The Purpose Driven Retirement of Eddie Ozols Supporting the Tanzanian Anglican Church

I retired from Anglican Aid, the Sydney Anglican Diocese's overseas relief and development arm in April 2022 and then spent six months in Tanzania working in the Diocese of Musoma at the invitation of the bishop. I am essentially assisting with capacity building across various areas of the diocese.. In 2023 I led a tourof 18 Australians who visited and observed the work of the church in the Mara Region - three dioceses - Mara, Tarime and Rorya.

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Honour and Shame (Working as as Consultant 2)

Personal Reflections

I have just completed the third session of the leadership program I started back in early May. The numbers have come down to what I realistically expected they may be when I had suggested it back in April. We had 13 at session three but it did not impact the discussion or interaction and may have actually enhanced learning outcomes.

Personal Reflections

Session three was about Organisational Leadership, which I explained to them is a huge topic and one we could only scratch the surface of. A smaller group meant some good role plays and exercises to get my point across. Comparing the organisation to a human body was well understood as we discussed systems and how each of them worked in a system and in smaller systems within the larger diocesan system which employs them all. 1 Cor 12:12ff was the text used to help them understand the concept and a few role plays were easy for them to get the idea.

This all led to how organisational management develops culture and their focus as leaders was to develop a good culture in their workplaces. However we discussed how this is different from the culture previously discussed between African/Asian societies and western culture – collectivist versus individualistic ways of operating.

I advised them that there would be matters discussed that may be out of sequence as it was impossible for this topic to flow and that systems, human resources, communications, finances and change while all separate topics may overlap with this big topic.

Feedback to some of the questions was excellent and I was even interrupted a few times as people wanted to speak and make suggestions (this is a big thing so they are obviously comfortable).

What did surprise me was the readiness for change. People understand they have no strong direction because the diocese has never had a strategic plan. Most had been involved in consultations last year about the strategic plan and I did assure them that the training they are voluntarily attending will help them in the implementation of the strategic plan as each of the heads will be required to develop plans for their own units.

Guilt/Innocence and Honour and Shame

The practical implications of the different worlviews has impacted some of the other things I am doing. Having a greater awareness of honour and shame in this culture has impacted my sermon series on Ruth. The biblical narratives are set in similar cultures so when reading Ruth, looking at the story through that culture changes lots. Boaz honoured Ruth by redeeming her through the purchase of Elimeleck’s land. While we may miss that in our western cultural lens clearly there are other things to understand from a different cultural framework.

From the first session which discussed this at length I have now had a month to process much of what was discussed. Nepotism in our culture (Guilt/Innocence) is always seen as wrong. We are individuals and believe that individuals should all be treated equally. In a collectivist (Honour/Shame) culture favouring people according to the place of honour is a given and it would be shameful to disrespect someone by not honouring them.

Honour has to do with age, position in a family (grandparents, firstborn gender), position in society/church/employment, gender, wealth (land, herds), power and types of honour (good v bad honour) https://honorshame.com/kinds-of-honor/

Some of the discussions we have had have highlighted to me how people in the course with different types of power or status responded to what were for them difficult questions in a group setting. Questions such as you are employing someone and a relative who is qualified has applied and there are five other candidates, some with better qualifications. Who would you choose. Reflecting now, I put individuals in a group setting in great difficulty because on the one hand they knew what the answer I expected was but eventually culture won out but I could see the discomfort they were in. Had I asked them that privately, I would have received the answer I was expecting but in a group setting it would have been shameful to have said the relative would not be preferred. It is just the way things are.

Do we westerners with individualist values have a right to trample culture, even say if it is development aid money that says you act according to our values? It is a big question.

Recently I was at an event for 500 women across the three Anglican Dioceses in this region. There was an opening church service which went for two and a half hours and was great because of the singing. At the end it was speeches of welcome. It took an hour as I sat there understanding that as each person was asked to stand (the three Mothers’ Union groups 100,100 and 300 were stood as groups) I could see how they moved up the honour scale. The office bearers of each MU group from Tarime, Mara and Rorya, significant others who were visiting who were employees or office bearers, through to clergy, choirs, myself, the wives of bishops who were all asked to speak as was I and then each bishop. Each bishop and wife were then brought to the front and given a gift followed by me and a few others. So in the honour scale I was behind the bishops. It is the first time I have understood a number of things like why the bishop insists I sit in the front of the car when we travel together and he takes the back seat.

I also discussed failed leadership. While people may bring dishonour to themsleves or their organisation again it seems like it is not discussed but everyone knows. So a recent employee who was terminated was used as an example of bringing dishonour to the agency they led. Checking in with some of the senior staff wondering if that was going overboard I was encouraged to be open as the culture tends to hide bad behaviour.

So this course I am facilitating on leadership has impacted me as much as I think it has impacted the participants.

A lot of time is spent giving honour in formal settings. The above example took just under an hour and looks inefficient from our western individualist culture but is the done thing here. It also explains all the gifts I received in my early years here when visiting on behalf of Anglican Aid.

We nowhere finished the big agenda and continued the following week. We touched briefly on delegation at session four and had some excellent role plays.

Two sessions to go and I have an accountant doing some basics this coming weekend.

The group of ten that attended session 4. Four principals, Director of Christian Educations, the Diocesan Secretary, chaplain, teachers and IT Manager

Sunday, June 11, 2023

Gesarya, Serengeti (3)

I was warmly greeted by this octogenarian whose ear lobes had large gaps from her years of wearing large decorative piercings and were disfigured by parts snipped off the top. She and her cohort were ahead of western culture where these piercings are all the rage with punks and goths.

Family Matters – Kenya

Marriage (2)

After leaving Sophia, current second wife of the polygamous Mwita Nguti, we then trekked down through some maize fields to the house of Nguti’s grandmother Agnes. Enroute we met Kihengu, who was Nguti’s chemistry teacher in form 4. He attended lessons on Saturdays at his school in order to prepare for exams. Age 47 he is Nguti’s father’s best friend and the two of them had come from the home of Nguti’s grandmother. He has been a teacher for 17 years and now is at Gesarya Seondary School which is local for him. We continued on to grandmother’s house.

She greeted her grandson and I warmly and chairs were brought for us to sit outside the house and talk. She produced a range of artifacts from her past to show me how life was lived. Two enormous seed pods, smoothed and polished served variously as scoops for water, bowls for porridge of cups for tea. A large wicker basket with top then emerged and was placed on her head as she proudly showed that even at her age, she could still carry things on her head.

We chatted and as I suspected dishes of beef came out for a snack. After the conversation she showed me inside her house very proudly. Grandma Agnes Nguti was born in what is now Kenya, which gained independence in 1963, three years after the Mau Mau uprising ended (which was the independence war against colonial Britain). She did not know her age but through deduction it is estimated she is 84 years old. She never attended school and has no literacy skills. Kuria is her first language and she has learned Swahili but speaks to family and others in Kuria. She has never been to Musoma and has no idea what work Nguti does. She married and in 1960 she and her husband left Colonial Kenya for Tanganyika essentially for land which was plentiful and settled in Gesarya. Borders came some years later but still the border is fluid for locals who have relatives on both dides.

Her husband Nguti Mwita Nguti died in 1993. He went to bed with a head ache and was dead in the morning. It was unknown what the cause was, but many people died with this mysterious illness around that time which may have been meningitis, according to Dr Google which can result in death within 24 hours. She has eight children four boys and girls.

Her current brick house is about twenty five years old, replacing the original stick, mud and dung house with its straw roof that was home for over thirty years. This house with earth and sand floors has three rooms. Off the room we walked into from the front door were two bedrooms. The public room had a charcoal fire burning and her daughter in law breastfeeding a one-year-old as she tended whatever was cooking.

Her daughter in law, Catherine is twenty years old and married to Nguti’s fifty five year old uncle, Samwel. His first wife died about ten years ago. He was an Anglican pastor but was elected to a local government position and required to step down as a pastor for what is a paid representative role. He has five children from his first marriage, the youngest aged 15 living here.

Through the back door and I noted this house is part of a compound with houses to the left built by her son who lives there and the rest fenced with branches and bricks to provide a boundary. It was nowhere near as big as the house where I spent the previous night. The washroom had no door and through the fence to outside, which was still her land was a large grassed area maybe 15 metres wide leading down to a maize field which she tended. A toilet was to one side, and Nguti showed me the burial sites of his grandfather and the aunt who died in 2013. These were raised, grassed mounds near a tree with mimosa plants growing on top. The crosses had long been destroyed by cows which feed in this area.

Agnes’ compound looking back
The guy collected 60L of water and carries it on his bike
Grandfather’s grave
Closer view of the rear of the house

We saw people carrying water and so headed to the water source. Nguti’s uncle hand dug a well when the government came and bored a public well a few hundred metres further on and so the family has a relatively short 250 metre walk to an endless water supply. We proceeded to the public well where a man with a bicycle filled three containers to the brim, skillfully balanced them on his bike and rode off into the distance with 60 litres of precious water.

Returning to the compound we were met by Agnes who brought out her mobile phone. Nguti laughed as he told me she does not recognise names in the contact list so just guesses, asks who it is when answered and then hangs up if not the person she hoped to call. She relies on grandchildren to locate the contact when they are around.

Back to the courtyard and Catherine was washing clothes in water that was brown with dirt. It amazes me that despite the conditions women wash under, whites come out looking very white.

We bid her and the others farewell and returned to town for lunch. At the town centre we stopped to say hi to a shopkeeper and I had a stick beek at what she was selling. Lots of facial creams were on display and I kid you not garlic face cream and then I noted a carrot based cream. All Chinese of course. The owner was bemused by my fascination with her stock but no purchases from me today.

A bit further along was a woman whose age was difficult to guess with a stunningly attractive face standing outside. She turned out to be Eliza, aunt of Nguti’s oldest maternal uncle and aged 42 but with facial features of a 25 year old. She is separated and struggles to raise her five children as a sole parent. She came to Gesarya after marriage and has little contact with her own family as it is too far to walk, being about 25 kilometres from Gesarya.

Enroute back to Nguti’s place I saw a chicken broker who basically bought chickens then went to villages to sell them. He made 100% profit per chicken.

Eliza
Beauty secret in Serengeti
Johnny the cow boy
50 kgs to the mill
Catherine and 15 yo daughter of her husband

On arriving I saw Johnny the Cow Boy who tends cattle for the Nguti’s. He gets Saturdays off. Aged 14 he came to live with them from Mwanza three years prior having been helped by one of Nguti’s siblings who learned of his homelessness and neglect and said her parents could have him stay. Anyway he herds 28 cattle daily and is paid 30,000 TZS monthly but some months Mrs Nguti buys him a sheep to help him save. He has two sheep now.

Lunch was goat meat. Mwita thanked me for coming. The previous evening was the first time his wife and daughter and Nguti had sat down as a family for a long time. He talked about the last time white people came to his village about 2007. They could not wait to get out as they appeared scared. Americans, they came over to do a mission and did not interact with the local people who were aware that they were not interested in them.

He also mentioned his concern that I did not eat much. This then led on to the size of the American who visited. Nguti remembered that one was so large he barely fitted through the door.

Once lunch was done it was time to depart. The farewells were filled with appreciation for my visit. I was appreciative of the warmth and hospitality and the openness to discuss life here including polygamy.

Mwita’s brother arrived prior to our departure. He is the one who lives with his mother and second wife. He was able to take some photos of us all. We left heading to the next village. Tyre changed, it turned out the spare was very low and when checked had only 20kpa in it. Once we filled it, we headed back to Musoma with lots of debriefing for me taking place as we drove.

The chicken broker – buys at market and goes door to door

We changed the car tyre first thing in the morning. A guy named Chacha came along and wanted to help. After we rang the normal driver and Nguti got instructions Chacha with the hidden parts we needed was able to pretty much change this all himself and earn 5,000 Tzs 9$3) which Nguti said was too much.

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Gesarya, Serengeti Tanzania (2)

Polygamy and female genital mutilation are cultural practices still occurring in the Serenget region of Tanzania.

Family Matters

Tanzania has over 120 tribes or language groups. The president at independence, Julius Nyrere emphasised that the country comprised Tanzanians who were all united and this took precedence over tribal loyalties. However everyone knows which tribe they come from and which tribe others belong to. This is a peaceful country, one of only a handful of the 54 African countries which had no post colonial political violence. Tribes and religions live in harmony. The president is a female and a Muslim.

The Serengeti is dominated by the various sub- tribes or clans which speak the Kuria language. Kuria is the main tribe but clans are distinguished from the clan groups in practice but language is similar. Kurias are pastoralists but unlike the Masaai they maintain permanent homes with animals being herded sometimes for days to be fed.

These tribes have unique customs including being one of the few regions in Tanzania where female genital mutilation is practiced on girls as young as twelve, not for religious reasons but as a cultural practice. It is believed that unless circumcised, girls will not be an attractive marriage proposition. It is also believed that circumcised women are less likely to wander when their husbands are away with the cattle. The Tanzanian government has outlawed this practice which in the past had public celebrations in the streets of Musoma as ‘The Cutting Season” commenced (November/December) with street parades and other celebrations which are no longer publicly on display.

Once cut, girls have transitioned to adulthood and are seen as marriageable. Marriage in early adolescence is not uncommon. Polygamy is still a widespread practice here and often young girls are married at their family’s behest because of the bride price which I will refer to later.

The whole culture enslaves girls and women who have no voice in these scattered villages across the Serengeti, extending into southern Kenya.

Nguti’s Family – Three Generations

Arriving at Gesarya near sunset I was taken around the large compound that is the family home. The original mud brick house built in 1985 after his parents married still stands and the compound I estimate is about 45-50 metres across and 30 metres deep. It is a large area of land. Added to that initial building has been the kitchen, a guesthouse (where I stayed) which is the newest completed building and then adjacent to that a mish mash of buildings that are storing no longer used assets, leading to the original washhouse now inhabited by cattle and sheep, the newer toilet and bathroom and then the fence which ends at the back fence which stretches the 45 metres south to the next fence. Along this fence are some partially constructed houses for siblings and Nguti explained he would be entitled to build a house here for himself. Then up along the south are at least four rooms or houses which belong to brothers not living there at present and two are rented out for AU$6 monthly. A family wth three children lives in the larger house and sometimes is unable to pay rent.

Children of the tenants in one of the spare houses

I was introduced to Nguti’s parents who welcomed me warmly. His father is Mwita Nguti Gisiri (first his birth name, middle his father’s name and and last his grandfather). Typical Tanzanian hospitality was dished out to me while here. His mother was slaving away in the kitchen, using charcoal to cook as she has done her whole married life. The kitchen was black from soot over the many years of cooking indoors and smoke was in the air. No air vents here.

Dinner Friday night by torchlight in the ante-room off my bedroom. Some tables put together and in came a chicken dinner which could have been prepared in any western kitchen. It constantly amazes me how women here can turn out meals of good quality hunched over charcoal and wood stoves. Rice was served with the chicken and I was asked why I had taken so little. Mr Nguti made the point that tonight was Mrs Nguti’s show of hospitality and tomorrow it was his turn to display hospitality by slaughtering a goat for lunch.

While the family ate without utensils a fork was provided for me. I later learned that Mrs Nguti on seeing the fork, brought from Musoma asked what it was used for. She thought it incredulous that it was an eating utensil we use.

A lot of skill required to cook in these conditions

Marriage

His mum Ghati is aged 58. Married in 1982 when she was 17, I was told by his father with some pride, that she commanded a bride price of 28 cows. I expressed astonishment at this figure only to be told that her mother’s family received forty cows when she married. However her own daughters received eight cows. The increase in population and consequent reduction in grazing land has changed the marriage economy (my words) as well as the economy generally.

Nine living children were born to her and they were raised as traditional village children but did go to school. In Nguti’s case Gesarya Primary School and he did well enough to proceed to secondary school at Mara River and walked 12 kilometres each way to school. He was the only one to proceed to high school (11/12) and then to university. Apart from a younger brother, himself and his 13yo sister all siblings are married and live away, many in Mwanza and a visit to the village by them is a rare occurrence.

Into an environment of no electricity, water which was fetched a few kilometres by the women and girls and seasonal income Nguti was born. He suffered a skin disease so was unable to participate like his peers in games and activities in his childhood.

Married as Christians, with Nguti Sen having been a full time evangelist in a petecostal church, young Nguti’s life was turned upside down when at eight years of age his father married as a polygamist. He told me he had been selected by the elders to be a cutter (circumciser for young men) and with this responsibility that he was required to take a second wife as part of the custom. The wife was pregnant at the time and the dowry was only three cows. As Nguti descibed it, she “had no value” given her preganancy and so marriage as a 19 year old to a forty plus year old man was seen by her family as a good outcome. He remembers a party to celebrate this marriage with his mother absent from the celebration. The child born from the other man was promptly sent to the bride’s family to be raised.

This (first) second marriage did not last long as she left mainly, says Nguti due to his father’s drinking. His father then decided his next second wife should be a larger woman. She came with baggage having given birth out of wedlock and again the dowry was reduced to six cows. She left in 2013 and like the first polygamous wife, cows were returned to him. It almost seems like these marriages never happened, a bit like Catholics annulling a marriage.

We visited the current second wife, Sophia who lives in a separate compound with the three children born to Nguti Sen. Sophia had a child at 16 years of age and a year later became Nguti Sen’s current second (really fourth) wife. Her children are aged 5, 4 and 1. She is not Kuria but was raised in the Serengeti. I asked her if she would allow her daughters to be circumcised and she responded with an emphatic no. However her husband will have the final say. Apart from her child caring she works the land growing crops. Her husband spends most nights at this residence. She expressed satisfaction with her life, telling me she was happy.