More than church: Where Kenyans, Africans in Dubai pray and bond

It’s a Sunday winter morning towards the end of January in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

On the second floor of a building along Al Murakabat Road in Deira near Abubakar Al Sadique metro station, in an events hall, is The Holy Seed Church led by Apostle Wellington Shitsukane.

From the preparation of instruments before the service starts, he is involved all through, setting up each and every instrumentalist, thanks to his prowess as a guitarist himself since his young age.

He ensures that everything is well set, from testing microphones and mixers for sound to cameras.

Instrumentalists are drawn from different nationalities, including Congolese, Burundians, Ugandans and Nigerians.

This also means that during praise and worship sessions, the songs are sung in different African languages to accommodate the different nationalities that form part of the congregation, though Kenyans are the majority.

At the end of the service, the praise and worship team concluded the service after an offering with a Luganda song. 

The church has plastic seats properly dressed in white and gold with a golden scarf in the middle. You will think it’s a wedding in Kenya, which had a good budget, except for the Pastors and church leaders.

The walls have mounted speakers, fans, studio lights, curtains, and screens, among others, giving the hall a complete church ambience.

Since the rules of the UAE do not allow making noise for the neighbours, the room is soundproofed so that you will not hear the sound from the church while outside the building.

After praise and worship, a leader who preached last the previous Sunday takes over, runs through to the members what he preached on the five benefits of fasting.

When I visited the church on January 18, it was in its third week of 21 days of prayer and fasting, just like many other churches in Kenya do to set a strong foundation for the new year.

He later welcomes Apostle Shitsukane, who first introduces new visitors, who that day numbered about five.

Mostly are Kenyans who have come to Dubai to work, look for jobs or visit their relatives.

The congregation is composed of youthful and young working adults.

After that, he starts preaching on the topic: Types of Blessings with a focus on physical blessings, which resonates well with this year’s church theme of ‘The Year of Establishment.’

“It's God's idea that you may be blessed with wealth, family, and other tangible blessings, and He is the one who blesses people as per Deuteronomy 8:18,” said Apostle Shitsukane.

“God will not give you money directly, but He can use the ability and skills you have to bless you,” he added.

The man of God uses the sermon to challenge the congregants to be established back at home by investing in properties.

He also challenges them on the need to use their skills, apart from their normal daily jobs, to engage in other income-generating activities like dressmaking, and get customers even from the same church.

As he preaches, he interacts with the congregation through asking questions and even some interrupt his preaching often to contribute to it, making the service a lively one and being part of it.

The church, which is now almost eight years old and started in 2017, has one service per week on Sundays only from 10 am to 1 pm, but the hall is booked from morning to 3 pm.

“This is because here, people work long hours during the day and sometimes on shifts that start in the morning hours and end late at night, thus getting them to come to church during weekdays is not possible,” he said.

“Before the service starts, we have an allowance for the congregants to meet and greet each other after a long week. As you can see, the service is over, but they do not want to go home. And also after 1 pm, we have two hours of the same,” he added.

He said it is also at this time that he engages many in counselling and prayer sessions, holds fellowship meetings and does food donations among other church activities as per the programme.

I have to hurry my interview with the apostle because of the booked time of 3 pm.

And as we leave the hall, another group prepares to come in to use it.

According to congregants who talked to The Standard, the Apostle, who is commonly referred to as Papa, is more than just a pastor but a father and mentor to many.

“I started coming to this church in 2022 and I can confess that it has been a journey. I am grateful for my church, having been brought up in a Christian way and when I came here to work as a nanny, which I did for three years and later got connected to this church, where we connect you to God and to one another,” said Wanjiru Jeremy, who is a member of the praise and worship.

And this connection can be confirmed by the church’s motto: ‘Connecting people to God and one another.

Wanjiru, who is a customer service executive in a chain of hotels and comes from Mwea in Kirinyaga County, tells me she sells schemed Pishori rice from her county using social media as a side hustle.

“He is not just a man of God; he is more than that. Personally, he has met with my father and therefore I am in safe hands and I also know I have a spiritual father and someone I can turn to when I have personal issues,” she added.

The church has also given a platform to those who came there with no or half-baked skills, like Wilson Muthui, who is now a church photographer.

“The church has given me support to grow career-wise, even as I support in media ministry. I came here with no skills in photography and videography, but now, when I buy equipment, I come and experiment here and now am a full-time and experienced one doing my job as a food photographer,” said Muthui.

And to take care of the welfare of the members, especially when they have issues that need urgent money while in Dubai or at home, the church has established  Hosudwa welfare group, which is registered in Kenya and whose name is coined from the church’s name.

“We realised that members needed more than spiritual nourishment. We save 50 AED(around Sh1750  after multiplying by 35) per month and support our members with 2,000 AED(Sh70,000) if he or she needs to travel home for a funeral, 500 AED for a wedding or sickness, especially after being admitted and leaving the hospital,” said Chrispin Mang’ong’o, chairman of the welfare.

Apostle Wellington says the church exists for more than spiritual needs but also as a sanctuary for desperate, wounded and rejected souls, sometimes after being dumped there from Kenya and other nations.

“Here, we have all kinds of members; employed and some jobless after being brought by agents only to find there are no such jobs or just came to look for jobs but have not been successful,” he said.

He said others are those whose job contracts ended and do not want to go back home, but look for a job.

"It is now those who are employed, established themselves who are now supporting the needy through dry food donation that is done every Sunday.  After service, we take tea or sometimes cook lunch for all members because that may be the only meal that a needy person will have for the day,” he said.

The cleric, who is not a full-time pastor, has lived in Dubai for 17 years and works as an e-commerce manager in a company.

He came to Dubai in 2008, immediately after the post-election violence, after his life was under threat for allegations of supporting the late Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

This is after one Mike Brawan, now a Bishop and who supported Odinga, would park his vehicle in front of his shop and youths would say he supports him.

“I came here to Dubai just to run for my life. A message had been sent around that I am finished and it was really terrible. I left my shop and a church I had at Kiti Mawanga that had just started,” he recalled.