Soldier targets souls through gospel music and evangelism

By Nicholas Anyuor

Daniel ‘Danger’ Chacha is no ordinary soldier. When not in the barracks at the Moi Air Base in Nairobi, you will find him singing gospel music or preaching.

He has perfectly learnt to balance his work as a secular soldier and a soldier in Jesus Christ’s army.

Chacha acquired his singing skills from his maternal uncle, Hezekiah Okoth Owino. When Owino’s wife, Essy, died, his uncle went into binge drinking.

Daniel Chacha during the interview.

"After the drinking sprees, he would sit at a corner in the house and sing love songs in remembrance of Essy," Chacha recalls.

"I would sit and watch my uncle play his guitar but after retiring to bed, I would pick his guitar and play like him. That is how I honed my talent," he says.

He says his uncle encouraged him and taught him how to compose, sing and play the guitar. At times, he says, they would sing together but the sessions would be interrupted several times as his uncle broke down into tears whenever he recalled Essy.

He likens the armed forces code of conduct to laws in Christianity. "As soldier, it is easy to bring souls to God because the military code of conduct and discipline are ‘similar’ to those in the church," he says.

"When I preach and sing, people get challenged and ask themselves why they cannot work for God and accept salvation. It is not a sin to carry a gun but the motive and action is what is important," he says.

New image for the forces

In the Bible, he says, Joshua, David, Gideon and Moses were soldiers. He says the military makes people disciplined and the Word of God is given priority.

In his quest to win souls, Chacha has received support from fellow soldiers in the barracks and this allows him to get time to practise whenever he is free. He says Maj Rev Joel Too, Senior Sergeant Mwandawiro and Corporal Ngolo Wekesa have played key role in his success.

"Generals are happy with what I am doing. People have associated soldiers with war, wine and women. This is something I want to change. We want to give the forces a new image and that is why I go out to evangelise," he says.

He has composed a song that he hopes will make people to change the negative perception about soldiers. It’s titled Damu ya Yesu (the blood of Jesus).

"During my off days, my seniors allow me to go and evangelise," he says. Chacha joined the military in 1987 in Homa Bay, the then headquarters of South Nyanza District.

"It was through my mother’s prayers that God gave us a miracle. I was recruited into the military. My happiness was that through our prayers my father, who died seven years ago, had got saved," he says.

The Nickname ‘Danger’

Pastor Chacha, as many know him, was born in 1965 in Nyabokarangi village, Kuria West District. He was the first born. His childhood challenges and the dangers he was exposed to earned him the nickname ‘Danger’.

Despite the troubled childhood, he excelled when he joined Armed Forces School of Higher Education.

Chacha has never travelled out of the country but his music tapes and CDs are sold in different parts of the world.

"I receive calls from America. People congratulate and say my songs humble them," he says.

Chacha first released Lamo Merwa (my mother’s prayers) that performed well and helped heal several families. It teaches parents that God brings blessings to children through parents’ prayers.

His other compositions include Tiga Amaraga (stop sinning), Mrudieni Mungu, Damu ya Yesu, and Ngima Dhano (Man’s life).

Chacha, a pastor with PEFA church says it is because of his mother’s persistent prayers that he has become a gospel singer, a pastor and a soldier.

His mother, Miriam Aketch, prayed and asked God to lift her and her children from the poverty and also to reform her cruel husband, the late William Chacha.

Chacha, a father of four, says he is committed to helping upcoming gospel artists realise their dreams.