The Nyamwezi of Tanzania
Location and Background: The Nyamwezi tribe (“people of the moon”) is the second largest in Tanzania, living principally south of Lake Victoria in west-central Tanzania. About 30% of Nyamwezi live and work outside of their 35,000 miles of land, in Tanzania’s commercial and agricultural centers.
History: It is believed the Nyamwezi and their related tribe the Sukuma arrived in their present location in the 16th c. Before Europeans arrived, they had an empire consisting of four clans, each descended from one ancestor. Their ancient king, Mirambo, was known to be a brilliant military leader. They were traders, and by 1800 they were involved in trade of copper, wax, ivory, and slaves with Arabs at the coast. Elephant hunting was a prestigious occupation due to the wealth from ivory trade. They also acquired guns and were often involved in intra-tribal wars, and conflicts with the Arabs.
Culture: The nuclear family lives together, and villages are not necessarily based on kinship relationships. Ideally every adult should be married. Various rituals are held for marriage and naming babies, and Westernization has had much influence on how the Nyamwezi function. Children go to the government schools. They are agriculturalists and pastoralists. Goats and sheep are used for sacrifices, and for their meat and skins. Their land is dry woodland, with scarce water, so it is not prime agricultural land. Men work the land, women care for the home.
Religion: The Nyamwezi embrace African Traditional beliefs, Islam and Christianity. They have much respect for their ancestors (the living dead), to whom they offer sacrifices and rely on for their benevolence. Most claim to be Muslims and follow the five pillars of Islam, but in reality they live by their animistic worldview, believing in a creator God, the spirit world, and the importance of using witchdoctors and other diviners to communicate with the spirits. It is reported there are 80,000 Nyamwezi in the Moravian church. The AIC-T has planted a hundred churches in the area but the majority of attenders could be Sukuma, not Nyamwezi. Some say up to 15% of Nyamwezi could be Christian, most of those are Catholic or nominal Christian.
Learn more about the Nyamwezi at Joshua Project or about Tanzania at Operation World.
Bible Students in the Harvest Field!
Nyamwezi of Tanzania: Praise God for 20 Bible college students who joined together in June for an outreach during their weekend. On Friday night they traveled out to the village by car and by bicycle to the outskirts of Tabora and committed the weekend to the Lord in prayer. On Saturday mooning, they divided into five groups and visited homes both in the town center and also homesteads on the farmland surrounding the village. At one household, all 21 people living there decided to lay down their burdens and receive Christ as their Savior! Praise the Lord!! There was more joy in celebrating later that day as 16 others also received the gift of everlasting life in placing their faith in Jesus. On Saturday afternoon, they invited the new believers to fellowship at the church and in the evening, the students showed a film on daily discipleship called “Kutembea na Yesu” (Walking with Jesus), then they led the church service on Sunday morning. Three of the new believers decided to come to the Sunday service. Please pray for the 37 new beliers that they would live out their lives in obedience to God’s Word and would join in fellowship and teaching through the local church. The local evangelist who lives next to the church will follow up visiting these new Christians. Pray for growth in their new faith.
Closed Fists
Nyamwezi of Tanzania: Pray for a new church plant now led by a trained local evangelists. So far, those attending are mostly women and children who openly praise God with outstretched hands. Pray that the Gospel message will also be received by their husbands and fathers who with closed fists hold onto their traditional religious beliefs. Pray that these men’s hearts would be ready to hear the Word preached, to completely surrender their lives to God, and open their hands to receive the gift of salvation.
