The foundation of everything described in this document is a personal relationship. Joseph — our host in Tanzania and the proposed chairperson of Words of God Ministry — has been known to John Rees-Evans since March 2000, a friendship of twenty-six years that predates John's marriage and long outlasted it.
A few years ago, Joseph committed his life to Christian faith and, with it, to a vocation of missionary and humanitarian service among some of the most marginalised communities in Tanzania. He pursues this work daily, without remuneration, giving the majority of his available time to it. The proposed vehicle for this work is a national NGO — Words of God Ministry — with three signatories: Joseph as chairperson, his wife Rebecca as a co-signatory, and John's daughter Arien as the third. Rebecca and Arien participate by virtue of their residency in Tanzania as dependants, and hold no decision-making authority beyond what the governing documents require for registration. It is from this foundation — of trust earned over decades, a shared moral conviction, and a structure kept deliberately close to those whose commitment is beyond question — that the proposed collaboration arises.
John's son Bran has grown up knowing this relationship. Together, John and Bran wish to support Joseph's mission from the outside: not to direct it, not to profit from it, but to strengthen its reach, its communications, and its capacity to invite others into it.
Joseph has identified two communities who face challenges — pastoral, practical, and physical — that are, in his view, particularly urgent. His vision is to offer both spiritual grounding and tangible assistance, in partnership with those communities on their own terms.
In the Natron region, Maasai women are giving birth without access to sanitation or any clinical facility. Infant mortality rates are unacceptably high. The need for even the most basic maternal health infrastructure is acute.
The Hadzabe are one of the last hunter-gatherer peoples. Encroachment by agriculturalists has driven game towards the national parks, leaving them dependent on low-nutrition sources. Forced proximity with other communities has exposed them to HIV at alarming rates.
With regard to the Hadzabe in particular, it is worth noting that their traditional way of life — when left undisturbed — sustained them well. The difficulties they face today are largely a product of external pressures, not internal failure. The approach Joseph envisions respects this: it does not seek to remake them, but to stand alongside them as they navigate a world that has been changed around them.
The Christian message of one man, one wife is understood not merely as doctrine but as a practical shield — a means of limiting disease transmission in a community now exposed to outside populations in ways their traditions never anticipated.
Following today's consultation with Baraka, and informed by the experience of Marafiki Tanzania — a registered national NGO with an established track record of humanitarian and community work in Arusha, Manyara, and Tanga regions — we have agreed a three-phase approach that addresses the immediate, medium-term, and long-term objectives simultaneously. The phases can run largely in parallel.
A note on structure: our original preference was for a sole-trustee registered trust. Counsel has confirmed that the NGO registration route is more appropriate and more administratively robust for our purposes, and that it confers the authority to formally invite foreign volunteers — which a trust with a single individual trustee cannot reliably do. Tanzanian NGO registration requires a minimum of three signatories holding recognised officer roles (chairperson, treasurer, secretary).
Our concern about expanding membership — the risk that formal roles create expectations of financial opportunity — remains valid. The solution is to limit the three signatories to people whose loyalty and disinterestedness we have tested over many years, and to structure the governing documents so that operational decisions remain clearly with Joseph. Marafiki Tanzania has experience of achieving precisely this through careful document drafting, and has offered to advise.
Bran is currently in Tanzania on a tourist visa and is already safe to remain until approximately the first week of September — no immediate action is required on that front. However, a formal volunteer invitation from Marafiki Tanzania will extend his lawful presence significantly beyond September, on the basis that he will be undertaking documented non-profit volunteer work that falls squarely within Marafiki's registered objectives. This removes the September cliff-edge and gives him a stable, legitimate status while Words of God Ministry completes its own registration.
Marafiki Tanzania (Registration No. ooNGO/R/5979, registered 30 October 2023 under the NGOs Act, Arusha) is a national NGO whose mandate covers Tanzania Mainland. Its stated thematic areas and the work Bran would be doing align across multiple dimensions:
Marafiki has already demonstrated the practice of issuing such invitations: a Danish volunteer (Charlotte) was formally invited to participate in outreach activities under exactly this mechanism. The invitation to Bran would name his specific activities — field photography, graphic communications, and visual documentation of community work in the Manyara region — and would be issued without delay. No new registration is required; Marafiki's existing mandate is sufficient.
We will register Words of God Ministry (wordsofgodministry.org) as a national NGO under Tanzanian law. The three signatories will be drawn exclusively from people resident in Tanzania whose commitment to the mission is beyond question:
All three are resident in Tanzania. None has any financial interest in the organisation's activities. The governing documents will be drafted — with Marafiki Tanzania's guidance — to ensure that formal office-holding does not confer any power to redirect resources, commit funds, or alter the mission without Joseph's agreement. Baraka will advise on the precise mechanism.
Fallback position: if residency alone does not satisfy the registration authority, two trusted members of the Hadzabe community — known to John personally for over twenty years — would be considered. Marafiki Tanzania has experience of supporting Hadzabe individuals through the NIDA registration process required to hold such a position.
Once Words of God Ministry is registered, it will have the formal authority to invite foreign volunteers and to support permit applications. Both John and Bran require the freedom to travel abroad frequently — John between Tanzania and South Africa, Bran for his wider career development. Baraka has confirmed that Class C permits are valid for three months only, which is incompatible with this pattern of presence. Both will therefore apply for Class D permits, valid for two years, issued on the basis of their unpaid voluntary roles within the registered NGO.
John will need his dependants to accompany him. His wife, Christofina, has a particular interest in the wellbeing of young girls and women — she grew up in a village in Namibia and brings both personal understanding and practical commitment to this work. She intends to contribute to the distribution of sanitary pads and to the guidance and mentoring of young girls in the communities served by the NGO. Christofina is also adept in fashion, presentation, and self-expression, and will work with girls on confidence-building — giving them a sense of dignity and identity that is easily overlooked in purely clinical or material forms of support.
Once the NGO is established, it will also have the standing to invite other volunteers — from the UK, the USA, or elsewhere — for shorter periods without those individuals needing to apply for resident permits. A tourist visa entry is sufficient for short-term volunteer visits when a properly registered organisation is the inviting body.
Lifelong resident of Tanzania. The originator of the vision and its daily executor. No remuneration.
Web development, communications, and international supporter outreach. Developer of The Church of England Continuing (cofec.org), The Gospel Magazine — the oldest continuously published Christian periodical in the English-speaking world (gospelmagazine.org.uk) — and Christ Church Cathedral Arusha (christchurcharusha.org), among others. No remuneration.
Raised in a village in Namibia, Christofina brings personal experience and deep practical commitment to the wellbeing of young women and girls. She will assist with sanitary pad distribution, and provide mentoring, confidence-building, and guidance in fashion and self-expression — giving girls a sense of dignity and identity that material support alone cannot provide. No remuneration.
Graphic design, visual presentation, field photography, and social media. Translating the NGO's work into compelling visual communications for overseas supporters. No remuneration.
Work is already underway — two significant achievements are already in place on the ground. The administrative phases below now run in parallel rather than in sequence.
This mission is not merely proposed — it is already active. Two significant achievements precede the formal registration:
These are not plans. They are precedents — evidence that this network is capable of identifying needs, raising funds transparently, and delivering results on the ground. The NGO is the formal vehicle that will allow this work to continue and grow with the full approval and support of the Tanzanian state.
John and Bran's primary contribution will be to ensure that the work of the trust is documented and communicated clearly to people in the United Kingdom and the United States who may wish to support it. The intended platform will allow potential supporters to:
This digital work — building and maintaining the trust's web presence, drafting communications, and responding to enquiries from overseas supporters — is precisely what John and Bran would be doing as unpaid volunteers. It requires presence in Tanzania to do properly: to make accurate field visits, to photograph and document with integrity, and to maintain the relational connection with Joseph that ensures communications are truthful.