Andrew Miller is the International Director for DMI. When he’s not eating corn chips in Sydney, he’s travelling around the world raising funds and DMI’s profile in developed countries or visiting the fields we support to see what’s needed and how our funds are being managed. Either way, he works tirelessly to avoid unidentifiable food and meets lots of weird and wonderful people who he just can’t resist interviewing…

#8 Daniel

Daniel Njihia is probably the longest serving minister in DMI’s global family, having pastored the Deaf for 45 years, the last 40 of those with DMI in one of its evolving manifestations. Founding ministries and training Deaf leaders across East Africa, he is truly a legend in the field, a hero of the faith. I’m privileged to catch up with him in his home in Nairobi.

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Andrew: You have been one of the most influential people in DMI’s fields, yet few people outside Africa know you or what you have done. Can you tell us the roles you have had with DMI and some of your greatest achievements?

Daniel: I founded the Immanuel Church of the Deaf (ICD) in 1982 in Nairobi. We continued until Neville came to Africa in 1992. I had been appointed the Kenya Director by that time. When Neville came, we decided to support Josephat through Bible School and when he graduated, he took over from me and I moved to Dar es Salem in Tanzania and started a church for the Deaf there (Immanuel Church of the Deaf Tanzania). That was a time of great growth. We started a Bible translation group, and I was planting more churches across Tanzania. We started looking for land so we could build our own church and eventually built it in Dar es Salem.

You are supposed to be retired now. You have returned to Kenya to rest after many years’ work as a missionary in Tanzania, but you are not resting at all, are you?! What have you been doing in Kenya since your return?

I started another church of course! A new DMI church. Also other churches invite me to go and preach. And I’m still working with DOT (Deaf Owned Translation).

So you haven’t retired at all, have you?!

Not yet! 

Your daughter Ruth has also been very involved in DMI. Can you tell us about her involvement?

Ruth helps with interpreting in services. She studied leadership and theology for 8 years in Norway, and has spent many years teaching in a Deaf school.

Tell us about the rest of your family.

I have 6 children aged between 30 and 48. And I have just 1 wife haha! Ruth is my fourth child.

You’re 75 years old but you still look and act like you’re 45. What’s your secret?

Avoiding stress and depression. I’m a happy soul – always laughing. I keep active. Don’t dwell on the hardships, I say. Leave everything to God. You know this. You’d be about 75, too, right? 

No, I just turned 60!

Oh! That’s awkward! Well, try laughing more.

A lot more! Tell me about your childhood. Were you born Deaf?

I was born hearing. At age 7, I became sick and fell into a coma. There was a problem with my spinal cord. I was hospitalised for one month but after that I never heard again.

How did that change your life? 

I had been enrolled at a hearing school but a teacher said I’d be better off at a Deaf school. He was right. I found a Deaf school and studied there through to high school. The Deaf school was really good. I could learn sign language and understand what was being taught. Without sign language it would have been so hard to understand. After graduating, I studied tailoring for three years, and then worked for eight years as a tailor.

That was a long time ago but do you still make clothes?

No, not for business. Only for myself – and it came in handy making clothes for my kids as they were growing up.

How did you get into ministry?

I met a missionary from the US while I was working as a tailor and he looked at me and said, ’You are not supposed to be making clothes’ and he asked me if I would be interested to go and study at a Bible school. I said yes, so went and studied in Nigeria for one year. Then when I returned to Kenya I continued studying for four more years.

Tell us how you met Neville and your association with him and Lill.

I was introduced to Neville through a friend, initially by mail. Neville wrote to me and asked if he could meet me when he next came to Kenya. After meeting, he asked if I wanted to work for World Opportunities International [the precursor to DMI]. I was happy to join and started working with Neville in Nairobi.

What was your first impression of Neville?

I was so impressed to see a hearing man so invested in Deaf people and the Deaf community. I’d never seen this before. And I was really happy to be working for Deaf people in the Deaf community with Neville.

How many people have come to Christ through your ministry?

300 or 400 throughout Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda – all across East Africa. It has been such a joy. I’m also so glad to see that the leaders we trained are all now working for DMI.

You must have a great sense of accomplishment seeing this?

Oh yes, very happy to see it.

So what’s the secret to a successful ministry?

Prayer and asking God to help. You put God first. Second is to have a good relationship with the people around you. So I’m always mixing with people, especially young people. I’m always connecting on a personal level with people anywhere I go.

It was such a pleasure meeting you at the international conference in Kenya in 2023. I felt like I was meeting a living legend. How did you enjoy the conference?

It was great meeting people from so many different countries – and you too, meeting you for the first time. I knew just about everyone, including those from other continents because I had met them at past conferences.

What are your plans for the future?

We have a number of Deaf congregations here in Kenya but we don’t have our own church building anywhere yet. I’m working to see a church built here in Kenya for the Deaf and an office too for Deaf ministry. So I feel I can’t finish my work until we have a church building.

We have the funds to buy land for a church. I believe we’re just looking now for the right place. I hope we can build a church soon. Then maybe you can find your rest.

I hope so. We need to have our own facilities – not just for Sunday worship but as a training centre providing vocational training for young people – so the Deaf can be self employed and financially independent.

Let’s see if we can get that done while you’re still in your 70s.

Yes. And before you age any more!

Ouch.

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While we encourage ‘tent-making’ in all our fields, more support is needed for our pastors who receive very little, if any payment, for their ministry work. To support any of our pastors, please give generously at https://deafmin.org/donate/ or click on the ‘Donate’ button below and designate your gift to ‘DMI pastors’.