ZAMBIAN HOME ECONOMICS

A number of articles that appeared recently in the Zambian media point out quite rightly that the present economic challenges Zambia is going through at the moment are both natural and man-made and require intelligent intervention by the political leadership and policy-makers.

This crisis has brought increased social and political tension despite the national prayers and attempts at reconciliation, as ordinary Zambians try to earn a dignified living. The overwhelming human suffering by the majority of the Zambian people needs to be addressed and reversed. The most obvious problem for many is the frightening increase in the cost of living and the majority of the population are failing to cope, as the cost of even basic food and services are becoming beyond their reach.

Many working men and women are losing their jobs as a result of the harsh economic conditions that the country is experiencing. This distressing loss of jobs needs honest and genuine dialogue between government and employers. With the falling exchange rate and weakening of the Kwacha, practical policy interventions are needed to halt or stabilise it.

Another related area of concern is that increased government borrowing will doom future generations to a form debt slavery to the international monetary markets. Borrowing to cover current government expenditure, instead of investing in infrastructure is seen as frivolous and a worry to many.

The constitution has still not been endorsed by the people in the promised referendum, but selective and selected articles are being pushed through the National Assembly in a piece-meal fashion. 

To help see how this plays out using figures, the Central Statistical Office last month reported an increase in inflation of 6.6%. October’s inflation rate is 14.3% , almost doubling in a month from September’s 7.7%. This has been laid fairly and squarely at the door of the depreciating Kwacha. This merely confirmed what many Zambians knew from their own pockets and their experience of rising prices.

The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) has published its October Basic Needs Basket for a family of five living in Lusaka which has increased by K302.1 from K3, 957.46 in September to K4, 249.56. 12 out of 15 items of food rose in price; kapenta(dried fresh- water white-bait) rising by a massive K50.

The Lusaka October 2014 BNB  stood at K3, 635.83 and over the year has risen more than K600 (16.8% increase). A cause for concern is that the Lusaka Basic Needs Basket has broken the K4, 000 barrier and on top of this, there are the rolling power cuts of 8 hours every day and the retrenchments and resultant job losses stemming from the fall in productivity, promise to make life even more difficult for many.

 

In light of rising inflation the Bank of Zambia has raised the interest rate from 12.5% t to 15.5%  in an attempt to keep yearly inflation below 10%; adding substantially to the cost of doing business in a period of declining productivity. A way needs to be found to sustain productivity and keep inflation low so that people with loans and mortgages are not too badly hit.

The wisdom of off-loading precious forex reserves to prop up the Kwacha is also being questioned. It is suggested it might be put to better use in investment, to diversify the economy so that our mostly primary products and resources can have value added here by growing our manufacturing industry.

Some Silozi Idioms

Silozi is rich in idiomatic and proverbial expressions. For learners there is often no other source of information about these than from phrase books and dictionaries. The works on phonology and morphology tend to concentrate on phonemes, syllables and grammatical constructions. These ‘ready-made utterances’ (locutions toutes faites – De Saussure) can be difficult to learn as they seem unanalysable expressions used by mother-tongue speakers on particular occasions. They are usually listed with an indication of the situations in which they can be used and their meaning. These phrases are normally used in a metaphoric sense that goes beyond their literal meaning.  

Below is a list of idioms I have found; some will be still current and in use, others will be dated and perhaps unfamiliar to the modern speaker. I am happy to hear from readers who may wish to help modernise it; please feel free to add to or amend this list or even add a little more concerning the context for use.

 

Bunde bwa lapa:                                             Deceptive appearance

Bunde bwa  liyemo:                                       All that glitters is not gold

 

Kabemba-muca-habeli:                                 Untrustworthy person, traitor, sell-out

 

Kashimani kanalolo                                        Hunger

 

Ki fa ngo ni mulomo                                       It is very close, right in front of your nose

 

Kuamuhela ka mazoho amabeli                  To welcome warmly

 

Kuba ni bundee:                                              To malinger, to shirk duty

Kuba ni kacimacima:                                      To be impatient or short-tempered

Kuba ni pilu ya liiba:                                       To be inquisitive or afraid

 

Kuca batu buswazi:                                        to loaf around, to malinger

Kuca kobe ka mutwa:                                    to live in prosperity

Kuca mutu lulimi:                                            To let the cat out the bag, to betray in speech

 

Kuikalulula:                                                      To help oneself to food

Kuikunga:                                                          To be proud

Kuikwetulula:                                                   To have food after a long time feeling hungry

 

Kuina mwa kazuma                                        To be in danger or in trouble

Kuina mwa mbombolelwa                            To lead a good life

 

Kuinyaya mati:                                                To eat a little

 

Kuipinya lunya                                                 To do oneself injustice

 

Kukena mwahanu:                                          To interrupt while talking

Kukena mwandu ya mutu                             To commit adultery

Kukenela (mutu) mwa sinyamba                 To change one’s colours or to be indifferent

 

Kulunisa hopani mafula ayona                     To deny someone what they deserve

 

Kumizeza mati:                                                To desire greatly for eating or drinking. To crave

Kunyalela mwa lizazi                                      To have poor or bad in-laws

Kunyalela mwa muluti                                   To have rich or good in-laws

 

Kupilela fa linala                                             To have one foot in the grave. Just hanging on

 

Kupinya mutu lunya                                        To do an injustice. To hate

 

Kupuma lutokwa                                             To eat a little

Kupuma mati                                                   To eat a little

 

 

Kusa wela fafasi                                              To be loved very much

Kusinduka                                                         To have eaten an ample sufficiency

Kushwa tala                                                     To be hungry, to need to eat.

Kushwa mezi a mwa luswana                      To expose yourself to danger

 

Kutoba pilu                                                       To calm down a little, to reduce anxiety

Kutokwa pilu                                                    To be of bad character                                                

Kutomola mutwa                                            To help very much

Kutomola pilu                                                  To sympathise with

 

Kuwa pilu                                                          To be of good character

Kuwisa pilu                                                       To calm down a bit, eat a little

 

Kwaulu mulimu yomusisani                          To have a narrow escape

(Kwahalimu nzila yesisani)

 

Kuyela seli                                                        To notice

Kuyema pilu                                                     To be of bad character

 

Mundi wa anuke                                             A leaderless community

 

Munyaka silupi                                                A prostitute, a harlot

 

Munzi kwande                                                 A village with a bad reputation ‘Sin City?’

 

Sico mbulaye                                                   To eat to excess

 

Uce kono un’wate kwaten’i                         Don’t eat everything at once

 

 

A Modern Open Sore: Child Trafficking

This Friday we said a moving goodbye to the five trafficked Congolese children whom we have been looking after for the past two months. They left with Mutinta*, their Social Worker, on the night bus to Lusaka for Transit Homes and eventual repatriation within a month to Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The children, 3 boys and 2 girls, ranged in age, from 5 to 10 years. Daniel was the eldest followed by John-Luke, then came Big Antoinette followed by Joseph and finally Wee Antoinette. The hardest thing was handing these children you have come to know and love back, accepting that you are only a pair of hands in the chain on their journey back, and providing a temporary refuge and place of safety, as the authorities try to trace their roots.

Over time, we managed to establish their true names and ages, get the names of their school and Church, teachers and Pastor, but they were a bit hazy about parents and home. Daniel was the most open and helpful with this. The self-portraits they drew of themselves, of home and school were sad and enlightening. The children were quite a disparate group and lacked the cohesion and care for each other you normally expect in a family unit.

None of the boys used the Swahili word 'Kaka (Brother) to each other, something you would expect. It also took some time for them to show love to each other and share and give each other food or sweets; the idea of the youngest first was an alien concept. Without our intervention the leader took first choice and the lion’s share of food and clothes. From this we believe, they came from an institution or were possibly street kids. In the early days Big Antoinette told us she had learned some English and used it to try and impress Ida - ‘Madam give me some money.’ We had told the kids to call us Papa and Maman but to begin with, Joseph kept calling Ida,  Madam, the term he had obviously used to address his previous carer. Joseph also had many of the traits of an Alcohol Syndrome child.

The children were rescued when a member of staff returning on the bus from Lusaka, became suspicious when she saw 5 silent and cowed children spread out in the bus. The Congolese adults accompanying them, a man and a women, were also sitting separately but signalled to them by hand from time to time. They received nothing to eat or drink throughout the 10 hour journey. The staff member phoned the relevant authorities who stopped the bus outside Mwandi, freed the children and arrested the man who had a refugee passport. The lady who falsely claimed later to be the children’s grandmother, temporarily evaded capture but was eventually apprehended in Sesheke, carrying a single-page, forged, travel-document for her and the children. 

The lady, who called herself Antoinette too, in a crude attempt to fabricate some family relationship with the girls, apparently had accompanied them from Lubumbashi and had the children call her Kambo (Granny) Antoinette. Papa Jean, the man had met them at Kasumbalesa Border Crossing and took them all by car to a ‘safe-house’ in Lusaka. According to the children it was composed of two rooms, a bedroom and sitting room. Papa Jean used the bedroom and they and ‘Granny’ lived, ate and slept in the sitting room. There they were frequently beaten and trained to obey without question their traffickers for the next stage of the journey. They were not allowed outside till they left for the bus station. They were fed once a day from one bowl, fish and inshima, hence the need to ensure you could eat the most in the fastest time.

Mwandi lies on the Trans-African Highway that runs from Walvis Bay to Dar-es-Salaam and this is used as a transit corridor from the DRC through Zambia, Namibia to South Africa. Our children were smuggled from Lubumbashi across the border and taken by car to the safe house in Lusaka. From there they were to be taken by bus to Sesheke and taxied over the border to Namibia. These ‘safe’ houses in Lusaka are provided by rich, violent and powerful criminals who control the business. Individual witnesses and officials are often offered tens of thousands of dollar in bribes to turn a blind eye. The women and children being trafficked are in all likelihood destined for forced labour, begging and vending or sexual exploitation, to earn income for their exploiters, under threats of violence and incurring debt-bondage. Another horrific end meets some children as they are killed and their body parts used for sorcery.

These children need counselling and a time of therapy and healing to recover from this ordeal. We are so thankful that they were discovered and spared the awful fate that probably lay in front of them. We appreciate the caring and compassionate good work in this case of our often-maligned Government Ministries. We are grateful to the Immigration Department, Social Welfare and the Judiciary for their sensitivity and professional efforts to ensure that these children are returned to their home  and that those perpetrating this evil trade can be caught, and this modern open sore, can be eliminated.

 

Any society which looks to the future and is not narrowly and selfishly obsessed with the present will give the highest priority to the welfare of its children. We cannot and should not be silent in the face of such horrible and avoidable suffering and distress endured by those children

Their happiness and welfare is of paramount importance. It is a poor reflection on humanity if we permit this evil to continue. Is it not heartbreaking that 150 years after Livingstone’s death, Scottish missionaries are still trying to help prevent trade in human-beings and children at that?

Any child should be received with gratitude and treasured with love – a joy to the parents and a welcome gift to the community. Children thrive best inside a loving family, whatever its form, a family who will promote their rights and welfare. So while the good of the family should be promoted to enable this, individual and vulnerable children like, Daniel, John-Luke, Big Antoinette, Joseph and Wee Antoinette, need our protection from exploitation and abuse.

*Names have been changed to protect identities

That they may all be one

A  Congregation of 200 from the United Church of Christ and the United Church of Canada  formally came together at a joyful and moving service on Saturday, 17 October 2015 in a new partnership of worship, word and communion, fulfilling Jesus' prayer that "They may all be one”. The venue was St. Andrew's United Church in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

Rev. John C. Dorhauer,, UCC  President, said  whilst this fulfilled Christ’s prayer,  it was only the first step in faithfulness to the Gospel that can change the world.
Nora Sanders, General Secretary of the United Church of Canada, was grateful for the celebration, hospitality, fellowship and  openness they had enjoyed on the journey. Leaders from both denominations then signed an official communion document.

It was signed by Dorhauer and Sanders and by Dale Bonds, Chair of the United Church of Christ Board and the Rt. Rev. Jordan Cantwell,. Dorhauer and Cantwell then exchanged stoles as a symbol of their shared purpose to proclaim the gospel for the mending of the world in their common mission in God's world, witnessing to God's love for all."  

The agreement allows the churches to recognize each others' sacraments, the ordination and the calling of ministers; expressing the unity we know that exists through Christ, and  in these things that affirm our identity as his disciples.

Both churches belong to the family of uniting and united churches around the world and together are deepening their faith, as followers of Christ."

Later, President of the North American WCC  and Anglican Bishop Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald,  in his sermon, .said that this is just a step along the way and  he  hoped that all Christians can journey together where God is calling them to be. He saw the Niagara Falls as an image for minds and hearts, as a place of migration.

After Communion, Cantwell sent the congregation out to put the commitments and agreement into action.

Giving thanks Dorhauer said it was now time for co-missioning, and to go where God's spirit sends them in one accord.

Watch a video of the entire service, courtesy of The United Church of Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ON THE EDGE

I have just come back from a tour of the UCZ Mission Schools in Luapula, Northern and Muchinga Provinces. It is a round trip of over 3000km. It was good to meet our staff who are devoting this part of their professional careers to delivering education to children very often living at the “edge”. Our schools are generally found in remote rural areas close to Zambia’s borders with neighbours. The children are often from impoverished subsistence farming families, living on the edge, relying on rain-irrigated harvests and frequently many are underweight, undernourished and underachieving. It was good to hear of the accomplishments as well as the challenges and how working together with all the stakeholders from the community they are attempting to transform these institutional legacies from 20th Century educational management into appropriate, developing, teaching and learning communities for today and beyond.

However, the historian in me made me look back to their foundation as pioneer missions. Their rich history and strengths from the past is something they are aware of and still draw upon. 

I had not been to Mbereshi for some 15 years, so I enjoyed the drive North from Kapiri through the miombo woods along the Mwendafye Hills with the TAZARA, passed Mkushi to Serenje. Next we turned onto the Mansa road which we used to call the Chinese Road, now most roads in Zambia would qualify for that title. We passed Kasanka and the Chitambo road-end leading to the Livingstone Memorial.

 Chitambo was a former Church of Scotland Mission Station opened in 1907 by Malcolm Moffat and  Dr Hubert Wilson, both relatives of Livingstone and his wife Mary Moffat. It opened a small girls boarding school  in the 1930s and contrary to Colonial Government policy encouraged agricultural training. A teacher tells of the fathers of 3 girls being mocked in 1943 for wasting their money by sending their daughters for teacher training. Plus ca change....... Chitambo Hospital has recently reopened its School of Nursing.

Mbereshi was founded by the London Missionary Society (now Council for World Mission) in 1900.  It became a major educational centre made famous by Mable Shaw who trained at St Colm’s and pioneered girl education by opening in 1915 a school for them there. Education was closely linked with the life skills, needed for running a home and contributing to the community. Lessons took place in the morning, but the rest of school life reflected as closely as possible ordinary village life, drawing water, collecting firewood and cooking meals. The Boarding houses were vertically organised containing around 12 girls, the senior, acting as House Mother. The House Mothers settled minor disputes and looked after the younger ones. All girls learned to sew, knit, crochet and to make clothes. They grew most of their own staples and vegetables. Mothercraft and childcare were also important subjects. However, this basic education also allowed for careers in both teaching and nursing. A consequence was not only a good, trained wife, but even more importantly it meant clean, healthy and better- educated children in the following generation. There was much in the old initiation ceremonies that were useful to keep and encourage and which were integrated into the Christian instruction the girls received. Poor Mable knew all about the glass ceiling as well!

Shaw enjoyed greater autonomy  than many of her married and unmarried peers but she was still marginalised as a woman. She became an ‘honorary man’ for a while in the 1930s when appointed to the IMC Commission on Copper Belt Urbanisation. With her expertise, she was allowed to contribute to the deliberations but not the final written report. She could never become a Head of Station either and her school was eventually brought under male oversight in 1946.

Senga Hill was founded by Rev Govan Robertson  of the LMS in 1923. Its school offered education to Standard VI. It too started an Agricultural Training Centre under Norman Porritt and was well-known  at the time for its goat rearing and cassava production. It tried to meet the needs of the community it served. Another interesting feature was its interdenominational character, encompassing Church of Scotland, Plymouth Brethren, Anglicans and Congregationalists and under the Chairmanship of Sir Stewart Gore-Browne, the Laird of Shiwa Ngandu!

The Church of Scotland opened Mwenzo amongst the Winamwanga at the same time (1894) as the Livingstonia Institute at Kondowe by Rev Alexander Dewar and John Banda a Malawian evangelist. The Mission was situated on the Stevenson Road which linked Lake Malawi, Livingstonia and Lake Tanganyika. The modern Mwenzo to Mbala stretch is finally being tarred at last. Rev and Mrs Chisholm, a nurse, were next charged with helping to develop medical, educational and Church work. With new staff on site, Mwenzo Girls opened afresh in 1928. In 1912 the first Welfare Society was founded and in 1923 Rev David Kaunda, the father of the First President Dr Kenneth Kaunda,  was a prominent member. These societies were the first political outlets formed  to struggle for freedom and equality and precursors of the Trade Unions and political parties of a later date.  I met the Rev Solomon Sichalwe in his home. He is now 99 years old who had memories of Rev Fergus Macpherson and other Scottish missionaries. He was the mentor, “my boys’’, he called them to two dear Lozi ministers, the Reverends Mubita and Mulowa, both now in their 80s! It was also good to have an audience with Chieftainess Nawitwika too, another UCZ member.

In 1905 Rev David Kaunda and his wife Hellen Nyirenda were sent as missionaries from Livingstonia to undertake Church and education work in the Chinsali area, bringing into being Lubwa Mission .Rev Kaunda did a good work  developing  a strong teacher training programme , encouraging the establishment of rural middle-schools along with secondary education for the brightest pupils. Lubwa became grant-aided in 1930 and the school while grateful was nonetheless insufficient to meet increased costs and the increasing numbers of primary schools. Former pupils were President Kenneth Kaunda, Vice-President  Simon Kapepwe, UNIP Central Committtee Member Kapasa Makasa and the Speaker, Wesley Nyirenda.  A founding Headteacher Bwenbya Mushindo did much work in preserving Bemba History and Customs in writing and as well as  working with others to translate the Bible in Chi Bemba.

DAY 2: COUNCIL FOR WORLD MISSION PARTNERS IN MISSION CONSULTATION, 16-19 SEPTEMBER 2015, HONG KONG

Day 2

 

The second day opened with worship lead by Rev Kyungin Kim. His devotion was based around the story of Naboth’s vineyard. The greed, power dynamics, manipulation, vulnerability and abuse of power spoke into many of our lives and relationships we have known. We all identified at different levels with the traits displayed by all the characters in the story.

We heard the stories of two Partners in Mission Derek and Edith Silwenga from the UCZ who are working in Botswana in pastoral ministry caring for differing community needs, including  the twinning of churches, manse-building, buying a minibus to help transport older people to services and communion. The younger members of the congregation are deeply involved in community work as well. We saw a video from Charles and Molly Lim Chau from Singapore who look after two Churches in Wales. While many of the congregants are elderly both do a wonderful ministry amongst the overseas students at Swansea University.

We also heard from the Rev Moya from Mizoram Presbyterian Church which was originally founded by the mission  of the Presbyterian Church of Wales in the late 1890s. Its mission now is  to reach the unreached, strengthen believers and plant churches. It has a membership of around 500,000. It is a sending Church and has mission partners in India, Nepal, Taiwan, Solomon Island, UK Samoa, Tuvalu, Madagascar and Kiribati. It runs a Hindi Bible School, a Mission Development Training Centre as well as a theological college. Other ministries include Health and Education with the Church running High Schools, Middle Schools and Primary Schools as well as hospitals and health centres.

Rose Widderburn then gave an excellent presentation on the United Church of Jamaica and Cayman Island Churches process in dealing with Partners in Mission as a receiving Church and the different stages involved in the process including orientation and preparation of the PIM, integration, the Administrative Process of who does what until the stationing take place. She also discussed the arrangements for the sending back at the end of service.

Our group on Table 5 was then asked to look at and draft a programme for a returning Partner in Mission. We saw it as a two phase process, the closure and sending back from the receiving church. Firstly it was suggested that a Farewell, Appreciation and Thanksgiving should be held for the PIM by the receiving church. Some free time was required to unwind and arrange the packing and practicalities for the move. Before leaving a debrief or Exit Interview should be held covering what have we learnt, what have we done together and what we have not done: What are our achievements?Where are our challenges? What were your frustrations? How can we improve things for other PIMs?

 

The next phase after leaving is the reorientation on arriving back. The sending Church should have been preparing to receive the PIM back. Again before anything takes place the PIM needs some personal time for reorientation and resettlement There are things like housing, family, schools, health matters and future employment to sort out. After a reasonable time the Debriefing Sessions should take place where the MOU is discussed and any package and entitlements acknowledged. Help and advice should be available if required for housing, employment, reintegrating into the local Church. A formal receiving back and thanksgiving from the sending church should be organised and discussions on how the local Church can best use your overseas experience. The Church Headquarters should also be involved as they too can in-put as to where the PIM can make the best impact. Links and connections should be maintained with the former receiving church so that a more formalised twinning arrangement may be made and the receiving Church still benefit from the partnership. Some process also needs to be in place for those who unfortunately do not cope or fail to complete their term of service for whatever reason.

As regards Succession Plans and Development in the interests of sustainability a local counterpart should be appointed if practicable. The exit plan should be there from the beginning of the planning stages. However, the receiving church needs to identify the local counterpart not the PIM. The Church should draw on the resources of the partner. It must be a dynamic process of learning, growing ,transferring and giving but it will not always be possible nor is it always desirable to reproduce a successor. However, if an understudy is selected 3 stages are involved in  the process of succession. The pre-appointment phase where the understudy helps with the job to do it, the next is the actual training to do the job and the final phase is the mentor overseeing and observing the understudy at work. Gap-fillers are not enough as sustainability is necessary to reduce dependency.

Although both are vocations there may be a difference in approach depending on the role of the PIM. For Finance or Admin the above process can be used in a pasturing role the local church  may need to break down the job into smaller areas and arrange external training for the understudy to develop capacity  and encourage sustainability.

The Listening and Discernment group reported back on the themes, patterns and ideas that had come to the fore throughout  the 2 days.

The Closing Prayers were offered by the Rev Eric So on the pruning of the vine. We were challenged to consider what we needed to prune and how we could stay close and still grafted to the Lord Jesus.

 

DAY 1: COUNCIL FOR WORLD MISSION PARTNERS IN MISSION CONSULTATION: 16-19 SEPTEMBER 2015, HONG KONG

Day 1

I left Livingstone on Tuesday, 15 September 2015 for the 2 hour flight to Jo’burg and the further 12h to Hong Kong. Arriving at 1300h on Wednesday I shared the courtesy bus to our hotel and conference centre in the New Territories with a bishop from South India and a Reverend from Singapore, both heading to the same conference .  My first visit to Asia they asked? This was not the real Asia I was told!

We were bussed along the North Lantau Expressway, winding through the overdeveloped coastal strip with its beaches and harbours, its glass, steel and concrete towering skyscrapers, offices and flats, like vertical streets, with their backs to the still surprisingly green and steep hills. We crossed two modern suspension bridges with the hazy built-up areas of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island in the distance to the right. We arrived at the Gold Coast Hotel in the New Territories, half an hour later. While waiting for the room I went down to the beach, famous for its school of white dolphins, and strolled passed the ubiquitous beach-side cafes, up-market and seafood restaurants and the moored luxury yachts at the marina.

 

I next crossed the road and walked through the open gates to the famous Crossroads Foundation, a Christian organisation, with its shabby refugee flats, fair-trade centre and cafe and other income-generating projects to help drug-addicts and other needy and disadvantaged people in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world . A stark contrast to the gated community opposite, to which the hotel, beach and residences all belong, there is also an adobe-style shopping piazza with international gourmet restaurants, luxury boutiques and a well-stocked supermarket.

At 19h we were invited to an 8 course welcoming banquet with a wide range of Chinese delicacies seafood, chicken, fish, noodles and rice finishing with a mango cream pudding and all washed down with regularly topped-up cups of Chinese tea.

Next morning I met up with the Synod Bishop who had arrived earlier for a Council for World Mission Conference for Church leaders.  Before the first session, John Proctor led the devotion on the promise, reality and fulfilment of the Holy Spirit. At Table 5 we had Bishop Bernard Siai from PNG, Lian Kip from Myanmar, Wayne Matheson from NZ, Bishop Michael Roy from Bangladesh, Roshanna Gillis from Guyana and Reupena and Dione Alo from American Samoa. Our prayers went with Reupena and Dione as they left early to return for Reupena’s sister’s funeral.

We were welcomed to Hong Kong by the Rev Lee Chin Chee an 83 year old senior missionary she encouraged us to persevere, refuse not, fear not and embrace hope and go the tired, the miserable and helpless, especially locally and engage and work with them.

Rev Wayne Hawkins delivered a presentation on Partners in Mission, a variety of approaches with short, medium and long-term placements as forms of mutual accompaniments. CWM hoped to open an online data base advertising opportunities and then match people to them. This would share expertise and deepen and expand  network and be a new expression of Church not just mission maintenance, but working ecumenically where possible and also with the possibility of responding to crisis

The Keynote Speech  was given by  Professor Vuyani Vellem that Mission was the anticipation and provisional realisation of God’s reign, refusing the status quo and being transformed by the Holy Spirit. Mission is a  partnership, he said, offering the economy of life to the living dead. The theology of liberation is found at the cross of Christ in the squalor of the zinc-roofed forests, amongst the stranger and foreigner, those excluded from high walls and gates, travelling along the Jericho Road.

 

No single Church has a monopoly of the truth or gifts so we evangelise everywhere to everywhere on the edges and frontiers always reforming and transforming. Our spiritual engagement requires solidarity and continuous learning otherwise hospitality can lead to hostility. The Gate of No Return in Accra is a symbol of faith, economy, sexuality and modernity.

Africa helps show us what it is to be human and to share God’s resources as is stated by the Accra Confession. Equality is not the same as justice but equity is. Not all theology is life, real life is life in abundance, as God promises, through Jesus Christ and not a living death as the world gives. The Prosperity Gospel and World Bank Dogma that sees congregants as clients and the bottom line as profit are modern heresies.

 

Sharing the Good News, subversively and in powerlessness, in honour of the Cross is where we find salvation. The 21^st Century is hardening with its neo-liberalism and some in the Church to their shame speak this as the language of God. Our humanness, made in the image of God, is being destroyed and our consciousness killed in these economic drone-attacks, bringing the death of spirituality to the living dead. We need to learn not teach; the Cross of Jesus is a dangerous memory because beneath the Cross, we gather for partnership in mission. We minister, as those who have, to those who have not. We work not on behalf or for another human being but with them, bringing justice for example in fair trade, environmentalism and ethical investment in the struggle for life against politics, military power, culture, globalisation and consumerism.

 

Our table was then tasked to discuss how donor-recipient model of mission could be resisted and renewed as partnership in mission.  In the past Mission was predominantly North to South, top- down and needs were decided for the donor. Real partnership is a mutual commitment for life and to life and a sharing of the Gospel through sacrifice and involving justice and equity. It is a holistic submissive giving, as Jesus gave, sharing the economy of life, life in abundance with others.

 

Partnership means solidarity and sharing, growing together and giving as you receive and receiving as you give. There is a mutual engagement, a change of mind set and attitude where both parties learn rather than teach and where both partners are transformed. The blessing is that both are donors and recipients and committed to each other.

 

Neo-liberalism can be resisted by a dynamic response and by a change of attitude. Some were uncomfortable as receiving more materially than they contribute, however, this begged the question of who are the real givers and who are the receivers.

Mission is one mission to one world and a redistribution of the resources is necessary to do it; a contribution to the ministry of working together and not a hand-out. Manyar gave NZ a gift in response to the Christchurch earthquake. This came from the bottom-up prompted by the Holy Spirit and given from the heart.

 

In the Pacific the US Church sent carpenters, plumbers and electricians to help rebuild houses after the Tsunami. Samoa had also received 3 missionary teachers to help in their High Schools. This has helped people there to see mission as not just the sending out of clergy, but that all, both clergy and laity have something to offer.

 

The General Secretary Rev. Colin Cowan next discussed the Tenure of Service. In 2014 it had been decided that the maximum term of service for new recruits was to be 9 years. For those already on the field some flexibility could be shown but this required negotiation and each case being considered on its merit. In line with partnership and mission everywhere to everywhere, it should reduce dependency and  be part of the mutual accompaniment of living, learning, sharing people, growing together and transferring skills 20% of the annual budget was devoted to sharing people. Support for implementation was needed from partner churches; consultation should have take place sooner rather than later and involve both sending and receiving churches. PIM should be received as ‘one of our own’. At the end of contract to ensure closure the PIM needed to return home.

Succession planning and capacity building is the responsibility of the receiving church  in consultation with the PIM. The Capacity Development Fund was available to help facilitate this.

The session closed with Celine Hoiore from Tahiti leading the evening prayers. She compared our fellowship,  cooperation and partnership to the successful paddling of a Pacific canoe and we were taught a paddling song, used to keep time and steer and paddle together

The African region then met to discuss how they could be more effective in speaking with one voice  and coordinating working for common causes at various CWM fora.

 

Uneven Geography

The United Nations announced recently some success worldwide in reaching key millennium development goals (MDGs) by the lifting more than one billion people out of extreme poverty. However, a report on 110 counties between 2001-11 released by the Pew Research Centre on the number of people lifted out of poverty since the millennium shows that there has been no real rise in the numbers, constituting the global middle class. What has happened is that around 700 million of the world’s population have moved from living on $2 a day or less to the low-income world of $2-$10 a day.

As part of the MDGs many countries, Zambia included, set their sights on becoming middle income countries. China has been the most successful here with 203 million, moving into a middle-income lifestyle, though 75% of it's population still remain poor or low income. While Asia generally has done best, now having half of the world’s new middle class, jumping from 399 million to 784 million; other parts of Asia were less successful. In India for example while the poverty rate fell from 35% to 20% of the population but its middle-class only grew by 3%.

Other areas that improved were South America, Eastern Europe and Russia; with almost half the South American population now at or above middle-income status, while Europe and North America’s world share of the upper-middle income population fell from 76- 63% over the same period and the US’s proportion of high income population fell from 58-56%

In Africa 92% of the population was either poor or low-income in 2011 and according to the report in Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar and Zambia poverty increased significantly.

In Bhutan, Moldova, Ecuador, Argentina and Kazakhstan the poverty rate fell by at least 15% and the middle class increased by 15%

Factors such as conflict and falling oil and commodity prices have affected the findings for a number of economies, in the past few years, the report notes.

The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection has reported that the Kwacha’s fall in value this year is adversely affecting people’s standard of living here in Zambia and the Basic Needs Basket continues to rise in the face of a wage freeze for most of the work-force. It is obviously worse for those relying on casualisation or the informal sector with no steady income. The JCCT surveyed 5 towns in 3 Provinces earlier in the year. Its findings are in the table below.

	Mealie Meal 25kg	Basic Needs Basket	Other Living Costs
Kitwe	K71.40	K2817.00	N/A
Luanshya	K66.33	K2687.00	K1676.00
Mansa	K69.33	K2605.00	K1624.00
Ndola	K69.28	K3670.00	K2400.00
Solwezi	K76.00	K3919.00	K2662.00

 Below is the latest Basic Needs Food Basket published by the JCTR.

JCTR BASIC NEEDS BASKET: LUSAKA
JUNE 2015

(A)  COST OF BASIC FOOD ITEMS FOR A FAMILY OF FIVE IN LUSAKA

Commodity	Kwacha	Quantity	Total Kwacha
Mealie meal (breakfast)	64.57	2 x25kgs	129.14
Beans	18.00	3kgs	54.00
Kapenta (dry)	89.51	2kgs	179.02
Bream (dry)	80.71	1kg	80.71
Beef	32.64	4kgs	130.56
Dark green vegetable	4.43	4kgs	17.72
Tomatoes	6.68	4kgs	26.72
Onion, large	8.20	2kgs	16.40
Cooking oil (2.5L)	36.33	3 litres	43.60
Bread wheat, refined flour, baked	5.64	1 loaf/day	169.20
Sugar	17.90	6kgs	53.70
Mlik (fresh)	5.61	4 x 500mls	22.44
Tea, powder	31.90	1kg	31.90
Eggs	8.93	2 units	17.86
Salt	4.23	1kg	4.23
		Sub total	977.20

 

(B) COST OF ESSENTIAL NON-FOOD ITEM

Charcoal	99.43	2 x 90kgs bags	198.86
Soap (Lifebouy/Champion)	3.71	10 tablets	37.10
Wash soap (Boom)	6.08	4x400g	24.32
Jelly (eg Vaseline)	20.21	1x500mls	20.21
Electricity (medium density – fixed)	372.00		372.00
Water & Sanitation (medium cost – fixed)	325.00		325.00
Housing (medium cost – 3 bedrooms)	1,750.00		1,750.00
		Sub total	2,727.49
		Total for Basic Needs Basket	3,704.69

  

 

C) SOME OTHER ADDITIONAL COSTS
Item K                                                                                                                  Item K
Education Transport                                                                                         (bus fare round trip)
Grades 8-9 (User + PTA/year)         K400.00 – K600.00           Chilenje-Town                       K10.00
Grades 10-12 (User + PTA/year)     K650.00 – K1, 300.00       Chelstone –Town                  K10.00
School Uniform (grades 8-12)          K90.00 – K200.00              Matero-Town                        K10.00

Health (clinic)                                                                               Fuel (cost at the pump)
Registration (book)                           K3.00 - K5.00                    Petrol (per litre)                     K8.74
Self-referral (Emergency Fee)         K 5.500                               Diesel (per litre)                     K7.59
Mosquito Net (private)                      K30.00 – K120.00             Paraffin (per litre)                 K5.40

The June Basic Needs Basket is approximately US$497 based upon the exchange rate of US$7.4491

Some approximate Middle Class Salaries in Government Service: 

General Government Worker                                             K2 300

Enrolled Nurse                                                                      K2 900

Clinical Officer/RGN                                                            K3 300                                                                       

            Senior Teacher Nurse Police Officer                                   K4 000

            Medical Officer                                                                     K17 000