To open this tremendous territory, the branch assigned two pioneers, Robert Nisbet and David Norman, to preach in the area that is now Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

Brothers Nisbet and Norman were determined to take the good news of the Kingdom deep into the interior of Africa. They launched their campaign in Dar es Salaam on August 31, 1931, with 200 cartons of literature. From there they went to the island of Zanzibar and then on to the seaport of Mombasa en route to the highlands of Kenya. They traveled by train, working the towns along the railway line to the eastern shores of Lake Victoria. Crossing the lake by steamship, the two intrepid pioneers arrived in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. After placing much literature, as well as subscriptions to The Golden Age, the two brothers continued by car even farther inland.

Four years later, in 1935, four pioneers from South Africa undertook another expedition into East Africa. They were Gray Smith and his wife, Olga, along with Robert Nisbet and his younger brother George. With two well-equipped delivery vans fitted out as living quarters, these enterprising pioneers negotiated bad roads and battled their way through elephant grass up to ten feet [3 m] high. “They often slept out in the wilds,” says one report, “and could see, hear, and feel the throb of the heart of Africa with its abundance of wildlife​—roaring lions at night, peacefully grazing zebras and giraffes, and the ominous presence of rhinos and elephants.” Undaunted, they visited towns that had never been reached with the Kingdom message.

While Gray and Olga Smith spent some time in Tanganyika (now Tanzania), Robert and George Nisbet headed for Nairobi, Kenya.

[Picture on page 69]

David Norman and Robert Nisbet brought the good news to East Africa

[Picture on page 71]

George and Robert Nisbet and Gray and Olga Smith with their vans on a raft ready to cross a river