Our Mission in Zambia

Started in 1931, most of our work is done on mission stations which serve the large and poor area of western Zambia and the Caprivi Strip in Namibia. The Capuchins are also heavily involved in Bonaventure College in Lusaka. This college is a venture of the Franciscan family and serves seven countries.

 
The Traditional Beliefs of the Lozi people of Zambia

In Zambia, long before any Christian missionary ever set foot in Africa, the Lozi people already believed in God. They, like many of the tribes in Zambia, believed in one God, the all-powerful maker of heaven and earth and the everything that exists – the seen and the unseen. Furthermore they also believed in and honoured the spirits of their ancestors in much the same way as Catholics honoured the saints. They also believed in the existence of devils and evil spirits. Every misfortune is attributed to evil spirits; just as everything good is attributed to God. So at a level of belief it was not so difficult for most of the tribes in Zambia to accept the teachings of Christian missionaries.

 
The main obstacles to Christianity

Like people the world over, health is something that is treasured by the people of Africa. Sickness is a threat to life and so it is greatly feared and dreaded. It is important to realise that one does not find in Africa the clear-cut demarcation that exist in Europe between the medical doctor, the surgeon, the psychiatrist, the chemist, homeopaths, the faith-healer, the exorcist etc. Because the common belief that what is good comes from God and what is not good is caused by evil spirits, there is a deep-seated tendency among most African people to attribute sickness and all other misfortunes to evil spirits.

It is commonly believed that it is only the very old who die from natural causes. So if anyone else dies, there is the immediate tendency to believe that they died or got sick because they had been bewitched. In other words, the real reason why the person got sick and died was because someone had put a spell on them.

European medicine and hospitals have as everyone knows, their limitations. So if a patient in hospital is not recovering, or if a person is living in a remote area where there is no hospital, then there is a strong tendency to have recourse to one or other of the various types of traditional healers.

Some of these traditional healers may well be simple herbalists. But more often than not, they may also dabble in the occult. They may well be diviners. If they are they then proceed to use the magical powers, which they are believed to possess, to point the finger at some poor unfortunate individual, who will immediately be branded as a witch or wizard and hence the one who is responsible for the sick persons illness or death.

It is this deep-seated and widespread belief in witchcraft and sorcery, which is the main obstacle to the growth of Christianity in Zambia. Apart from other considerations, it is because this belief is so invidious and divisive, sowing, as it does, unfounded doubts and suspicions within the community, that it is, quite patently, diametrically opposed to Christianity.

Christianity is a way of life, a way of living or more accurately still, a way of loving. So it is communicated more by example than by word. The early missionaries in most parts of Africa built hospitals and leprosariums, where they showed compassion for the sick and suffering. In their schools they helped to enlighten and develop the uneducated. In this way they were able to communicated love and compassion in a way that could not be expressed in mere words.

Moreover by inculcating the good news of Christ’s love in this way they were able to get round the otherwise insurmountable difficulty that is caused by the multiplicity of local languages. Love is a language that is universal. What people came to sense by experience was later confirmed and made clearer for them when they heard or read the Scriptures.

Most Zambians today are devoted and avid readers of the bible. The bible is much closer to their culture and way of life than it is to the more sophisticated European. The Zambian people welcomed the Good News of Christ with joy.

It was the great African saint, St Augustine when giving advise as to how to instruct people, pointed out that the main reason why the greatest missionary, Christ Himself, was sent on a mission to earth was; "so that man might know how much God loves him"(cf. Jn. 3.16).

So the work of every missionary is just the same. He or she must make God’s love known, especially for the poor and underprivileged. The Capuchin missionaries in Zambia strive to make God’s love and concern for the wellbeing of the African people tangible by the hospitals and the leprosariums that they set up to alleviate the sufferings of the sick and the afflicted. By setting up schools they help them to develop their minds. So it is by preaching by word and deed that the friars help to make God know it in Zambia.

VILLAGE LIFE

For the people in the villages the day begins early. Before the first grey streaks of dawn have lightened the eastern sky, the rowdy cocks, perched in the nearby mango trees, begin boisterously beating their wings. Their rude, strident, persistent crowing shatters the night’s stillness and rouses the slumbering village.

The first to emerge from the mud-and-grass-roofed huts are the women. They are anxious to make an early start and get to work without delay. They head to the fields and gardens in the nearby forest. They collect their hoes and perhaps a gourd of drinking water and, in groups of 2 or 4, in single file, they head off through the trees following the narrow, winding path that takes them to their work. They chat and laugh as they hurry along. They begin tilling, planting or weeding as soon as it is light. The sun usually rises at 6am and they try to get as much work done before the day gets too hot.

Many of the women will have nursing babies with them in the field. A young daughter of 9 or 10 is brought along to look after this baby at the edge of the field while the mothers are busy working in the field. At 11am, as they prepare to return home, they collect some firewood or wild mushrooms or some fruit or some cassava leaves for the evening meal. They arrive home before the searing heat of midday.

In the early morning the men let the cattle out of the kraal in order to allow them to graze. Other men take their paddle and go to a nearby lake or river where they go by canoe to check their nets and fish traps. They string the fish together on a piece of bark rope and bring them home for the evening meal, which is the first and only meal of the day. Some men are busy thatching their huts or making baskets to catch fish. Others do the various jobs that are needed to maintain the village.

The house is surrounded by a six-foot high fence and forms a courtyard. It is within the courtyard that the family lives, cooks and eats their meals. Within the courtyard or "lapa" as they call it, there are reed mats spread out on the sandy ground, preferably in the shade of a small tree. They spend most of the day out in this courtyard and retire to their thatched huts only at night to sleep.

The school children too would have to rise early. School begins at 7am. They dress in school uniform and go in groups to school. They love school, particularly the company of other young children. Like their parents, they are very sociable and love company.

At 9am the village is quite deserted. The only people you find there at that time are the grandparents and some young children. The small children would amuse themselves while the older children would sweep the courtyard or washing last nights dishes. The grandparents may be sitting under the shade of a tree, shelling ground-nuts or weaving baskets.

On returning from the fields the women had more work to be done. Some may go off to the river and wash the clothes. Other begin preparing the evening meal. The pounding of maize is a laborious and time-consuming task. They pound millet or cassava, wash and cut vegetables and with pieces of dried meat put them in a three legged pot to simmer over an open fire. The girls would go to nearby streams with pots on their heads and draw some water.

About 5:30pm the young children are bathed. At 6pm just before dark they have their evening meal. By the time the meal is over it is usually dark. They would sit around the fire talking about the day. By 8:30pm most would have drifted off to bed. And so the day begins again at sunrise

Normally the nights are quiet. However every now and then, especially on the bright moonlight nights, they would share a drum of locally brewed beer. As soon as they began drinking the drums and the strains of drumming and singing would begin to drift along the valley. Then the crowds from the nearby villages would gradually gather, drifting in to join in the drinking, dancing and generally having fun. This would continue into the night or often till the next morning. The brewing of beer might well be occasioned by some young girl coming of age, a boy coming out of circumcision camp or by a wedding. It is with these celebrations that variety and relaxation are brought into the otherwise arduous routine of village life.

Life especially for women and mothers is particularly difficult. Women generally are always cheerful, patient and accepting. They are very caring to their children. All the people of Zambia are very friendly, amiable, have a great sense of community, sociable, help and share with one another freely. Zambia is one of the few African countries that have enjoyed peace and stability since it won its independence in 1964.