The Zambia Link
Text and photos by Marian Pallister

[ Background ] - [ Summer 2004 ]

I first went to Zambia as a journalist, writing for The Herald on Christian Aid projects in the country.

I travelled with Christian Aid's Scottish representative Eildon Dyer and two doctors from the Borders - Sandy and Dorothy Logie.

They had harboured a wish all their lives to work in Africa but when Sandy trail blazed at St Francis Hospital in Katete, he received a "needle stick" injury while treating a patient dying of Aids - now he was serving out his own death sentence.

We stayed for a week at St Francis - a very emotional time because it was Sandy's first visit there since he'd become ill and Dorothy's first view of the place where her husband had given his life in the service of others.

It was also a time of much laughter: we went with a group of musicians and actors out into villages in the bush where they put on performances to educate people about the dangers of HIV/Aids.

I had seen drama groups in India, Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique all working with the same aim - but Charles and his colleagues used comedy in spades to get the messages across and even the language barrier failed to diminish the jokes.

We then went from the Eastern Province to the capital. There was a major Aids conference in Lusaka that year and we attended that as well as visiting more Christian Aid projects around the city.

A lovely Irish sister, Mary Hillery, took us to a Catholic parish on the western outskirts of Lusaka.

It was my first experience of Lilanda, and little did I know how significant the visit was to be.

We talked to the priests - Comboni missionaries - about their work and the work of the parish. Fr Juan Manuel Valdovinos (now back home in a parish in Mexico) and Fr Dario Chaves (a Portuguese priest of great humour and wisdom) told us that the people in this incredibly poor compound drew enormous strength from their faith.

They needed to.

One in five people in Zambia is affected by HIV/Aids and people like Julia the parish house cook and Priscilla Sakala, who makes crafts to try to support her family, were not unusual in caring for up to ten kids from their extended families - children orphaned by the virus.

Poverty, lack of education and unaffordable health care are the root causes of HIV/Aids and this cocktail is provided courtesy of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the treaties made by the World Trade Organisation.

These bodies want poor countries like Zambia to cut back on their social services and enter the "global market" so they can qualify for international debt relief.

What happens is that families in parishes like Lilanda get poorer and sicker every year.

We asked Sr Mary Hillery if we could go to a church where we would hear traditional Zambian music. She sent us back to Lilanda where we recorded the Mass.

It lasted three hours and the congregation was 2000 strong. I thought it was a special occasion - I now know that's just another Sunday.

The women ululated, everyone sang and danced to the drums and the joy was palpable.

Afterwards, we met the young men and women of the parish's communications group. Each parish in the Lusaka diocese has such a group which is asked to create programmes about the parish for the diocesan radio station, Yatsani Radio.

Eildon and I did an impromptu workshop with the recording equipment we had before we enjoyed lunch with the Comboni priests - Frs Dario, Juan Manuel, Dawitt (an Ethiopian) and Joachim, another Portuguese.

When we came home, I mentioned to Eildon that I felt very privileged to have spent many years travelling to countries like Zambia to report on the problems there but I felt inadequate because I had no practical skills to offer. I could raise awareness through the media but I couldn't go there and do anything.

"What about the communications groups?" she said.

Since then, I have returned to Zambia many times and become further and further embroiled with Yatsani Radio, giving workshops to presenters and programme makers to help them make the kind of listening which can change lives. The station's name means "let there be light." Together, we've been working to switch on some lights for Yatsani's listeners.

And of course, I've made firm friendships with the Comboni fathers and sisters (an ever-changing cast list but always wonderful men and women), who work in many fields and have many connections.

There's the parish school for orphans, the volunteer home based care team which looks after the chronically sick, the street kids' project set up by one of the Comboni fathers.... and much much more.

Every time I go, I come back and write and talk about what I've seen and learned.

Fr Dario has been to St Margaret's and shared in our parish life for a brief but action-packed weekend.

We have begun to forge links through prayer and through the generosity of the parish - the "unhealthy breakfast", the coffee morning, the amazing efforts of Phil Corcoran on his sponsored drive to Ireland - and Fr Dario as parish priest in Lilanda would like to strengthen those links.

Even small amounts of money can go a very long way - about £5 pays a child's school fees, for instance.

But this isn't just about money. It's about justice and peace - about raising awareness of the injustices which lead to parishes like Lilanda feeding the poor and tending the sick on the slenderest of shoestrings.

Fr Dario is on email (though electricity cuts mean that is sometimes a precarious means of contact!) and the people of Lilanda are just like us - they grow tomatoes, struggle with their teenage kids, study, join clubs, go to Mass...

Friendship through letters and emails, exchanges of ideas and expressions of love through prayer are as valuable as monetary gifts. Perhaps you'd like to share the joy that Fr Dario brought us from Africa.

Marian Pallister can be contacted at Church on Sundays,
or via the parish email link below.

Next: Summer 2004