One day my pick-up truck broke down on the road from Maswa to Bariadi in
Western Tanzania. After I had waited for half an hour, a big Coca-Cola truck
came by and the driver, named Musa, kindly towed my vehicle to the next town.
This was a not-uncommon occurrence of friendship and mutual help on our poor
dirt roads.

   
While we drove into town I sat in his big cab and we talked about, of all
things, religion. Musa was a Muslim who belonged to the Nyamwezi ethnic group.

   
In commenting on the tensions between Christians and Muslims in Tanzania, he
said, “There is only one God. God is like a large Baobab tree with different
branches that represent the different religions of Islam, Christianity, African
religion, and so forth. These branches are part of the same family of God – so
we should work together.”

   
Simply put, Musa taught me a wonderful African metaphor for world religions and
interreligious dialogue.