KIBAONI

The tree under which the church first met.

Kibaoni is a village about 20 miles north of Morogoro. The people there are mainly Maasai. The work at Kibaoni began when two Maasai women went out into the bush to pray. From their witness to what the Lord had done in their lives, some Maasai men turned to the Lord. A church sprang up and to begin with, they met under tree. At a time of particular difficulty regarding this situation, I had funds to help them build a church building where they now meet! It was a wonderful provision. Bishop Francis is both the pastor of the church and one of the main leaders of the group of churches known as the Fellowship of Gospel Churches (FGC). He is a man who has sacrificed a lot in order to lead and feed God's people with the word of God and to help them as much as he can in every way. There are a number of poor elderly widows and he does what he can to support those in need.

The church is comprised of Maasai Christians and Francis is blessed in that he has two Maasai men elders to support him in the ministry of the church. As I have mentioned elsewhere, many Maasai churches have few, if any, men. Please pray for the church at Kibaoni that the Lord will sustain them and increase them in the knowledge of Himself!

Francis and church members clearing the ground for the new
church building.

Apart from speaking at the church, Kibaoni is also the place where I speak at the gathering of all the leaders and workers of FGC each time I visit Tanzania.

The church being built. On the right is Bishop Francis, and on my left is pastor Gondwe and Joseph, an elder at the church at Kibaoni.

The building now constructed!

There are many who are in need of support like a Maasai woman whose husband refused to support her at all and was quite abusive once she started going to the church. She went into the bush to collect wood to burn to make charcoal to sell. She is too old and weak to do this now and so she is one of the believers I am able to support. 

This is Amina who was abandoned by her husband.
She is a lovely Christian and helper in the church.

This elderly man is crippled, but what you can't see is the multitude of flies that were on him, 
especially on his face. His family had no money to do anything so I bought them a large mosquito 
net to put up outside to give him relief from the flies! This was greatly appreciated!

The Maasai woman above is a widow who I have been supporting as she has no other
means of livelihood.

In times of severe food shortage I send food to help the poorest. Below, bishop Francis is distributing maize flour. Food is distributed to other villages as well.

At the village of Kibaoni we funded the installation of a water pump. This was a great blessing as it meant people didn't have to cross the main road to get water, which was causing deaths on the road. Unfortunately, this pump failed after some time, but amazingly some South Korean missionaries heard of their plight and installed a motorised water pump!

We installed guttering and a water tank at bishop Francis' house to which a water purifier has since been added. (This was done at a time when there was no active water pump.) This was not only a great boon for the family but also for the church. I hope to do this at the Dumila church also.

Bishop Francis Msendekwa Ndezi and his family.