Christian Brothers in Zambia
In the late 1960s, in response to a request from the leadership of the Christian Brothers, the two Irish Provinces set up a mission in Zambia in East Africa. This mission was the first on the African continent, apart from the earlier foundations in South AFrica. Since the 1960s the Zambian mission has flourished. Today, there are some ten foundations that include schools, ministry to street children, vocational centres, a spirituality centre and a novitiate. A number of young Zambians have become members of the Christian Brothers.
Immersion Programmes to Zambia
Immersion programmes to Zambia have generated renewed interest in the Zambia mission. Among the schools that have established a unique relationship with Zambia is St. Mary's Christian Brother Grammar School in Belfast. Situated on the Falls Road, St. Mary's is at the heart of the community in West Belfast. It has many distinguished past-pupils, among them the husband of the President of Ireland, Martin McAleese.
Project Zambia
The school has established Project Zambia, a development project aimed at enhancing the life-chances of the people of Misisi Compound near Lusaka. Misisi is home to 80, 000 people and has been classified by the UN as one of the five worst slums in Sub-Saharan Africa. The community has been ravaged by HIV/AIDS, cholera and malaria. LIfe expectancy averages 36.4 years. More than 50 per cent of the children have lost at least one parent. This is a place where Africa's misery is very visible.
Twice each year a team from Belfast visits Misisi Compound to work on construction projects, assist in the orphanage and develop new projects in collaboration with local management. With the support of funding from St. Mary's and from other Belfast community groups, projects have been initiated to improve irrigation, hygiene, education and health-care. There is a strong emphasis on developing sustainability through income-generating initiatives.
Messiahs not needed
The project has had a profound impact on the life of St. Mary's Grammar School. Aidan Donaldson is the coordinator of the project with a team of pupils and teachers from the school. The team dimension of the project is very striking. "We want no Messiahs", Aidan Donaldson says. "This is about us working together with the people of Misisi. We're not on ego trips here".
On a recent visit to the school it was inspirational to hear the young people of St. Mary's tell the stories of their visits to Zambia. The young people are fond of quoting Mr. Timbo, the local compound manager: "We cannot change the World. We can only change our world". Understanding how the world works and how people are made poor because of injustice and inequities in the global systems is a key goal of the project. Aidan reminds the young people often, "It is not digging the irrigation drain that counts so much as spending time with children and the local people"
Current Projects.
Projects currently under development in Misisi include:
- a bakery
- a health clinic
- teachers' quarters
- food security initiatives
- provision of clean water supply
- teacher salary supports
- clothes and blankets for the orphans
- provision of educational supplies
- washroom facilities
- community library
Daniel's Story
One of the more poignant moments during the visit with St. Mary's was when the students pointed out the photograph of young Daniel on the school wall, a smiling happy three-year-old child. "What is he doing now," I asked. "He's dead," said Jack, one of the St. Mary's boys. A silence fell over the group. Here was the reality of Africa starkly present in the room. Daniel, like so many children in Africa today, died of a preventable disease.
It's about relationship and solidarity
Aidan Donaldson and Ian McCutcheon, the adult leaders of the group, emphasise the educational and formation value of the Project Zambia programme. It is less about raising money for Zambia as about building a lifelong and developing relationship with the people of Misisi, and through them, with the poor of our world. This is what solidarity is about, entering into the world of the poor and the vulnerable. And it is not at all one-way traffic. The students are clear that they learn from the experience. They speak of how the experience of developing-world poverty and misery relativises their own needs. "We find it hard to go shopping at Christmas-time when we think of the people of Misisi," said one boy. Aidan Donaldson put it succinctly, "It saves your soul".