Salt Lake Tribune
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| LDS Church Swahili Branch First Counselor Andrew Zillale, left, and Branch President Amram Musungu laugh during a leadership meeting of the LDS Church's Swahili branch in Salt Lake City. The Swahili Branch was recently formed and has approximately 100 members. Photo: Jim Urquhart/The Salt Lake Tribune |
There will be an African choir, soccer on the lawn, a clean-up service project, and a hefty plate of ugali, a cornmeal dish that is a staple starch in East Africa. Those who choose may also join a downtown march supporting the "Invisible Children" of Uganda, who are being kidnapped by Joseph Kony's rebel army in that country's northern quadrant.
Managing worship and social activities for his diverse but needy branch is almost a full-time job for Kenyan Amram Musungu, branch president.
The branch, which was organized in January, has 73 members on the rolls, but average attendance is more than 100. Most of the leaders are returned LDS missionaries who are fluent in English and have good jobs, while 95 percent of the members are refugees from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and the Congo. Services are in Swahili, with at least one Sunday school class in English.
"These people love the gospel," Musungu says. "And they want to express their faith in their own language. There's more excitement in their expressions."
Communicating in their own language helps them understand Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teachings they may have missed, says Tom Odera, the Sunday School president from Kenya.
Welfare needs are huge, Musungu says.
Many branch members can work at Deseret Industries for a year, but must strike out on their own after that. Unfortunately, few have the necessary English skills to find other jobs. Even if they can speak fluently, their backgrounds may be in plumbing, carpentry, or fishing, professions not in much demand during Utah's economic downturn.
"We try to find people who will employ them," says Emmanuel De'mzee, the branch's Elders Quorum president. "Many of them have huge families. We help them make enough to pay their bills."
The branch's biggest problem is transportation.
Members live from one end of the valley to the other, and few have cars, so the branch leaders spend the morning ferrying people to and from the Sugar House ward building at 1450 S. 800 East.
Despite the challenges, Musungu is encouraged by the branch's unity.
"When we come to church, we can't tell a Hutu from a Tutsi, a Kenyan from a Tanzanian," he says. "We are all one big family."
Even food differences are not divisive.
"Everyone likes ice cream," Odera says, "and pizza."