A testimony to William

William Waqo (Photo: CMS)

Bryan and Liz Wadland went with a CMS Praxis group to Kenya at the invitation of the late Bishop William Waqo.   Liz celebrates his commitment and influence.

Eleven of us made up the Praxis Kenya group in September 2006.

The invitation to visit Kenya came from Bishop William Waqo when he was visiting Partnership House in 2005.   He wanted us to understand better the ministry to the pastoralist peoples of northern Kenya, from whence he came.  His passion was for his peoples to hear the good news of Christ’s love for them, and William’s commitment to them cost him his life.

Bishop William was in a military plane in April 2006 with 16 others, including senior government ministers, going to Marsabit, northern Kenya, where there was inter-tribal fighting, precipitated at that time by the drought conditions that the area had been experiencing for over two years.

The plane crashed on a hillside.   Only two survived.  William and the 13 others were burnt to death.

We counted Bishop William and his wife the Rev Naomi as good friends, so even from the first news of his tragic death it seemed important to continue with the visit to the north.   Naomi, too, was keen that the group still went there.

Five months later and the group was in a 13-seater plane heading for Marsabit.

We had a stunning flight, passing Mount Kenya en route, but were very aware that this was what William had been doing too on his last day.

Marsabit town is surrounded by a series of hills.   It is set in a dry landscape, where survival is a constant struggle.

There are four main tribes in the immediate area; the people are competing for water and food for themselves and their animals — cows, goats and camels.

Many cattle had died, hence the stealing and fighting over those that remained.

William was outstanding as a conciliator and reconciler, so the government ministers had asked him to accompany them.

We experienced a wonderful welcome and gracious hospitality from the local people, who were still struggling to understand why God had allowed their bishop to be killed.

This is an area in which the majority of the population is Muslim, and Christians said they were asked why God had ‘killed’ their bishops — William’s predecessor had been killed in a helicopter accident about eight years earlier — not an easy question for anyone to answer.

William was a gifted, visionary Christian, able to rise above tribal allegiance and, because of his own Muslim background, to build bridges between peoples — just the man for such a time, one would have thought.

He left a wife and four children, the youngest being only a month old.

However, spreading the Good News continues, and we were able to visit Komboi, a local manyatta (village), some 25 miles from Marsabit, where the elders had decided only in May 2006 that the village would become Christian.

There are 400 people in the village.  A few weeks later, 200 adults were baptised.

The outreach to Komboi had come from two neighbouring manyatta, which had decided for Christ in the last two years and were now in the business of sharing their new-found faith.

People are keen to learn about their new faith.  They rely on their evangelists, men and women from the tribe, who can teach them.  These are people whom CMS is keen to encourage and support in training, and growth in Christian understanding, and life in these young Christian communities is largely dependent on them.

We met three of these evangelists, all fine young men, enthusiastic in their ministry and mission and looking for training opportunities.  There is no way they can fund this themselves, whether they do Theological Education by Extension (TEE) by distance learning or go away to college, yet these men, and, in due course, women, are key to the development of Christianity among these pastoralist tribes.

They and those in their congregations who have come to faith are already a wonderful testimony to William’s ministry.   We were privileged to see it at first hand.  May God bless its continuance.