J e s u s : The Only Way to God
Warrasa Wanga, from the town ofDilla on the edge of Gedeo tribal land, prayed to Magano to reveal himself to the Gedeo people. Then Warrasa Wanga had a vision: Two whiteskinned strangers came and built flimsy shelters for themselves under the shade of a sycamore tree near Dilla. Later they built more permanent shiny-roofed structures which eventually dotted an entire hillside. Warrasa had never seen anything like these structures, since all of the Gedeo dwellings were grass-roofed. Then Warrasa heard a voice say, "These men will bring you a message from Magano, the God you seek. Wait for them." In the last scene of his vision, Warrasa saw himself remove the center pole from his own house, carry it out of the town, and set it in the ground next to one of the shiny-roofed dwellings of the men. In Gedeo symbolism, the center pole of a mans house stands for his very life. Eight years later, in December, 1948, two Canadian missionaries, Albert Brant and Glen Cain, came to Ethiopia to begin a work among the Gedeo people. They intended to ask permission from Ethiopian officials to place their new mission in the center of the Gedeo region, but they were advised by other Ethiopians that their request would be refused due to the current political climate. The advisors told them to ask permission only to go as far as Dilla, on the extreme edge of Gedeo tribal land. Permission was granted, and when they reached Dilla, the missionaries set up their tents under an old sycamore tree. 88