Mgeni, Elikunda (1923–2018)

Elikunda Mgeni was a literature evangelist and pioneer of the Adventist work in the city of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Early Life

Elikunda Mgeni was born August 11, 1923, at Kirangare, Same, Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania. He grew up in a dark, heathen environment. His parents and all the members of his family were not only pagans, but his father was a village traditional healer. People came to him for treatments daily, and at times whole nights were spent in dancing with drums around the sick. Sometimes those who were demon possessed were among the ones who were brought during these night sessions. This was the kind of environment in which Elikunda Mgeni grew up.¹

Education and Marriage

Elikunda Mgeni was born ten years after the first Seventh-day Adventist missionaries arrived in Tanzania. Among the most well-known villages in Tanzania where these missionaries were readily accepted was Kirangare. As Elikunda grew up, the church was also growing, and the Seventh-day Adventist primary school was established at Kirangare at the same time. It was at this school that Elikunda was educated until he finished Standard 4.

While attending school at Kirangare Primary School his eyes were opened to Christianity, and as a young man he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour and was baptized and became a Seventh-day Adventist. Though he was the only member of his family who had become an Adventist, he found a lot of happiness in the church. Lots of activities in the church, including Bible studies and weekly youth fellowships, filled him with joy which he could not find at home.

It was at this time that he met Rehemaeli Yonaza, a powerful young Adventist woman, raised in a Seventh-day Adventist home. At the end of 1947 Elikunda and Rehemaeli were happily united in marriage and remained married for 64 years, until May 4, 2011, when Rehemaeli was laid to rest to await the beautiful morning of the resurrection. During their happy marriage they were blessed with nine children, three boys and six girls.²

Career/Ministry

Graduating from the Adventist school in Kirangare in those days was like graduating from a seminary. Elikunda was full of enthusiasm and zeal for God, and he was ready to serve God in whatever capacity God would call him. He was ready to go anywhere and to do anything for God. Less than two years after he married, he accepted the call to became a literature evangelist. Elikunda was so successful that within two years he was a credentialed literature evangelist, the position he continuously maintained until his official retirement in 1993.

In 1955 when Pastor Phares Muganda was head of Publishing Department of the Tanzania Union Mission, a man with a big vision to evangelize the cities of Tanzania, he mobilized young successful literature evangelists to go to the cities as missionaries. Elikunda Mgeni responded, and together with his friend Elibariki Misheto, another fiery young literature evangelist from Kirangare, went to Dar es Salaam in 1955.

Responding to the call to become a missionary in Dar es Salaam in those days was like responding to a call to go to Nineveh in the days of Jonah. But he left everything and went. That marked a great beginning of an explosive evangelistic success in the city. A series of reaping evangelistic crusades were then conducted by great evangelists such as E. E. Cleveland and Phares Muganda. As of 2019, Dar es Salaam has more than 45,000 active members and more than 120 organized congregations in the city.

In 1964 Elikunda Mgeni accepted a call to become a colporteur missionary in Moshi, Kilimanjaro. Within ten years after his arrival, Moshi was an entirely different place. Today there are many Adventist churches in the city and the surrounding districts, including Uru, Marangu, and TPC, just because one man was willing to go.³

Later Life

Even after his retirement Elikunda never stopped doing literature evangelism. Every day he was busy visiting homes with books and truth-filled magazines. Other times one would find him in bus stations with literature, talking to people and communicating the good news. As long as he had the strength and energy to go, he continued to share the good news. He kept sharing the good news in that way for more than 20 years after his retirement.

Elikunda peacefully passed away at the age of 95 on October 27, 2018, after a short illness.⁴ He was laid to rest in Mbezi Luis, Dar es Salaam.

Notes

1. David Elikunda Mgeni, the son to the late Elikunda Mgeni, phone interview by author, April 8, 2019.↩

2. Dr. Justin Bariki Mnandi, uncle to the late Elikunda Mgeni, and David Elikunda Mgeni, phone interview by author, April 3, 2019.↩

3. Pastor Mbonea Rubeni, a retired publishing director of North-East Tanzania Conference, Dr Justin Mnandi, uncle to Elikunda Mgeni, his son Benda Elikunda Mgeni living in Dar es Salam, phone interview by author, April 6, 2019,↩

4. Pastor Mbonea Rubeni, interview by author, April 8, 2019; David Elikunda Mgeni, phone interview by author, April 2, 2019.↩