Christianity's Legacy in Africa

“Is Christianity’s Legacy in Africa a positive one?” the April-June issue of BBC focus on Africa asks its readers. Arguing “yes” is Method Kiliani, an ArchBishop based in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Christianity, he argues, “taught the despised, maltreated, enslaved African that in the same God all is possible, with distinction of color or race.” Christianity brought modern education, and Kiliani distinguishes the missionaries from the colonial government, although he admits that to some extent missionaries believed colonization could benefit Africans. Kiliani also mentions social services for the poor, and the church as a “voice for the voiceless.”

Arguing “no” is Laurence Berman, an academic at the University of South Africa in Pretoria. “Proselytising by force was not unknown. Guns and bibles were the apostles of Christian Imperialism,” he writes. In addition to criticizing those who act in the name of Christianity, including George W. Bush’s abstinence-only policy in HIV AIDS foreign aid, he also criticizes christian doctrine itself, including references to passages condemning homosexualit. For those who argue that such passages are open to interpretation, Berman concludes that biblical texts are unambiguous.

In Kenya, according to the CIA World Factbook, about 80% of the population is Christian, although it admits that getting an exact percentage is difficult. Denominations range from Catholic and Anglican to smaller or indigenous denominations, including Power of Jesus around the World Church, Africa Israel Nimeveh Church, and the Africa Independent Church. Most, if not all, of the people I interviewed about colonialism would identify as Christian. Several of the interviews began and ended with prayer. In one interview, I was assigned bible verses. Although there are Muslims in the Kisumu area, Christianity dominates in the village that I’ve focused on.

According to Orongo village resident Henry Olum, Luos (prior to Christianity) believed in physical things; the sun, moon, mountains. God was behind such features, as the creator. There was also a father/son conception of God: Were, the father. Obong’o, the son.

I asked people how Christianity got introduced to the villages. With slight variation in the responses, a clearer picture emerges. The missionaries converted a few locals or elders- and they were responsible for introducing Christianity to the greater community. How the missionaries converted those few locals, I’m not entirely sure. There may have been force in some instances (likely), but not reported to me by those I’ve interviewed. More than one attributed the cessation of inter-clan fighting to the activities of missionaries: “in times of violence, they preached about peace.”

A few recalled the missionaries giving out foodstuffs and sweets to attract people. Enticement? Perhaps this was a strategy of the missionaries, but think twice before making the conclusion that Africans dumped their indigenous system of religion for some goodies. Making this conclusion is questionable at best, patronizing at worst. People have a diversity of reasons for changing their religion; Africans are no exception.

This subject reminds me of the portrayal of missionary influence in
Chinua Achebe’s Things FallApart, which takes place in Nigeria on the eve of colonization. There is Mr. Brown, the benevolent missionary who uses a strategy of dialogue and engagement, rather than violence. He does not demand that converts reject all of their indigenous values. He gains the trust of the village leaders, even though the village leaders reject Christianity. Unfortunately, Reverend Smith replaces him in the village. Mr. Smith is the opposite of Mr. Brown; he incites divisions and violence within the community, degrades the local culture as a typical colonist. He colludes with the new colonial administration to arrest and punish those he sees as a threat.

As the characters of Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith demonstrate, Christianity’s influence on Africa has more than one face. Whether or not Christianity (if one distinguishes Christianity from colonialism) has had a negative or positive influence on Africa is not really for me to answer. I’ll leave that to Africans.

Whites Only

In my effort to document the British colonial experience in Kenya, most of my interviews have been with rural dwellers. Their interviews reveal the system of indirect rule that the British used. Policies- including some forms of forced labor- were carried out through local leaders, but direct contact with British settlers was limited (in the area of Kenya I am staying). Thus, I began to develop a picture of 20th century colonialism- at least before independence movements occurred- as a dehumanizing but often distant force.

And then I interviewed Mr. And Mrs. Menya.

I have known the Menyas for some time now. They live in one of the wealthier parts of Kisumu town, in contrast to the mud houses and village setting I have become used to. They are also one of the few interviews I don’t need a translator for; perfectly fluent in English, they have even traveld to the U.S to visit their children. Although Kisumu is their ancestral home, they spent many years in Mombasa- on the opposite side of the country, and culturally different. Mr. Menya worked for the Kenya pipeline, Mrs. Menya for Barclays Bank. Mrs. Menya grew up in Mombasa, while her husband spent his childhood between his village and Nairobi.

Nairobi, Mr. Menya tells me, Africans were not allowed to drink beer at local cafes. They were also not allowed to wear shoes with socks, and if you interacted with a white, you had to wear a tie. Buses were segregated. As a child, he once climbed a tree nursed by the colonial municipality- and once caught, he was caned; “I started hating trees.” During the time of the Mau Mau- or independence war, the white- only areas of Nairobi were surrounded in barbed wire. Mrs. Menya’s experience in Mombasa was similar. Africans had been brought to Mombasa to work on the railway or quarries. If an African entered the whites only area of Tudor, he or she would be caned, maybe even sent back home to the village. If they were caught eating mangos on white farms- also risked being “deported.”

And here we are, black and white, sitting together and talking, taking tea the Kenyan way- with milk and lots of sugar. We talk about Kenyan politics, about how Americans cheat you when naming their foods; there is no buffalo in buffalo wings, no dog meat in hot dogs. Mrs. Menya told me, at one point, that she was disappointed I had a boyfriend. She wanted me to marry her son.

I read somewhere that Kenyans have an enormous capacity to forgive. Given the brutal history of their occupation and all the grievances that could be brought to the table, it is something to admired