March 1996

Dan & Debbie Bader

P.O. BOX 381
LODWAR
KENYA
E-mail; Dan Bader@maf.org
Dan, Debbie, Hannah, & Greg
We want toshare this newsletter through the
view ofa Turkana individual. Ngasikei is not
onerealperson but a composite madefrom
several realpeople. Every event really
happened. There is no doubt that oneperson
could have experienced all these events because
they are typical ofeveryday existence in
Turkana. Dan
"There is nofear in love; but perfect love
drives outfear...." 1John 4:18
Ten yearsago, before missionaries came to
my land, my people had never heard of
Jesus and really didn't know that much
about God. The diviners and, of course, the
ancestors who visit us regularly were our
gods. It's an exciting but scary time right
now as we're trying to throw off our fear
and obedience to them. But, wait, I'm
getting ahead of myself. Let me share my
spiritual journey over the course of the last
ten years.
My name is Ngasikei... which means "goat
droppings." Don't laugh! It's a very
common nameamong us Turkana. Like all
Turkana, I also have several nicknames.
One is "Friend of Blackand White Spots,"
the description of my favorite male goat.
He's huge, and, oh, what horns he has; I
love him a lot.
I live in a place called Kangirisai. Before the
missionaries came, when I was still a young
man, none of us had much to do with
anyone outside Turkana. In fact, that was
when I tasted posho -- ground maize meal --
for the veryfirst time. My father traded a
goat to a man in a four-wheel-drive truck
for the meal. It was amazing! Normally,
Those who make
up the composite
Ngasikei
Ekapiton
%
Ngimailimo
Amadoi
Turkana Tribesman
when we slaughtered a goat, it was finished
that veryday. But when we traded the same
goat for a bag of posho, we had more than
we could eat in a week!
Anyway, we didn't see posho again for
several more years, until after the missionary
came. So, we went back to the usual milk
and meat. When the dry seasons came
around and the milk began to dry up, we
had to bleed the animals to get something
to eat. Of course, we gathered more berries
and palm nuts. I remember many times not
even havingany blood to eat; we'd go for
weeks on the fruit that God provided from
the trees.
Back then we'd never even heard Jesus'
name. Our parents told us there was a God
who created everything, but wedidn't know
anything about Him. He certainlywasn't
thought of as particularlygood, just
powerful and, actually, quite capricious. We
didn't deal with Him directlyanyway. Who
would've thought you could? No, the
ancestors were our gods, and much of our
interaction with them was through the
diviners.
We call the diviners "prophets" or
"dreamers," but the most important thing
they do is to dream. We believe the
ancestorsgive them dreams for settling
disputes between us or between us and the
ancestors. If someone's sick, the diviner
receives a dream to tell that person who's
mad at him. The dream reveals what has to
be done to restore the relationshipso the
sick one can get well. Diviners also let us
know, from dreams, what is needed to
appease the ancestors so that rain will come
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY PrayerNewsletter
during drytimes. Many diviners bless
charms or bring down curses ona person's
enemies, for a price.
Wedon't take diviners lightly. They've
guided us through the wishes of the
ancestors for aslong as there have been
Turkana. Wefear them, but they have
brought order to our society. When I was
young, I went to a diviner who blessed a
charm for me. When I was worried or
afraid, all I had to do was bite a small chunk
off of the charm and spit it out while I told
the ancestors myproblem. Back then, I
really believed that worked.
Another time, when 1was exceptionally
hungry, 1stolea goat froma guy. I guess
others had stolengoats fromhim, too,
because he took several goats to a divineras
payment for cursing the thieves. Which the
diviner did. When I heard that, I was so
scared that I immediately took twogoats to
the man ~ one to replace the one I'd stolen
and another just for good measure.
Acoupleof years ago, my cousin was cursed
by a diviner for the very same thing. But his
sister remembers he said that he wasn't
afraid of any diviner, and therewas no way
he was goingto turn himselfin. That very
day, he fell out of a tree ~ just a couple feet
really, broke his neck, and died! We do not
fool around with diviner curses!
One time an arrogant government official
made the mistake of challenging a diviner.
Later, this official fell sick for months and
layclose to dying. The next thing we knew,
he took more than a hundred animals
goats and camels to that diviner because
he believed that he'd been cursedby him.
After that, the official slowly recovered.
Sometimes diviners still scare me, and I feel
better remembering that even the educated
government man couldn't throw off his
fear. It's not easy, and I can onlydo it now
because of the powerof Jesus' Spirit living
The diviners weren't our onlysource of
communication with the ancestors. Many
times, the ancestors came to us directly,
physically possessing someone in our family.
Once a month, at night, my dead father
possessed someone, usually my brother.
Ngichillia
Lorei &Eregae
Emaasei
Akaalei
He'd wake up talking in my father's voice
andacting like him. Right away, he'dsend a
messenger to gather the rest of the extended
family. Once we'd all assembled before him,
he would proceed to tell us what he was
happy or upset about. He'd give us
instructions about how to appease him; if
we didn't obey himineverything, henamed
who would get sick or die. We had noway
out, so we obeyed.
This ishow we lived when themissionary
came. It seemedabsolutelynormal to us, it
was our life. The leaders all said it was great
when the missionaries came because they
would buildschools and clinics, give us
food, and help us become modern! But
when they finally came, all theydid for one
year was to learn our language and our
ways. And they were so slow. It took them
forever to figure out our customs. At times,
theyactually seemed angryover the simplest
little things.
At first we had little ideawhytheywere
really here. We thought they'd come to help
us become modern, but it soon became
obvious that they were more interestedin
talkingabout their God and some character
namedJesus. We Turkana really didn't try
very hard to understand it all. It was just too
foreign. We did pretend to listen, however,
because weknewit was important to them.
We wanted to keep them happy so they'd
give us the other things. You know, our
lives have to be practical. It isn't easy
surviving in a desert; you do whatever it
takes to stayalive eachday. So, wegave the
missionaries what we thought theywanted.
The missionaries were like little babies in
Turkana and easily fooled. One time my
family sent me to get the missionaries to
bringus somewater with their truck. By
that time they'd attached themselves to a
family in the area, calling the old man
"father" and the children "brothers and
sisters." I told the missionary that I washis
oldest brother and that one of his sisters was
pregnant and in pain. He took me home,
but not before I'd asked him to bring a
couple of jerrycans of water with us. I don't
think he was too happy with me when he
learned the truth later. In our culture it's
not so bad to deceive someone if you can
get awaywith it.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY FELLOWSHIP Prayer Newsletter
Eventually, what the missionary tried to
teach us about Jesus began to sink in. He
probably knewwewerejust trying to use
him. Thank God, he didn't give up on us.
In fact, he began to call a small group of us
guys together once a month to teach us
some things. I'm not surewhyI was selected
to be part of this group, but I was. He later
said that a lot of prayer had gone
into choosing us, but at the time I
didn't understandabout prayer
either.
After a while, though, it began to
dawn on me that this Jesus the '
missionarypreachedabout was
more than just a person, and that
He had something relevant to sayto
us. I'll never forget the day when it
first sunk in that the ancestors
didn't represent God at all. Until
then, we actually thought of themas
our gods. The missionaryhad told
us for along time that God was ^jC
loving and cared about each of us -
personally. Until that day, I just hadn't put
it together that the ancestors weren't
particularly loving at all, just demanding
and vindictive.
Soon after, I was sittingaround with
another guyjust talking with the
missionary. We got into a discussion about
the ancestors. He started askinga lot of
questions. I told him about how the
ancestorscome fairly often and possess
someone in our family. He seemedtruly
astonished, as if he'd never heardanything
like that before! Then it hit me, not
everyone in the world must be in bondage
to ancestors! What a thought! He also asked
me, "Ifyourfather lovedyou while hewas still
alive, would he nowfill youwithfear
whenever hecame around? Is itpossible that
he's not reallyyourfather but an impostor sent
by Satan?"
That really got me thinking. I went home
and thought about it all night. I believe that
it was the Holy Spirit leadingme. I came to
understand that the missionaries weren't
afraid of the ancestors because they trusted
in Jesus, who was more powerful than all
the ancestors. I gave my heart completely to
Jesus that night and decided that I was no
longer going to allowthe ancestors to
Turkana Christian
leaders celebrating on
a trip to visitand
share in a seminar
with Maasai
Christian leaders.
possess me or tell me what to do. That next
morning, my heart was so full it felt like it
wasgoing to burst! I felt so free to be rid of
my fear of the ancestors; and I couldn't wait
to tell everyone ...
... they thought I was crazy! My extended
family actually got mad at me, saying that
I'd surely bring down the wrathof
the ancestors, not to mention the
diviners. I discovered quickly that
it's one thing to make a decision to
quite another to
ik actually carryit out.
1 By God's grace, I stood firm. One
P day my family came to me saying
that our dead father had ordered a
goat to be sacrificed for him. Our
families are very poor, and although
I have the most animals I hadn't
been contributing. They were sure
: that someone was going to get sick
because of my refusal to participate.
What a dilemma! The first time
anyone got sick, I'd be blamed. Well, I told
them that I trusted Jesus, even if I was the
one to die; but I did give thema goat and
told them to do with it what they would,
just leave me out of it.
Adiviner had a dreamthat I was goingto
be bitten by a rabid dog and die unless my
family and I wore strips of goat leather that
he would bless. My wifewasso afraid that
she did wear one until the missionary's wife
sawit and askedabout it. She talked my
wife into taking it off. I have to admit,
though, I wasafraid, but I had just read
from Philippians in my literacy class "... to
live is Christ and todie isgain. "I knew that
even in death, the power of the ancestors
would have no hold over me. I do believe
that my family's faithgrewa lot over that
incident. They quit bothering me so much
about appeasingthe ancestors.
By this time, we had drought in
Turkanaland for about five years. The
people began to grumble about the diviners.
One day, a major diviner said that his dead
father had calledeveryone to the place of his
burial for a huge sacrifice .so that it would
rain. I didn't go, but most everyone else did,
including many Christians. They took
many animals. It wasa big deal. The diviner
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARYFELLOWSHIPPrayerNewsletter
said that it would rain within a month or
two. Everyonewasso excited, but it didn't
even sprinkle that whole year!
The next year, another diviner called
everyone togetherand saidthat he'd
predicted the drought. He toldthemthat
now it wasgoing to rain so great that even
the lions and elephants would come back!
Everyone got real excited again, but it didn't
even sprinkle. After this, I actually heard
peoplesaythat all the diviners had failed.
I believe Godwas waiting for that andnow,
this year. He's going to give us rain ina big
way. AJl fortyof us Christian leaders in our
eight churches believe this. We've
conducted several Christian prayer days for""
rain. This is theyear! Ajid, we're going to
make sure Jesus gets all theglory, notthe
ancestors or the diviners. God has shown
what He thinksof themthese days! Please
pray with us becausemore is at stake than
just rain for our land. If we everwant to
break thebondage that Satan has over my
people, wearegoing to have to break
through the fear of the ancestors and
diviners.
When it didn't rain immediately afterour
first Christian dayof prayer for rain, many
old menand diviners mocked us. Theysaid,
"Where's the rain ifJesus issopowerful?" \i
3/96
Dan and Debbie Bader
Christian Missionary Fellowship
P.O. BOX 501020
INDIANAPOLIS. IN 46250-6020
Address Correction Requested
didn't matter. We trust inJesus, and we
went rightahead and planned another. It
was fantastic! Theday was truly given to
Jesus. We believethat He will honor it, too,
and fill our land with rain once again.
Won't you help byjoining usin prayer?
I ,
YES! Dan and Debbie
I want tobea prayer partner with you inyour ministry to
the Turkana.
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