes in with its answers.

Education!

Awareness!

We need to tell those poor ignorant Africans that albinos are people too!

Except then you find out that albino body parts sell for hundreds of dollars, and corpses are worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Consider that the average income of Tanzanians is less than $1000 a year. Consider that traditionally, albino murders go up during election years. So who’s paying for these atrocities? Kind of flies in the face of the “poor ignorant African who just needs to be educated” theory.

In the West, we are all about rationality and science and education, aren’t we? And we think that’s the answer to cure All The Problems In the World. People just need to listen to logic, right?

Maybe instead what we need to do is educate ourselves about worldview in the majority world. It’s true that many Africans aren’t educated. But the reality is, many of them are, and they really don’t care about the western version of rationality and science.

They know that animistic spirituality has power. And they want it. In America, we decorate with ghosts on Halloween and watch freaky supernatural movies and laugh because it’s all just pretend. After all, isn’t that what science has taught us? Or can we consider the possibility of what Africans have long known…that there actually is power in witchcraft?

A couple of weeks ago, a four-year-old albino girl was kidnapped from her home in the middle of the night. Enough anger went up that the Tanzanian government decided to solve the problem by banning all witchdoctors. A literal “witch hunt” will begin next week.

This law will probably have the success of U.S. Prohibition in the 20’s. Or of the New York City ban on soft drinks. Has a law of a nation ever succeeded in changing the heart of man?

I once saw a video of an organization in Africa who is trying to help communities with the problem of jiggers (bugs that lay eggs in people’s feet). “People think jiggers come through witchcraft,” the spokesperson said. “But we are educating them.” Yeah. Good luck with that.

Why do you think Ebola spread so fast? Because west Africans believe that if they don’t prepare dead bodies properly, their spirits will come back and haunt them. You can “educate” about germs and clean hands until you are blue in the face, but it’s hard to argue against ghosts.

I mean, just think about it. If somebody came to you and earnestly said, “Your seasonal allergies are caused by evil spirits,” would you give them the time of day? Of course not. Because in the West, we believe everything is Always About Science. Just as we won’t be convinced by their animism, they won’t be convinced by our science.

Because they know better. They are not stupid. It’s not all their imagination.

Yeah, there’s germs and genetics. But Evil is real too. It has power.

Have we forgotten?

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Education isn’t what is going to protect the lives of albinos. Nor is banning witchdoctors. Instead, Africans need to be transformed by the One who has crushed Evil’s head, and allow His Reality to change their Reality. Because that’s where the real power comes from, and with it, hope, courage, and love for others, which are all things witchdoctors can never offer.

And maybe, for us Westerners on the other end of the spectrum, who are always convinced that it’s just about science and education, we need to open our eyes to the Reality that there’s Something More out there than our eyes can see.

African Women Make Me Feel Like a Wuss

By Amy Medina

On December 20, 2014

In How Africans Think

Lucy (my language helper) and I were discussing the differences between housekeeping responsibilities in our respective cultures.

I told her about washers and dryers, microwaves and vacuums, and dish washers. She was intrigued by that one. “Don’t the dishes break in there?” she asked. I told her about garage door openers and lawn mowers. I told her how you could buy almost any meal, ready-to-eat and frozen in the grocery store.

Each time her eyes got big. “Ni rahisi!” she exclaimed. So easy!

Each day at dawn, Lucy walks to her neighbor’s house with buckets. She pays about 25 cents to fill up the buckets from her neighbor’s outdoor spigot. That’s their water for the day. She does it again in the evening.

She washes clothes by hand for her family of five, an extremely time-consuming task. She washes dishes by hand. Since she has no refrigerator, every day she buys fresh ingredients and cooks from scratch.

She walks a few blocks to the bus stop. She sits on the bus for an hour and a half to get to work, with 30 other people on a bus meant for 15 (with no air conditioning).

She has a solar panel so that her family has lights in the evening. But it cannot power fans or anything else. Temperatures are around 100 degrees these days, with very high humidity. It doesn’t get much cooler at night.

Her main sources of protein are beans, dried fish, and chickens which she raises in her yard. (It was pretty funny to hear her talk about these chickens….you would have thought she was a Californian Whole Foods mom: Those chickens at the store are full of medicine to make them grow faster, she said with disgust. My chickens are much better.)

By Tanzanian standards, Lucy’s family is actually doing pretty well. She and her husband own their land and built their house. She has a solar panel. Her children are all in school.

But she still makes me feel like a wuss.

It’s been a rough electricity week in our area. Every day this week, the power has been off from about 9 am until 6 pm. And when it has been on, it’s been in phases, which means that only some parts of our house have electricity. Then the air conditioner in our bedroom stopped working.

I have been so uncomfortable. The house is stuffy; I have sweat running down my back most of the day; I’m not sleeping well. I baked a few batches of Christmas cookies and afterwards, looked like I had just run a marathon. I was drenched in sweat, my hair was frizzy, and my face was as shiny as the Christmas star.

And I have been grumpy and impatient and justifying it to myself.

I realized that I am addicted to comfort. I don’t like being too hot or too cold or too tired or too hungry or too thirsty or have any part of my body be in pain. And when that does happen, all bets are off. I am entitled to be a grouch.

I may have spent half my life in Africa, but boy am I American.

I wrote a couple weeks ago about the electricity problems in Tanzania, and how the animistic worldview has given Africans a fatalistic attitude that has kept them from progress. But on the flip side, they are some of the most content people I know. They don’t complain. They accept.

My culture’s worldview has taught me that progress is always possible. Don’t accept; don’t settle. We can always be healthier, more beautiful, more comfortable, more entertained. Except we never actually get there, do we? We have more than any other people in the world and than any other time in history, yet we are perpetually discontent.

Just as Africa need to be transformed by a biblical worldview of progress and innovation, so my own mindset needs to be transformed. There is a time for progress, and there is a time for trusting God with what I cannot control. There is a time for innovation, and there is a time for being deeply content with what I have already been given.

In Christ, I can have both.

This is why I can wish for progress and development for Africa, and yet simultaneously be humbled and convicted by the brave African women who work so hard and are content with so much less than me.

Evil Spirits and Electricity Problems

By Amy Medina

On December 3, 2014

In How Africans Think

Imagine that your state is having an energy crisis. It can’t produce enough electricity to cover the needs of your state, and the energy facilities are old and need to be updated. As a result, you start having power outages on a regular basis.

Sometimes it’s just a couple hours in a day. Sometimes it’s 12 hours in a day. You never know exactly when you will lose power or for how long.

Imagine trying to do business in these conditions. When there’s no power, not only is there no light in your office building or store or school, but no computer, no cash register, no internet. The traffic lights don’t work, so traffic snarls and it takes you twice as long to get anywhere. This goes on for weeks….months.

Oh–and it’s summer. Temperatures average in the 90’s everyday. When the power is out, no air conditioning. No fans.

Then imagine, that in the midst of this, an enormous scandal comes to the surface. The governor of your state has actually been pilfering the energy budget. Money that could have gone to producing more energy, or repairing old facilities, has actually gone into his pocket. To tune of 120 million dollars.

This is a true story.

Just a few days ago, it came out that the Tanzanian Prime Minister (along with a few others) stole $120 million dollars from the energy budget.

Some members of parliament are asking him to resign. Others actually want him to stick around. Interestingly enough, the exact same thing happened with Tanzania’s previous prime minister, just a few years ago. He did actually have to resign. But there’s no indication there was ever a trial. In fact, it seems he may still be one of the richest men in Tanzania. So there’s not a lot of hope that justice will be done the second time around.

And yet, life goes on. We lost power for 12 hours one day last week. Yesterday, it was off for 9 hours. Yet there is no picketing, no rioting, no public outrage.

In Africa, this is barely a scandal. It is ordinary life.

Why is this? Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world. Yet even when something like this happens, the people sadly shrug their shoulders and get on with life. The power goes off again, and my heart breaks for the shopkeeper whose entire supply of ice cream melts. The power goes off again, and my heart breaks for the welder who sits idle. The power goes off again, and my heart breaks for the hard-working carpenter who can’t pay his kids’ school fees. The power goes off again, and millions upon millions of productive hours are lost, all across the country.

And the man responsible simply “resigns” and lives his life in luxury.

Why is this happening?

Worldview.

Ideas have consequences.

In Africa, animism is the predominant worldview. Even among many who claim to be Christian or Muslim.

Animism is the belief system that the world is governed by capricious, irrational spirit beings. They are unpredictable and usually mean. There is no rhyme or reason to what they do. You cannot control them and there is very little point in trying.

Thus, many Africans believe:

We are poor and will always be poor.

Why try to change it?

There is nothing we can do.

We are trapped in poverty.

Those who are in power–the chiefs, the government officials, even many times the pastors–they are higher in the spiritual hierarchy. If you mess with them, you mess with the spirits. If you mess with them, you’re bringing a heck of a lot of trouble on yourself.

Thus,

you don’t question them.

You don’t hold them accountable.

“Animists have fled from the righteous and holy Creator to a multitude of gods who act arbitrarily, on their own inscrutable whims–the perfect models of corrupt power.” (Darrow Miller, Discipling Nations)

Ideas

have

consequences!

This is why Africa does not need more government aid. This is why Africa does not simply need more wells or more shoes or more schools.

Until the underlying worldview is addressed, there will not be change in Africa. This is why Africa needs the gospel to penetrate its worldview.

What does biblical Christianity have to offer Africa?

The idea that progress is possible. Our Creator gave us the earth to subdue and cultivate. We can control it; it does not control us. Hard work, creativity, and efficiency can make a difference.

The idea that every man is equal and under the authority of his Creator. There is no spiritual hierarchy. We are accountable to God; we will one day give an account for our actions. Integrity, honesty, and justice are to be cherished and upheld in a God-fearing community.

“Having justice linked to the unchanging nature of a holy God undermines the power structures of animistic society.” (Darrow Miller)

Earlier this year, sociologist Robert Woodberry published his research that throughout the history of nations, the more Christian missionaries have been in a country, the greater the presence of democracy and justice in that country.

Stunningly, a few years ago atheistic journalist Matthew Paris wrote an article titled, “As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God.” He said:

“Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosophical/spiritual framework [of animism.]”

Of course, though I absolutely believe in the power of God and the Truth of His worldview, Christians themselves can be wretched. I am not defending everything that’s been done in the name of Christ. I also believe that just as the animistic worldview in Africa needs to be challenged by biblical truth, so does the secularist worldview in my own country.

But when you consider that two of Tanzania’s prime ministers, back-to-back, steal millions from the energy budget and get away with it, you’ve got to wonder what’s really got to happen for change to take place.

“Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted.” (Matthew Paris)

The problem is not poverty. The problem is not a lack of resources. The problem is not a lack of education.

The problem is the human heart. And that, my friends, is changed only through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Category: How Africans Think

Our Struggle Is Not Against Flesh and Blood: The Plight of Tanzania’s Albinos

African Women Make Me Feel Like a Wuss

Evil Spirits and Electricity Problems