A few final photos - this time from Botswana!

The Perspective of Joe Hayes, SJ

We wanted to interview Fr. Joe Hayes - Rector of LHS,  but he only had time for one question: what have been your assignments as a Jesuit in Zambia. Below, he shares his personal account, as well as more history on Jesuit Apostolates in the area. 

I came to Zambia as a young Irish Jesuit Priest in 1977. I cannot say I came as a missionary but as a Christian educator. I believed in the power of education to transform a society that I believed had been exploited for its resources for generations. Through education leaders would own their own power and transform their own societies. As a young Africa for Africans emerged the power of dedicated, educated professionals would wipe away the horrors of apartheid, poverty and exploitation. Zambia and its neighbor Tanzania were ruled by creative Presidents that blended Christianity with impressive human values. Fifteen years of independence however manifested economies in decline and an educational system that was bringing about very limited transformation. Soon the tragedy of Hiv/Aids was to wipe out large numbers of the generation that had gone through our educational institutions. After 10 years working as an educator, I returned to University to study relationship education and human development with a view to helping prepare such courses to introduce into our schools. Five years ago I retired from work in formal educational institutions to set up what I called a leadership development centre for teachers working in the field. This idea came from collaboration with a Jewish friend who donated her house for the purpose. We both felt that, while teachers were in the forefront of transforming young attitudes and values, many had to do so without much support and much time for the level of reflection needed to work beyond their formal academic training. This project continues as it explores ways to offer such supportive structures and such compassionate challenge. My own presence within it was interrupted by being invited to move to the Capitol City Lusaka to help develop an existing school into a Jesuit Secondary School. I was glad to do so as this would be our first Jesuit Secondary School in the Capitol City at a time when the emerging middle classes seek to have their professional lives imbibed with Christian values as they face the complicated cultural changes of our modern world. The school has great potential to play its transforming role and its emergence is particularly opportune as we are blessed with many young Zambian/Malawian Jesuits who see a life as a Jesuit educator as a very important one to transform their society for the Glory of God and to, hopefully, produce graduates and develop collaborators who will be persons of compassion, competence, and conscience.

Transforming the World through Education.

The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) was founded to co-operate with Jesus of Nazareth whom they knew to be the Christ in celebrating and mirroring God building the Kingdom. This commitment would be concretely shown in their mission with Jesus, the Christ that all people would have life and have it to the full. Such a mission in the context of Northern Rhodesia had to be discerned and worked out against the background of a British Colonial Government that was promoting what they called adaptive education. Adaptive education was a system that made primary level education available to selected Zambians. The selection was based on the judgment of the colonial power.

 The Jesuits set up a network of primary schools from Katondwe, through Kasisi to Chikuni.  When Fr. Zabdyr  left Chikuni in 1950 he, his Jesuit brothers and their collaborators had left behind 48 primary schools.  Fr. Moreau focused his educational thrust into improving agricultural methods for the adult population. Jesuits like Fr. Prokoph developed primary teacher training and broke through the colonial ceiling to develop secondary education at Canisius College. This school would rank with Munali Boys’ Government School and Chipembi Girls in preparing young men and women to continue the movement towards self-determination. Munali and  Canisius would be the only schools that offered A- level education to Zambians aspiring towards higher education. Unlike Munali, Canisius admitted girls into the sixth form. Central to the dream of Fr. Prokoph for a liberated Zambia was his desire to improve girls’ education. To break through the reluctance of parents to let their daughters access education, he persuaded Bishop Chichester, Archbishop of Harare to loan him some Sisters to model a way of expressing oneself as a woman other than through becoming a wife and mother. This led to the formation of the Society we now call the Handmaid Sisters. Their example helped to open doors to higher education for girls. Jesuits have continued this commitment to girl’s education through their work and through their particular support for F.A.W.E.Z.A., the Forum for African Women Educators in Zambia.

                 As the Country moved through Independence the Jesuits collaborated with the Government’s desire to offer education of the highest level to its entire people. Bishop Corboy  of  Monze and Fr. Colm O’Riordon  organized the Education section of the Catholic Secretariat. This became the educational administrative wing of the Zambia Episcopal Conference. Many religious educational congregations were invited to come to Zambia to open Educational Institutions. The lay missionary teachers’ scheme was devised by Colm O’ Riordon and approved and funded by government. The scheme attracted  teachers from abroad to help staff the new secondary and third level  colleges until the local supply of staff proved adequate.  Allied with the new Governments’ commitment to have major educational institutions in all the Provinces of Zambia, the Jesuits supported the Bishops to develop faith- inspired educational institutions in most of the provinces. The dream of Canisius to transform society through education inspired by Christian values expanded through providing Jesuits and their collaborators as lecturers and chaplains in the emerging Government and aided third level Institutions. Charles Lwanga Teacher Training College, Chalimbana Teacher Training College, Evelyn Hone College, the University Training Hospital, Nkrumah and Copperbelt Secondary Teacher Training Colleges all had Jesuit support. Jesuits are proud of their long involvement with the National University, the Copperbelt University, and the Catholic University from their inception and through their up-building.

 The Jesuit thrust to transform society through education “that all may have life and have it to the full” was not confined to formal educational institutions. From the time of Fr. Moreau S.J. it included education to transform agricultural methods. Trade schools were run in most parishes till they were replaced by  vocational institutions. A training school in organic farming developed at Kasisi. Developmental education inspired by the work of Paulo Friere expanded outwards from Chikuni and Monze. The goal of developmental education was to help communities become initiators of their own development. The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection was founded to support the promotion of  faith and justice and to remind all that such a responsibility must pervade all Christian lives. As the government liberalized its concept of exercising power, Jesuits worked with electronic media through collaborating with Z.N.B.C in educational television,  worked in and with Radio Chingelo and radio Yetsani and set up and are now running Loyola Productions and Chikuni Radio Station. The Print media is also given importance through the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection and  Mukanzubo Cultural Centre Publications, the writings of individual Jesuits, collaboration with Challenge Magazine and the running of the now defunct Tresianum Press. Jesuits like Fr. Michael J. Kelly developed the concept of a community school and helped coordinate them, especially through Z.O.C.S (Zambia Open Community Schools Secretariat). In Chikuni  Jesuits developed and run  the Taonga (Interactive Radio Institution) Schools. In Taonga schools radio is used to reach those who would not otherwise receive a formal education.  AID’s Education, AID’s management, AID’s care and  AID’s counselling training were given by Jesuits through the Family Life Movement, Kara Counselling and the work and research of Michael J. and Michael T. Kelly.  All the above were and are initiatives to touch people where they are and to celebrate God’s passion to liberate people from all unhealthy constraints.

             Morreau, Zabdyr,Prokoph and their Jesuit and lay collaborators could be called the pillars upon which the transforming educational impact of Chikuni and Canisius were built.  Frs.Torrend in Kasisi, Frs. Waligora in Katondwe, Cardinal Adam Kozlowiecki and Frs. Vincent Cichecki in Lusaka can be called the pillars of the transformation through Jesuit education in the Central Province of Zambia.  Fr.Torrend was a languages specialist and alongside the Missionaries of Africa in the North and East and the Capucians in the West developed the language tools needed to transform oral languages into written ones.  On the Jesuit front this inspiration would continue through the work of Muganzubo Cultural Centre. Other initiatives were the Kasisi Orphanage and schools which are now run by the Little Servants of Mary Immaculate and their collaborators. The Kasisi Orphanage and schools, along with those in Katondwe offered an educational base that has produced many alumni who have continued to play an important role in the development of Zambia. A minor seminary was built in Kabwe. This initiative brought Jesuits from Oregon, U.S.A to join the educational enterprise. Two years ago the Jesuits were invited to take over the ownership and management of Leopard’s Hill Secondary School.

                            In 1992 the Zambian Province expanded to become the Zambia/Malawi Province. Jesuits had earlier worked in Malawi in Kachebere Major Seminary. Now the Jesuit presence increased as they took responsibility for the management and staffing of Zomba Major Seminary. They also collaborated in the expansion of family life education in Lilongwe, accepted chaplaincies in many third level institutions there and helped the Episcopal Conference set up radio stations. Third level distance education for refugees was operated through the Jesuit Refugee Services.  An institute was opened to train people in ecology and the use of fuel-efficient stoves. In Blantyre a Jesuit doctor is serving as a surgeon and helping train the medical staff at St. Luke’s Hospital. In Kasungu the Jesuits are presently helping improve the local primary educational system and collaborating with government in running social services and aids care. In the formal educational sector, they are developing a Jesuit primary school and a national co-educational secondary school. Kasungu is a town surrounded by tobacco farms and its location makes it ideal to tap into the creativity of the three major provinces in Malawi.

The greatest education transformation of the Jesuits in Zambia and Malawi is that many young men are choosing to become Jesuits.  They are thus transcending their families of origin and the families they themselves could have originated and accepting to express in their lives the dreams of the Family of God. These dreams, as mentioned before, want all persons to know they are special and to share the joy and fullness of life that God wants for each of us. Jesuits commit themselves to the MAGIS (the more.) They and their collaborators will never rest nor be satisfied as long as one person is still in chains in any part of the world.     (Joe Hayes)         

Dinner at St. Ignatius

Proving that the hospitality of the Jesuits is never exhausted, we were hosted for dinner on the last night of the collaboration by the community of the Jesuit parish in Lusaka.

Not surprisingly, the parish is named St Ignatius, and by all accounts it is flourishing. They have seven masses on a weekend including one in French and a children’s mass. Though we weren’t able to see the inside of the building, before we left we took a few moments to pray at their beautiful grotto of Our Lady of Peace.

Three Jesuits are in residence at the parish: Frs. Joe and John work in the parish – one Irishman, one Zambian, and Fr. Charles lives there while he is doing work in communications with Loyola Productions Zambia.

Fr. Simon from Loyola Malawi, a workshop attendee, is also staying at the residence. Over dinner he remembered with fondness his years at Boston College and Weston Jesuit – though he is Malawian, he has done many of his studies in Boston.

We were halfway through dessert when we realized that the cake we had been devouring said “Happy Birthday Fr. John”. One of the Jesuits was sharing his birthday cake with us, which was just another sign of the extraordinary generosity and humility of the many people who have welcomed us in Lusaka.

"How do you eat a flying ant?": Some notes on Zambian Cuisine

Mrs. Pope’s eyes grew wide at dinner with the Jesuit community when Ms. Lungu mentioned that for a few months in the fall the air fills with flying ants and Zambians eat them. After Mrs. Pope inquired about their method, Ms. Lungu laughed and said “the air is full of them – we catch them!” And we’re still not sure if she was joking or not.

Most Zambian foods are much tamer than flying ants. Their staple is nshima, a thick cornmeal served at most meals and called the “Five-Finger food”. Along with nshima and rice meals usually include combinations of stews, vegetables, and sauces. Traditionally Zambians use their five fingers to form bits of nshima into a ball and use it to lift up the stews and other sides.

We were surprised that most meals are served with a salad of what we would call cole slaw, or at times potato salad. Having these picnic staples at almost every meal have made it much easier to be away from home during the summer.

Another local item is caterpillar, which can be found everywhere from convenience stores to set dinner tables. Only Mr. Huynh and Mr. Bonina were brave enough to try those – be sure to ask them about the caterpillars in September.

Since Lusaka is a big city there are lots of restaurants with different types of food. There is a large Chinese population in the city and the Chinese restaurants you would expect along with it. We also saw Italian, steakhouses, pizza, fast food, and a Subway restaurant.

Of course, our team found the one Irish pub and enjoyed introducing one of the Zambian scholastics to some of “our” cuisine.

Each of the meals has introduced us to new tastes (usually with a hearty side of nshima). What we have enjoyed most, of course, is the company we have had, dining alongside of us and introducing us to ever more Zambian culture.

Collaboration Day Three: Go Set the World Aflame!

Our final day of collaboration was busy and exciting as the team split into workshops to share practical ideas with our Zambian colleagues. There was a lot of excitement around starting new programs at LHS; our hope was to leave them with our examples and some practical tips for getting programs off the ground.

Mr. Huynh and Ms. Felice talked about retreats and service programs, conveniently setting up their workshop location outside next to the pool. Mr. Bonina and Mr. McGonagle talked about Faculty Formation, and Mrs. Pope shared resources about Guidance programs and cura personalis.

One step LHS took to move forward was the creation of committees to move forward with some of these initiatives, so they now have teams to work on service, retreats, faculty formation, Grad at Grad, Profile of the Educator, and cura personalis.

Not only did they leave with drafts of documents and ideas for student programs, they seemed to leave with optimism and determination. We can’t wait to see what develops from these days of reflection and sharing.

We were graciously thanked by representatives from LHS, St Mary’s, and Loyola Malawi. Fr. Joe Hayes, president of LHS, chose Ignatius’s Suscipe as our closing prayer. He invited us all to speak aloud and end the day by petitioning together:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,

my memory, my understanding,

and my entire will,

All I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.

To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.

Give me only your love and your grace,

that is enough for me.

Collaboration Day Two: Educators forming Graduates

Everyone came back! Since the educators from Leopards Hill School and the other local Jesuit schools returned for a second day, we were even more confident that the Spirit was working and people were excited about our conversations.

The task for the morning was to introduce some Jesuit terms. A quiz: How many of these could you define?

·      Magis

·      Contemplatives in Action

·      Discernment

·      First Principle and Foundation

·      Men and Women for Others

·      Cura Personalis

·      Freedom and Detachment

·      Servant Leadership

·      Finding God in All Things

·      Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam

Each member of our team prepared two of these topics for “Speaking Ignatian” lightning rounds. Participants could choose from among these topics to learn more about in a quick introduction to the theme. Many groups were able to compare their topics to experiences they have already had in their lives, and even this week.

We returned to the topic of the Graduate and Graduation, inviting faculty to work together to draft five characteristics that they wanted to draw out of their students. The consensus was “Loving”, “Hard-working” “God-respecting” “Innovative” and “Knowledgeable”.  It was a privilege to listen to their conversations about goals for their students, and about difficult questions in their community such as how to be inclusive of all faiths in a Catholic environment.

How does one play a role at forming the Graduate at Graduation? By being an excellent educator. For that reason, we moved on to shaping a “Profile of an Educator”, challenging the faculty to consider what it takes to be an exemplary teacher at Leopards Hill Jesuit Secondary School.

A moving moment for the BC High team came during the discussion of the Profile of the Educator, when we described the extraordinary life and career of Sheila Becker-Gailius. Her model of teaching had an impact on many of us and we were honored to share her story with team from LHS.

A highlight of the afternoon was a visit from the Fr. Emmanuel Mumba, SJ, Provincial of the Zambia-Malawi province. At the end of the day he addressed the group and expressed his hope that the energy at our workshop would continue in the local schools.

In the evening we were dinner guests at the Jesuit house in Lusaka. Because many Jesuits are lecturers at the University of Zambia, their house is right across the street and is also home to the Jesuit curia and Provincial’s office. In addition to the two scholastics who work at the school, Edson and Mark, we had dinner with three other Jesuits who hail from Ireland and America. One of them came to Zambia more than fifty years ago to do his regency – “just for two years.”

They have a magnificent garden in the back, with vegetation that is green year round and countless vegetables and flowers. We had an up close view of kumquaats, passionfruit, and papaya, as well as thick bamboo stalks growing as tall as the largest evergreen in the northeast. A few of us considered giving up future summer breaks and coming back to work in their garden!