Monday: The Family

Monday morning we drove back to Tykuyu with Mpeli’s father, James Mwaisumbe. The Mwaisumbe family comes from a village, Mysoka about 30 minutes from Tykuru on a rather challenging road. Actually, part of the road is not for cars only bicycles or walking. Mpeli managed to straddle the path and get us there.

Mpeli’s father’s brother is the head or “father” of the larger family. The best way to describe his position is that of wise man, elder, ruler, decision maker, and the one that you go to bet blessing for marriage or any life decision. He is the mediator and final decision in all disputes. He is called, “father”. Mpeli’s family’s father is 87 years old and James Mwaisumbe’s older brother. He belongs to the “last church”. He professes faith in Jesus Christ and is a member of the “last church.” The Last Church is a native church that allows for various tribal practices such polygamy. Recently, the Last Church no longer allows the consumption of local beer/low grade moonshine. Father had two wives until his first wife died lest than a year ago. His children range in age from close to sixty to middle teens. One of the pictures shows three main buildings with Mpeli’s SUV sitting in the middle of them. The one on the left (facing the picture0 is the second wives home, the one on the right was the first wife’s home, and the middle one is Father’s house. Father and his younger sons asked some great questions about what the Bible said about polygamy. Mpeli quickly turned those questions to me to answer. This was a great opportunity to share biblical teaching and enourage them to be true followers of Jesus and to be true to His Word. As a result of this discussion, Father asked if we would return to teach more about God’s Word and the Gospel for all of the people of the area.

Mpeli and, then, two of the younger sons demonstrated how to beat the family ceremonial drums and some dancing. The large tree picture is a fig tree—that’s right a fig tree. That tree is huge and loaded with figs.

One interesting tradition for the family is that once a boy gets about twelve to fourteen, he builds his own little house to live in. He leaves his mother’s house and builds his own out of bamboo and mud for walls and straw for the roof. Father’s farm had several of these little bandas (houses).

A large tree was cut down on the farm and being cut up into boards. The two pictures try to capture the art of sawing the boards. A hole is dug about six feet deep. One of the men is in the hole and pulls the saw down. The other man stands on top of the log and pulls the saw up. The photos could not capture have precise their sawing was in keeping the width of the board.

We had a great time with the brothers getting together and seeing very traditional tribal life. After we left Mysoka and made some purchases in the town for Father and the family, we headed back to Mbeya to see Jane, Neema’s sister, and her husband. We enjoyed a good hot cup of coffee, laughing, and listening to the stories of their family life. Jane and her husband have two children and also have brought two orphans into the family.