Death by Python

the python sheds

          It is not uncommon, in the present humanitarian trend, to hear comments such as, “Why don’t you leave the Africans alone?  They are happy the way they are!”  Hmmm.  Yes, the Tanzanians are in general some of the “happiest” and friendliest people I have met, hospitable and welcoming.  However, they are also steeped in traditions and superstitions that keep them constantly fearful.

Last week the kids heard that there was a python in a neighboring village that had eaten a goat and a chicken, so (naturally!) they all went to check it out.  It was a friends’ neighbor’s goat.  On the way there, as the terrain was looking familiar, they asked if it was at the witch doctor’s house.  “Oh, no, no.”  And then they were led...

…..to the witch doctor’s house.

at the witch doctor's house

 (I cannot tell you how often these things happen—thinking one thing and happening upon quite another).  Since they were there, they asked to see the python.  The witch doctor was gone at the moment but the relatives said, “It is not a SNAKE, it is a RELATIVE.  It is an ancestor that has come to visit and we feed it milk and flour and we just gave it a goat and a chicken.”  They weren’t sure about letting anybody see it, though, as it might be “cranky, or happy, it’s hard to tell.”  They also made sure to let them know that if anyone killed the snake, the witch doctor herself (yes, it is a woman) would die.  She was very convinced of this, which is partly why she was taking such good care of it.

Not being a big fan of all of our children visiting the local witch doctor, I was happy to have them home.  While we would never purposefully take them there, it was also a stark reality for them of the power of Satan in people’s lives.  Is it freeing to be feeding a snake milk and flour every day when most CHILDREN in our village don’t have milk because it is too expensive?  How about a GOAT and a CHICKEN in a year with no harvest and prices going through the roof?  Does some humanitarian want to call that freedom?  Can we really believe that there is hope for Africa in condom distribution and free money meant for water and roads that never makes it to its designated project?  Can corruption and bribery be changed without a change of heart?  And if we want to see a change of heart, can we teach others to look out for their neighbor apart from following God’s higher laws of justice and love?

Is there hope for Africa apart from Jesus Christ?  Hope for any of us without Him?

A while back I asked some of our staff guys about local midwives.  I was wondering who they were in our village and if the women called them or tried to make it to the little clinic to deliver.  They said that there were some midwives, but usually the women wouldn’t call them, they would call a relative instead.  “Why?  Don’t those women know a lot about delivering babies?”  For some reason they thought that was funny.  I still didn’t know why.  “Becky, they might be a wizard or something (that is what they call a witch doctor who is ‘undercover’—and they suspect many older people of being so).”  “Well, what if they are?  What would they do delivering a baby?”  They thought that was a weird question. “They would kill the baby after they deliver it.  Becky, don’t you know about wizards?  They always just want to kill.”  Well, no, I don’t know very much about witch doctors and wizards.  But I know enough now to know that when Jesus said that Satan came to steal and kill and destroy
(Jn. 10:10), he wasn’t understating the intent. 

The witch doctor with the python guest has attended the church near her ("and mom, she even took community," says Lauren.  Evidently that doesn’t seem to be a problem to her—going to church and also being a witch doctor.  That is the confusion of dualism—Christians who still go to the witch doctor when they are desperate for an answer, power.  That is a challenge to our fellow brothers and sisters here, an often-preached message of resisting the temptation to run to something other than the Lord with our problems.  Pray for our local body of believers!  Pray that they will stay strong and not give in to superstitions!  Pray that they will see the power of Jesus to overcome the Evil One.

  

No more slaughtering a chicken to pour its blood out around the boundary of the yard, keeping the curses out.  No more searching for someone other than the midwife, just in case she really is a wizard.  No more running to the witch doctor to be healed because God isn’t listening.  

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full!”
 (Jn. 10:10)

Hannah's python has a bat snack.
Don't worry, it doesn't get to hang around the house for too much longer!