When a cholera outbreak forced a change of plan, MAF worked with a local church to bring bundles of clothes and the good news to three villages
A group of men from an isolated community in Tanzania were baptised with water from an MAF plane as part of a successful outreach from a visiting pastor.
Rev Peter W Fumbi landed in the community of Mahaka with MAF pilot Mark Liprini and he immediately got chatting to members of the Sukuma tribe who had approached the plane.
Peter started preaching to them, explaining how God can be reached through Jesus our saviour and that we are not reaching God through our ancestors – we are worshipping and reaching God because we have the one way who is Jesus Christ. They had a chance to ask questions, which Peter answered. By the end of the meeting, they were happy to be baptised.
“We had no water, but I asked the pilot. He had some water in the plane,” Peter said.
MAF pilot Mark was happy to help with the improvised ceremony.
“Baptism in the bush is quite an easy business,” Mark said.
“You grab a bottle of drinking water that you have on the aircraft as the guys just kneel down and then he [the pastor] just sprinkles them with the water and he baptises them.
“So that was quite a novel way of doing it.”
We had no water, but I asked the pilot. He had some water in the plane.
It was a life-changing impact from a flight that nearly didn’t happen. A cholera outbreak meant that the regular Kilimatinde safari could not bring its full medical and evangelistic team to visit Mahaka from Dodoma as planned.
Knowing how dangerous cholera can be when left untreated, the MAF team in Tanzania prepared the aircraft with protective equipment and a stretcher in case a medevac need arose in Mahaka.
In collaboration with the Kilimatinde Hospital Coordinator, it was agreed that the medical clinic would not take place in Mahaka, but by the time the MAF plane reached Dodoma, they were informed that the outbreak has been contained and appeared to be subsiding, so the risk of contamination was significantly decreased.
While the medical safari did not take place, the evangelistic outreach was still possible in the village.
A church in Dodoma had collected 30-40kg of clothes for the three villages of Chidudu, Mahaka and Dabia which the two pastors in the evangelistic team were able to pick up and distribute due to the extra capacity in the aircraft.
It was during this trip that the encounter happened with 13 local men who gave their lives to Jesus.
We thank God because it was a very, very God chance meeting with them. It was like God brought them [to] speak to these people and baptise them
Peter said one of the men wanted to be baptised with the name of MAF’s pilot because he believed that if Christians are good in this way, he wanted to have that love of the pilot. He saw the love of someone leaving his country and spending time to come and find them in these villages – he wanted to be like this. He wanted to be the love that Jesus embodied.
“We are believing that through this love, more people will come to the kingdom of God,” Peter said.
“You have been a blessing for us. Those who are supporting MAF are doing a very, very big job.”