Lawrence Darmani, MAI Africa Regional Trainer

The church in Africa has exploded in the last century, increasing the need for literature that can help it address critical issues: discipling believers, battling AIDS, overcoming poverty and stabilizing democracy. Church leaders also need written materials to help bring reconciliation and hope to those suffering from the scars of tribal enmity and other divisions.

Africa is the world's youngest region–children under 15 make up 43% of its people. Publishing leaders are recognizing the need to encourage the next generation to read, and to provide Christian teaching through quality literature.

Since our founding, MAI has provided training and encouragement for Christian publishers in Africa. MAI has provided training in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Here's how we've helped...

• Encouraged the development of writers and editors for Sierra Leone's only locally created Christian magazine, Catalyst.
• Helped foster the creation of Africa Christian Writers Association in Kenya.
• Networked publishing leaders from throughout Africa to discern needs and cooperate on joint projects.
• Trained budding writers in Kenya, Ghana and former Zaire (the Democratic Republic of Congo).
• Provided strategic management consulting to publishers in Kenya, Ethiopia, Benin, Burkina Faso and Tanzania.
• Helped develop children's writers in Nigeria.
• Led editorial and marketing training to publishing staff from seven francophone countries in West Africa.
• Introduced Hutu and Tutsi university students to Christian publishing in Burundi.
• Coordinated the publication of Journeys into Creativity, a book in which African authors describe their writing journeys.
• Provided training for staff at the first bookstore for Africa Christian Press in Ghana.
• Coordinated publishing internships for literature workers from Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire.

Kenya: A Nation in Search of Peace

As Kenya reeled from post-election violence in early 2008, one Christian writer put his pen to work for peace. Samuel Kahura Chege lost his own father in past tribal killings and hopes to help fellow Kenyans reconcile and find lasting peace. The following is an excerpt from his soon-to-be-published book, Let’s Save Our Nation. 

I learned of my father’s cruel death through the media. Five people from my village near Burnt Forest, in Eldoret had been killed on that fateful night in 1993. The scene was horrible. Dad was butchered like a sheep in what was believed to be an ethnic cleansing…

Three months after dad’s burial, the situation had calmed down. I went to the area to see whether there was anything to salvage. Our houses had been razed completely, our livestock stolen, and our crops harvested from our farm!…

As I investigated for three days, I realized those who had stolen our household goods and burned our houses were people known to us...People I had lived with, gone to school with, and worshiped with in the same church for years...

This troubled me for months. Should I avenge? Should I ever have anything to do with people from the tribe that killed my father? This and many other disturbing questions haunted me.

Finally, I learned through the church about the true meaning of sincere forgiveness and reconciliation...Deep from my heart I forgave those who looted our properties, burned down our houses, stole our livestock, as well as those who killed my dad—I didn’t know who specifically...

The next time I visited my rural home in Burnt Forest, I visited some of my neighbours from the community that had killed my father. I started to show them love...Today, we are great friends...The love I developed helped us to reconcile, although it took some time.

To be able to start living in peace as one nation after the recent post-election violence...we must be ready to forgive and pursue reconciliation. This is very hard, "But with God all things are possible."

Hope for Congo

MAI awarded two visionary Congolese pastors as recipients of the David Alexander International Author Fund.

Etienne Mbusa first began dreaming of a new magazine for the people of Congo 20 years ago. Today Etienne and his wife, Kavuo, are beginning to put wings to this vision. Espoir (“Hope” in French) will offer encouragement to readers via articles on reconciliation, human rights and education, and testimonies that speak to broken hearts.

A pastor in the Anglican church of Congo, Etienne has witnessed countless atrocities in this country that still staggers from pain. Congo’s decade-plus-long civil war is the most lethal conflict since World War II, leaving more than five million people dead from violence, and lack of basic food and medicine.

“Our new magazine will focus on God’s will and how to live, forgive each other, forget the past and start a new life in a Christian way,” Etienne says. “There is a real crisis of leadership in Africa today. Most Congolese people have no confidence in their own ability to do anything.” The magazine’s production will itself be a testimony that hope can arise from the ashes of loot, rape, killing and hatred.

Etienne plans to draw on his life experiences of 20 years pastoring and teaching in theological schools, in addition to fathering eight children, now ages 12 to 26. He’s kept careful notes of all his sermons. His wife, Kavuo, will be the magazine’s full-time editor.

Last year, Etienne completed studies at the Oxford Study Center in Oxford, UK, and the couple returned home to Eastern Congo to begin preparing to launch the magazine. They trekked to Kenya last autumn for LittWorld, their first international Christian publishing conference. There they consulted with African and global experts in publishing, and attended workshops on defining vision, writing, editing, marketing and reassessing strategy.

Now back in Congo, a cadre of gifted writers--all local Congolese leaders in churches, universities and ministries—are penning articles for the magazine’s inaugural issue later this year. The magazine will be published twice a year and targets high school graduates who read in French, one of the country’s official languages. Articles may later be translated into Swahili, Lingala, or English, according to needs.

Benjamin Kisoni
Forced to flee to the United States because of death threats at home, Congolese pastor Benjamin Kisoni began writing a book giving a Christian perspective on suffering.  After receiving the Author Fund award in September 2009, Benjamin finished the book manuscript and submitted it to a Christian publisher in French-speaking Africa. 

The book will show “the sovereignty of God and his omnipresence in the midst of tragedies," Benjamin said. “When we are suffering we think God has lost control of the situation. The book will deal with my past 12 years of rejection, sickness, the assassination of my younger brother and threats to kill me.”  With MAI’s encouragement, Benjamin drafted the manuscript with a general readership in mind.

MAI met Benjamin through retired AIM missionary David Langford. In the 1990s, Langford hired Kisoni to work at the Christian Literature Development Centre in Rethy, where Benjamin wrote and published some books but had to leave when war broke out in 1996.  Afterward, Benjamin returned to his hometown, Butembo, where he launched a magazine, Soleil (Sun), for university students.  He has written and published a number of evangelistic tracts.

Presently living with relatives in the U.S., Benjamin is seeking political asylum for himself, his wife and 8 children. After being invited to submit an application for the Alexander Author Fund, Benjamin said, “I am very glad for the opportunity you are offering me. I was desperate that something like this could happen.”