The leader of a Tanzanian Christian ministry was brutally hacked and gunned down in front of his wife and family in their home early this month by a gang of armed men.
Arriving about 8:15 the evening of Jan. 6, eight men armed with knives, pangas and at least one gun forced their way into the home of Gaetan and Evelyn Zimulinda on the outskirts of Dar Es Salaam. “He’s the one,” one of them said, pointing at Gaetan. Immediately the men began throwing stones at him, and then attacked him with knives and began chopping at him with pangas in front of his horrified family.
“Look the other way,” one of the men shouted at his wife as several men kicked and beat her on the back. “Shoot him. He’s not dying fast enough,” she heard a voice cry from another room.
Shots were fired.
According to his wife, “In the name of Jesus,” were his last words.
None of the Zimulinda children present were physically harmed. The oldest of the four, David, is studying at a college in Kansas.
“From what we know, Zimulinda had a good relationship with most everyone, including Americans who came to minister,” said Lance Thollander, director of the Overseas Division of Christian Aid, which forwarded help to Zimulinda from supporters in America.
The Zimulinda home is located in an area of intense spirit worship.
Zimulinda also ministered to several ethnic people groups, including Congolese and Rwandans. But neither of these factors was thought to be sufficient to prompt such a horrendous attack, according to Thollander.
One theme running through Zimulinda’s correspondence since 1998 is the activity of Islamic fundamentalists. He said they had broken into a Roman Catholic Church and stolen property worth more than $4,000 in 1998 and burned two other church buildings. In a letter last June he told how the Islamic fundamentalist party was campaigning on a program to impose Islamic sharia law on the country.
Evelyn Zimulinda narrowly escaped harm when a bus she was riding in arrived in front of the U.S. embassy just one minute after the terrorist bombing in 1998. She was coming to greet an American friend, who was found safe at the YWCA hostel.
Besides preaching the gospel, Calvary Cross Christian Centre provides vocational training in sewing and typing for women and seeks help for orphans. A young child named Michael was run over by a train cutting off both legs and his left arm in 1996. Gaetan informed Christian Aid, and donors gave funds to provide surgery, prostheses and a tricycle for the boy.
Evelyn Zimulinda, also a gifted speaker, plans to continue the ministry. For more information, visit the Web site www.christianaid.org. (Christian Aid)
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