Not so many people know that art can be useful for God’s service - to reach out. Most contemporary missionaries ignore, or are totally clueless on how to reach out, particularly the disabled persons with the wholistic message.

Neema Crafts Centre for people with disabilities in Iringa, Tanzania, stands out.  It is one place where the deaf make a bold statement, “we too, are able; disability is not inability.” It doubles as a tourist one stop shop for curio and textile art, and a café, where customers are treated to delicacies made and served by deaf students.

Susie Hart - the founder and CMS mission partner based in Ruaha Anglican Diocese in Iringa, smiles as she rekindles the past, “We started in 2003 with three young deaf people from Iringa School for the deaf, with a small budget of about 400 pounds. We made small hand crafts using recycled paper made of elephant dung.” She says.

In 1992, Susie like any other 18-year-old then, wasn’t sure art could yield anything for God’s glory, leave alone be used to help raise funds and earn the disabled a dignified place far from the scorn and ridicule of normal society.

“I became a Christian in my late teens, and that changed my life – I wanted to help people as a textile artist dealing in hand crafts and applied arts, but I didn’t know how to, till I attended a CMS London Youth Camp in 1992 where I met a Ugandan friend who invited me for a different conference in Kampala the following year.” She narrates.

In Uganda, God called Susie to serve in East Africa; yet Neema Centre was nowhere in mind.  She enrolled for Textile Art and Sculpture course at Makerere University, Kampala in 1995 and later worked with L’arche, Uganda - where she came in contact with mentally disabled persons for the first time.

Armed with more skill, she quickly set up a workshop in Kampala,  the Ugandan Capital using the dreaded water hyacinth from Lake Victoria, as raw material for making candles and other crafts.

When Susie finally left Uganda for UK, got married to her friend Andrew Hart, and relocated to Tanzania as CMS mission partners; little did she know that many lives had changed through her ministry; God had proved that ‘art’ was mission.

Her story inspires many to visit the wonderful place she mentions; particularly to sit and enjoy a quiet evening meal at the café in Iringa while interacting with the unique chefs, waiters and waitresses using sign language. She says for one to order a meal, “make a written order, and place it on the table, and your choice meal is right there.”

As CMS Africa formally enters Tanzania, Susie believes doors are open for integration of Neema Crafts into Business as Mission and Samaritan Strategy.

Her strong view is that such home-grown mission ideas can redeem Africa from the beggar syndrome that cripples missionary activity

Her thoughts are well summarised by CMS Africa’s Regional Advisor for East Africa Serah Wambua. On returning from a recent trip to the country, she concluded that the church in Tanzania is ripe for wholistic mission saying, “Tanzania is quite poor as a nation but seems to be making steady progress.

The church seems to be searching for approaches that work. It seems many Christian agencies are there for the usual Christian ministries that are likely to fail and impoverish the country further, unless the real issues are addressed particularly the African worldview/biblical worldview.”

This article featured in our End of 2009 Newsletter

Read more about Neema Crafts Centre on http://www.neemacrafts.com/