CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES IN EAST AFRICA

Introduction

Christian missions were organised efforts to spread the Christian faith for the purpose of extending religious teaching at home or abroad. Christian missionaries were among the early external people to get into contact with the people of East Africa. Their coming to East Africa and Africa in general was based on a number of motives which were humanitarian, economic, political and social in nature. They carried out a number of activities such as Agriculture, exploration, evangelism, etc. whose impact on the people of East Africa is still evident today.

By the 19th century, a number of missionary groups worked in East Africa and these included;

1. The Church Missionary Society
   
2. The Holy Ghost Fathers
   
3. The University Missionary Society to Central Africa
   
4. The White Fathers
   
5. The Methodist Fathers
   
6. The Mill Hill Fathers
   
7. The Verona Fathers
   
8. The Comboni Fathers
   
9. The London Missionary Society  
   

 The pioneer missionaries in East Africa were the Church Missionary Society led by the Germans John Krapt and Johann Rebmann who arrived in East Africa around 1844 and 1846 respectively. In 1863, the University Mission Society to Central Africa moved to Zanzibar where a mission was started from Re-union and later to Bagamoyo. Cardinal Lavigerie’s formation of the White Fathers Mission in Algeria (1863) extended to other parts of Africa.

In 1877,the Church Missionary Society mission arrived in Buganda while the white fathers arrived in 1879. In 1898, the Church of Scotland Mission arrived at Kikuyu, and in 1902, the Friends Missions arrived at Kaimosi.

The roles of these missionaries varied enormously depending on the colonial context and their relations with the colonial authorities.
 
The study about Christian Missionaries in East Africa is intended to help learners conceptualise the motives, activities, challenges which early missionaries faced as well as their impact on the people of East Africa.

Q. Explain the activities of Christian missionaries in East Africa

ANSWER:

·         Christian missionaries carried out a number of activities in East Africa. Their activities had various impacts on the social, political and economic conditions of East Africa. The following were the activities carried out by the Christian missionaries in East Africa.

·         Missionaries carried out evangelization. Here they tried to convert and baptize many people into Christianity from their paganism and Islam.

·         Christian missionaries carried out linguistic research and came up with new developments in language. Dr Kraft for example translated the Bible into Swahili and wrote a Swahili dictionary and grammar hence making it easy for people to understand the Bible more.

·         The Christian missionaries built many churches in East Africa many of which are still in existence. They for example set up a church at Zanzibar, Rubaga and Rabai missionary station near Mombasa. .

·         They carried out exploration work into the discovery of various East African physical features. For example, Kraft was the first European to see Mt. Kenya in 1849 while Rebman was the first to European see Kilimanjaro in 1848. 

·         Christian missionaries set up stations for free rehabilitation services for example in 1868 the Holy Ghost Fathers set up a home for the free slaves at Zanzibar.

·         Christian missionaries participated in opening up various mission stations. Such mission stations could help in enhancing evangelization into the local population. For example Rebman set up one at Rabai near Mombasa.

·         Christian missionaries participated in skill development in East Africa. They for example participated in modernizing Agriculture and carpentry by setting up agricultural institutions and carpentry workshops for training.

·         Christian missionaries were also influential in establishing educational institutions and training efficient class of African clergy (catechists) who were close and more understandable to the local communities. This helped and enhanced the propagation of faith.

·         Christian missionaries were at times involved in political processes that were beyond spiritual jurisdiction. They for example participated in the overthrow of Kabaka Mwanga of Buganda.

Q.Explain the role of Christian missionaries in the colonization of East Africa.

ANSWER

----Missionaries signed treaties which were later used by colonialists to take over colonies e.g. Tucker, a British Missionary interpreted the 1900 Buganda Agreement to the regents of Kabaka Daudi Chwa II. This led to loss of political, economic and social powers to the British protectorate government. Sir Harry John stone who signed on behalf of the British government confessed that;

---“I John stone shall be bound to acknowledge the assistance offered to me by the missionaries especially the CMS. Without their assistance on my side, I do not think Uganda’s chiefs would agree to the treaty which practically places their country and land in the British hands”.

----(From partition of Africa by Prof Sempebwa).

------Missionaries supplied information to the colonialists which they utilized to plan how to effectively impose their colonial rule on how to crash the African resistance. In the religious wars in Buganda, the British fought behind the Protestants. Colonel Saddler a British commander once said;

------“The CMS was the first in the field …. Its connection with the political history of early days, the difficulties, it successfully surpassed and the assistance it rendered to the colonial government at the time of the rebellion are too well known to need recapitulation. There has been complete accord between the colonial government and Christian missionaries and in no single instance has there been a friction of any kind. I would wish to thank them for willing fully placing at my disposal a fund of information they have regarding the country and its people”.

------In fact there was a reciprocal relationship between missionaries and the colonialists that is why missionaries laid the ground work before the partitioners offered missionaries protection for the success of their evangelization mission. It’s here that words Reverend Willis are partnent;

-------“We as missionaries are indebted to the presence of the colonial government in this country and we would not forget when we reckon upon the triumph of the cross in Uganda. In how large a measure, these victories have been paved for us by others in the colonial government with its officers around us. We owe a peaceful country”.

-------The Church missionary society managed to raise enough funds for Imperial British East African Company for its staying in Uganda for at least 2 or more years. The church missionary society and Captain Lugard viewed that the company’s withdraw would live the British and the protestant party in a dangerous position versus Moslems.

----------Missionaries enhanced the growth of tropical raw materials like coffee, cotton to satisfy the British industrialists urge but disguising everything in Christianity. Bishop K. Boroup for example introduced cotton in Uganda.

-------They appealed to their home governments for protection in case of attack. It is in this light that Britain came to Uganda during the religious wars of 1884-1892 and later occupied Uganda.

------They created a collaborating class by luring it religiously and materially. This class helped colonialists to fight resistors despite the fact that they were all Africans.    

------In their evangelization role, they brain washed Africans with biblical teachings as “love your neighbor as you love yourself”, “blessed are the humble for the kingdom of God is theirs”, etc. With these preaching’s they made potential resistance important.

--------Religion was a mechanism of divide and rule. The converts and the non-converts hated each other which caused division to the advantage of the Europeans.       

-----Collaboration with chattered companies, European Christian missionaries and their converts worked hand in hand with the Imperial British East African Company to defeat Kabalega’s resistance.

------Missionary stations served as military bases from where the European colonial forces launched attacks on the resisting Africans. African Lugard used old kampala hill as a military base against Kabalega.

-------Mission stations served as colonial government headquarters. The established mission infrastructure was used to help in the establishment and sustenance of European colonial rule. 

--------Colonialists lacked skilled manpower, so the missionaries by design or accident were very faithful servants of the colonial government i.e. they were Colonial government servants.

-------They created a peaceful atmosphere for the germination of colonialism in areas of hostility. This is because they emphasized the centralized leadership where peace and obedience were expected.

--------Missionaries also trained manpower through introduction of education which was used by colonialists. This was done through teaching those academic subjects and manual skills like use of a plough and how to grow coffee. 

         --------They acted as interpreters e.g. Tucker in the 1900 Buganda agreement. 

--------Through conversion of the Buganda chiefs and pages before Buganda commoners it meant that each party i.e. the Church Missionary Society and France had gained converts. This was a political security of sympathy to the Christian missionaries as against the Kabaka in Buganda’s leadership. This indirectly undermined the Kabaka’s authority and respect i.e. his traditional power base was being eroded.

Q. Explain the reasons for the coming of Christian missionaries in East Africa.

ANSWER:

Missionaries came to East Africa for various reasons. These were economic, social, humanitarian and economic in nature as explained below; 

----The missionaries had the ambition to spread Christianity to the people of East Africa. This would be through preaching and teaching the holy gospel so that many would get converted to Christianity.

-----They wanted to fight against slave trade in East Africa. Earlier travelers like John Speke and James Grant, H.M. Stanley, Dr. David Livingstone and others had reported about the evils of slave trade in East Africa. Christian missionaries therefore came with an intention to stop it and introduce legitimate trade.

-----Missionaries wanted settle the freed slaves in East Africa by setting up resettlement centers both in the interior and at the coast for example at Bagamoyo and Frere town near Mombasa.

-----They wanted to check on the spread of Islam in East Africa from the coast with intentions of converting many to Christianity.

------Some missionaries came because they had been invited by certain African chiefs, For example, Muteesa I of Buganda wrote a letter through H.M Stanley   inviting missionaries to Buganda.

-----They came to establish legitimate trade in East Africa. They, for instance wanted to trade in items like glass, cloths, etc. as Dr. Livingstone told Cambridge University students, “I go back to Africa to make an open pass for commerce and Christianity…..” Similarly, his speech in 1857 emphasized the unity between Christianity and Commerce.  

----- The missionaries also loved to adventure and explore the interior of East Africa. For example Dr. John Ludwig Kraft of CMS is said to have been the first European to see Mt. Kenya while Johann Redman was the first to see Mt. Kilimanjaro.

-----They had a mission to clear the way for the colonization of East Africa. The missionaries were tasked by their home governments to preach ideas of love, respect, brotherhood, forgiveness, tolerance and non violence so that when the colonialists come, they would meet less resistance from the East Africans.

-----It’s also argued that missionaries wanted to “civilize” East Africans. They argued that they came to stop some of the barbaric acts and customs e.g. Female Genital Mutilation among the Kikuyu in Kenya, human sacrifices and the practice of killing twins.

          -----They had interest of reducing tribal conflicts in East Africa. E.g. conflicts between Buganda and Banyoro would be resolved with the coming of the Missionaries.

----Early contacts by travelers like Stanley, Speke and Grant, among others encouraged missionaries to come. The information they gave about important places like the source of the Nile, fertile soils, river falls and the climate all attracted the missionaries into East Africa.

----The expulsion of some of the missionaries from other parts of Africa led them into East Africa.  For example Johann Ludwig Kraft and Johann Redman are said to have been expelled from Ethiopia around 1842 before they chose to relocate to East Africa.

Q.Explain the reasons for the success of missionary work in East Africa.

ANSWER:

The missionaries’ success was noted in the economic, political and social fields and these are discussed as follows:

·         The evils of slave trade made East Africans welcome missionaries as liberators. Their campaign against slave trade won them much support from different tribes in East Africa.

·         The support they got from some of the local chiefs and kings led to their success. For instance Muteesa I of Buganda and Mirambo of Nyamwezi all gave them protection as well as rights to do their work in their territories.

·         The earlier explores helped to map out potential areas of East Africa for smooth missionary work. For instance, H.M Stanley had identified Buganda as a hospitable community for the missionaries and they were later welcomed by the Kabaka of Buganda in 1877.

·         The support missionaries got from their home governments led them to success.  This was inform of finance and physical manpower for instance colonial governments  gave protection to the missionaries whenever they were challenged by local chiefs or other threats. For instance Captain Lugard supported the Protestants in the religious wars in Buganda.

·         Some missionary groups sought for alliances with African chiefs. Such treaties of friendship made their work easy since the chiefs would call on their subjects to take on the missionary teachings.

·         The missionaries’ efforts to translate the bible into several local languages helped them succeed for example Kraft translated the New Testament of the Bible into Swahili and wrote a Swahili dictionary and a Grammar book.

·         The developments that missionaries found in societies like Buganda favored their work. For example, infrastructure around Buganda areas like Namirembe, Lubaga and Kampala in general made missionary work of putting up schools, hospitals and churches easy.

·         The industrial revolution had provided such technology like the printing press which made printing of bibles and other academic work easy.

·         Their efforts in life saving services like medical care (Quinine) won them great admiration among the people of East Africa that few were ready to oppose them.

·         The missionaries’ practical skills enabled them to survive even when their supplies from home delayed. They for instance adopted agriculture as soon as they settled anywhere. This ensured steady supply of food.

o    They employed locals as porters, interpreters, cooks or security guards hence winning the loyalty of many.

o    The death of Dr. David Livingstone in 1873 and other earlier missionaries increased the determination by many groups to see missionary work succeed in Africa, and East Africa in particular. E.g. the London news paper wrote after his death, “the work for Africa must hence forth begin in earnest where Livingstone left it off.”

o    Establishment of resettlement centers for freed slaves e.g. at Bagamoyo and Frere town near Mombasa where skills like carpentry, and agriculture were taught. Such communities thus looked at missionary work as “a life- saving mission”