ZAMBIA'S FORMER PRESIDENT CHILUBA DIES

SECOND Republican president, Frederick Chiluba is dead.

The late Chiluba's spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba confirmed the death of the former president who died at his resident in Lusaka's Kabulonga area shortly after mid night on Saturday morning.

According to Mwamba, Chiluba had a normal full day and in the afternoon had meetings with his lawyers and later with some members of parliament.

He said after the meetings, Chiluba complained that he was not feeling well after 18:00 hours prompting the family to call his personal physician.

After being attended to by the doctor, he was asked to rest and insisted he was alright but went to bed around 19:00 hours.

Later in the night, his doctor was called again that his condition had worsened and was pronounced dead shortly after mid night.

His body is laying at Ambassador St. Anne's Funeral Palour.FREDERICK Chiluba is gone. His journey on this earth has ended. No one can add anything or take away anything from Chiluba today. This is how final death is. It is a definitive end of the process we call life.

All human beings must die, but death can vary in its significance. The ancient Chinese writer Szuma Chien said, “Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather.” To die having served one’s people selflessly is weightier than Mount Tai, but to live a selfish life is lighter than a feather.

Death is a mystery and yet is as real as life itself. We may not like to think about it but it is as real as the breath we take. It is only a matter of time before the announcement is made that this one or that one has died. Yesterday, it was an announcement about Chiluba’s death.

One day this announcement will be about each one of us. It is no wonder that some say that death is a great equaliser. You may be rich or poor, great or small, politically powerful or weak, but death will harvest all of us. The passing of somebody that we have known in so many ways – pleasant and unpleasant – and probably taken for granted, calls for serious reflection and deep meditation.

Sometimes, there is nothing one can do to save something that must die. And we are reminded in Ecclesiastes 2:1: “Everything that happens in this world happens at a time God chooses.

He set the time for our birth and a time for death …” We therefore have to be comfortable with the fact that one day we will die. This will help us to have a realistic view of the things that we do. It will help us to learn to value things that are important and ignore things that are not important in this life. A correct view of our mortality helps us to direct our energies in the most productive and beneficial way, in the service of the common good.

If we know that we are just passing through this world to do our small part in the relay of life, we will try our best to do those things which are good, which are useful, which are productive, which are enduring.
Although death is a difficult subject to think about, an inevitable reality that is often difficult to accept, it has a sobering effect on all of us.

Death helps us to have helpful attitude towards material possessions, how we acquire them and use them. What is the use of doing all sorts of wrong things to acquire wealth when you can leave it the very next day? None of us can guarantee that we will be around to enjoy the wealth we have acquired for ourselves. This is why it is foolish to be a thief, a plunderer, to be corrupt.
[Sydney] an  extract from THE POST

The day Hector was killed - In the words of his sister Antoinette.

We were told there was going to be change at our school, that we would do maths and geography in Afrikaans. We were surprised, and the teachers weren't pleased about it. That winter in 1976 we thought, let's see what the first term is like. We did the first term tests, and they were disastrous.
The African National Congress and Pan- Africanist Congress were banned at the time but sometimes we would discuss the issue together and eventually they told us there would be a demonstration on June 16. Obviously everyone was thrilled.
The night before, we were so anxious, trying to come up with some banners that would have a big impact. We didn't have many, though "to hell with Afrikaans" was one example. We didn't want to tell our parents.
The day itself started normally, there was no sign of anything. Every day there would be an assembly, and we would be there singing and praying. While we were praying I saw students from Morris Isaacson high school.
I was excited but because we were praying I had to restrain myself. They were singing and chanting, they put us in the mood. Soon we threw our books down and got out our placards. Everyone was waving and singing in the streets of Soweto.
Our leader told us that the police were around the school and emphasised that we weren't to provoke them, otherwise the mission would not be fulfilled. As I was having a discussion with my friends, "bang", there was a shot. We had never thought there would be violence and we ran amok in confusion, hiding ourselves in nearby houses. Later on, when it was calm, we sneaked out again. It was like hide and seek - as soon as we heard shots, we'd hide and then when it calmed down, we came out.
I told my brother to stay next to me while I figured out how we could get home. While I was talking to him there was another shot. We ran back into hiding. When I emerged, Hector wasn't there. I said to myself maybe, because he is young, he is still hiding. The best thing to do, I thought, was to wait there, where I was talking to him, so that when he emerges, he will find me. Meanwhile, students were gathering at a scene. I wanted to go and see but couldn't because I was still waiting for Hector. But when I looked closer, I saw him there with the crowd, as if he was fetching something from them, because he was very tall. I was anxious. I could see the body frame and then I saw blood coming from his mouth. I tried to let them know that this was my brother: I have been waiting for him, can't you see he is hurt? We ran to the clinic, but we could see he was finished.
There and then I understood he was dead.
I tell myself now that I have forgiven but I won't forget. It's a part of me I cannot run away from, but I want to move forward in life. I always say those who died did not die in vain. Obviously there are going to be a few hiccups before we get there, but we are now in a process and I am hoping for the best.
(Antoinette Sithole – Sister of Hector Pieterson. Sithole,then 17,is the schoolgirl in the picture running alongside Mbuyisa Makhubo who is carrying the dying Hector, aged 12, in his arms)

AFRICAN CHILD DAY-June-16-1976-soweto-student-uprising

In 1974, the National Party led South African government passed the ‘Afrikaans Medium Decree’ which mandated that all schools be taught in both English and Afrikaans. Afrikaans had to be used for mathematics, arithmetic, and social studies from the 7th grade. English would be the medium of instruction for general science and practical subjects (homecraft, needlework, woodwork, metalwork, art, agricultural science). Indigenous languages would be used for religion instruction, music, and physical culture.
A 1972 poll had found that 98% of young Sowetans did not want to be taught in Afrikaans. The association of Afrikaans with apartheid prompted black South Africans to prefer English. The 1974 decree was intended to forcibly reverse the decline of Afrikaans among black Africans.
The decree was resented deeply by blacks as Afrikaans was widely viewed, in the words of Desmond Tutu, "the language of the oppressor". The resentment grew until and children went on strike, refusing to go to school. The students formed an Action Committee (later known as the Soweto Students’ Representative Council) that organized a mass rally for June 16 to make themselves heard.
On the morning of June 16, 1976, thousands of black students walked from their schools to Orlando Stadium to protest against having to learn through Afrikaans in school. The protests were intended to be peaceful. The students began the march only to find out that police had barricaded the road along their intended route. After scuffles between marchers and police, the police opened fire into the crowd. Colonel Kleingeld, drew his handgun and fired the first shot, causing panic and chaos. Students started screaming and running and more gunshots were fired, killing 23 people, including children.
This incident triggered the uprising, which lasted for days and resulted in the deaths of between 200 and 700 people, with over a thousand injured. Photographs from the uprising were broadcast around the world and the event is seen as helping fuel the anti-apartheid movement of the 1980s which eventually brought down the racist apartheid regime.
Today as we recall the memory and sacrifice of these young people marking Youth Day, we remember the many in the world that continue to live under oppressive policies and governments. G.B Shaw once said, “We learn from history that we learn nothing from history.” Scenes such as depicted in the photograph showing the dying Hector Pieterson cradled in a fellow student’s arms continue to this date as is indicated by another similar photograph taken in Palestine.
Let us allow ourselves to be inflamed by the spirit of those students and may their courage, their awareness of injustice, their desire to do away with oppressive structures continue to fuel our own passion to fight for justice.

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY- 5th JUNE

World Environment Day (WED) is a day that stimulates awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and public action. It is on 5 June. It was the day that United Nations Conference on the Human Environment began. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was from 5-16 June 1972. It was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. The first World Environment Day was in 1973. World Environment Day is hosted every year by a different city with a different theme and is commemorated with an international exposition on the week that 5 June is on.
Under the theme 'Many Species. One Planet. One Future', Rwanda will be the Global host for this year’s event which will celebrate the incredible diversity of life on Earth as part of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity.

KEANE PEREGERINATIONS -MAY 2011

INTERNATIONAL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE 

P O Box 310300: Chelston; Lusaka; 

ZAMBIAKEANE PEREGERINATIONS 

31 May 2011

In April the Zambian Bothers were very surprised at the death of Brother John Meade in Dublin.  Further shock was felt in Ireland at the sudden death of Brother Patrick McGinnity.  Paddy died unexpectedly on Thursday, 5 May, the Founder’s Feastday.  His funeral too place in St Therèse Church, Mount Merrion, followed by burial in Deans Grange Cemetery. When in Oatlands Paddy’s room was immediately beside mine.  He customarily accompanied me to morning Mass in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Donnybrook.  May he rest in peace.Following tradition the Mater Dei District held its annual assembly at UNZA.  Proceedings were facilitated by members of the province renewal team, Michael Godfrey and Joe Mosely.  Brian Bond and Moy Hitchen of the International NGO Advocacy team.  Proceedings concluded on Thursday, Edmund’s Feast Day, with Eucharist. This was followed by supper and a celebration. The Novitiate Community attended the concluding events.

Due to the death of John Meade there was a vacancy on the District Leadership Team.  Following a decisive vote of the Brothers present the Congregation Leader appointed Brother Alfred Banda, Community Leader, St Edmund’s, Mazabuka, to the council.  This appointment met with unanimous approval. The council now consists of Seamus O’Reilly, Leader, and Zambians, Clement Sindazi, Revy Hang’andu & Alfred Banda.There was a wonderfully large assembly in St Ignatius’ Church, on Saturday, 14 May, for the Month’s Mind Mass for John Meade, celebrated by Joe Keaney SJ; reception was held later at nearby Nalabutu residence.  The attendance of religious and laity, acknowledged John’s extraordinary commitment to the Church and education in Zambia. Seamus Reilly paid a excellent and appropriate tribute to John after Mass.Sadly, another former member of the Nalubutu Road community, William Liguori Gillespie, died on Wednesday, 18^th May, in England.  Liguori spent many years in western Africa, and the ten years previous to his going home to England, in Lusaka.  May he rest in peace. His funeral takes place today {31 May.] A Memorial Mass will be offered here in Lusaka later in June.Another death!  The sad news of the death of Br John Evangelist Carroll did not come as a shock as he had been unwell for some time.  Suffering from amnesia for several years his final days were distressing.  Johnny will be remembered especially for his many years teaching courses on Founderology and Congregation History at the Roman International Tertianship.  May he rest in peace. His funeral will be on Saturday.Father Eugene O’Reilly SPA, a distinguished missionary priest in Zambia and elsewhere in Africa, died this month.  His funeral took place at the Marian Shrine, On Friday, 20 May. May he rest in peace.Also in May, commencing on Thursday, the fifth, the novices were assigned to new ministries.  These assignments range from visiting the sick at home under the auspices of Home Based Care; the Mother Teresa hostel for marginalised men and women; teaching in schools which do not receive any State aid, and which usually attract children whose education had been neglected.  This work has been challenging, but the novices are facing the difficulties with courage and determination.  Parallel with this ministry the usual schedule of classes continues on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.  The novices usually attend personal ministries on Saturday. We attended the three-day seminar on the relevance of vows in an African context at Kalemba Hall, facilitated by Martin of the Sacred Heart Brothers.Nano Nagle House is currently hosting a programme for religious in mid-life, usually preparing for leadership roles.  The usual eclectic variety of men and women religious are attending.  Our Indian Province is represented by Edwin D’Souza [Kurseong] and Sunil Britto [Shillong.]
June looks like being a busy month: besides the regular routine the CLT are coming from Rome for meetings with all Province Leaders. Philip Pinto will address a meeting open to the public here at ISC on Saturday 18 June.We were privileged to entertain a group for breakfast from Iona College. New Rochelle, New York, on 19 May.  They just arrived at the nearby international airport.  They were on their way to Mazabuka.On 8 May we were represented at the celebrations in the Cathedral of the Holy Child marking the Golden Jubilee of the local congregation, the Handmaids of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Also on 21 May some of our novices, not involved in Ministry, attended the First Profession of the Camboni Novices.We congratulate Clement Sindazi, Puriey Musunga and Sydney Muponda on the excellence and comprehensiveness of the newly-developed Mater Dei District website: < www.cbmaterdeiz.blogspot.com >.
On Thursday, 19 May, we welcomed a group from Iona College, New Rochelle, USA.  They arrived, accompanied by Br Amandi Mboya [Tanzania] early in the morning at the International Airport, on their way to Mazabuka. They were greeted by Brs  Alfred Banda [Mazabuka] and Puriey Musunga [Kabwe.] On Saturday, 21^st we welcomed a group from Oatlands College.  I was really delighted to reconnect with the Principal, Keith Ryan, who was leader.  They will visit Livingstone and then Kabwe.  They were greeted by Puriey Musunga. It gave me a thrill to meet teachers and students from Oatlands, my Irish ‘permanent’ residence.As you are possibly reading this, on 1 June, the Birthday of Blessed Edmund Rice, the Postulants from Mazabuka and the local Jesuit novices visit for Eucharist, games and braai.  An enjoyable day is in prospect.  In preparation the novices here are diligently prepared artistic production using various media.Visiting at the moment, conducting workshops at ISC is Senan D’Souza, South Africa.  When here he gave excellent advice to the novices on matters artistic.  We look forward to welcoming all Provincials who meet the CLT here next month.  Their programme involves the ISC community and novices.  Philip Pinto will conduct a public seminar here on Saturday, 18 June.1234567

Brother Liguori Gillespie r.i.p.

“In communion of Divine Life”                                                                            Until failing health took Liguori back to his native England last year, he spent many years in Africa. Seamus O’Reilly, who lived in community with him in Lusaka, Zambia, captures his memories of Liguori the day after his death on 18 May 2011.

Glory be to God for dappled things –

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;

And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim. (Gerard Manley Hopkins)

In my life as a Christian Brother I have been blessed to live with some truly beautiful men. William Liguori Gillespie was one of these. Liguori was kind and gentle, patient and occasionally impetuous, consciously laid-back and nervously anxious, compassionate and courageous, understanding and caring, interested and encouraging, inquisitive and wise, trusting and trustworthy. He was a friend and a brother.

Some years ago I visited a maritime museum in Greencastle, County Donegal, where one section is dedicated to the Gillespie family who were river pilots on Lough Foyle. One photograph shows “Black Jack Gillespie” who in stature and pose is the image of our brother Liguori. When I returned to Lusaka I began to jocosely address Liguori as “Black Jack Gillespie – poet, patriot, and pilot”. Liguori would give a wry smile but deep down he was immensely proud of his family and he delighted that we would pay homage to his ancestors.

Liguori’s father spent most of his life as a captain in the British Merchant Navy. Liguori always spoke of his father with great affection and he often related two stories about him. The first was that his father as captain of the ship always went into the galley after a meal to thank the cook. The second was that he often saw his father kneel on a chair and pray in the evening time. Liguori himself was always most gracious for any service rendered and he was a man of prayer.

Liguori spoke of a painting which hung in the dining-room of his boyhood home – a portrait of his uncle Jack in military uniform, painted by his mother. Jack was his mother’s favourite brother. He died in battle as a young man in the First World War and was buried in Flanders. He symbolized the total commitment that Liguori pledged to the Congregation of Christian Brothers.

In his schooldays, Liguori was a competent scrum-half. He retained a keen interest in rugby and rejoiced in England’s victories. The successes of Liverpool always brought delight to his heart.

Liguori overlooking the Zambezi River

At times, he could be a bit impish and he often displayed a rogue’s twinkle in his eye. Occasionally he would recall the time he was chastised at school after he impetuously mashed a banana and push it down the back of a fellow pupil’s shirt. He once made what I considered to be a profound statement. He had been pulled aside by traffic-police for a very minor traffic offence. In the course of his exchange with the police officer, Liguori announced: “Rules are for the guidance of the wise and the obedience of the foolish”. I asked him from whom he was quoting and he told me he made it up himself. I was impressed but I don’t think the policeman was.

Liguori loved study. He recalled happy days in Cambridge when the well-known Australian Brother Irenaeus McCarthy would cause bedlam in the community by asking outrageous questions of the then community leader. Liguori had a wonderful inquisitive mind and when he was in Berkeley he explored many areas. He caused me to smile as he related how he became involved with a Buddhist prayer group whose mantra was “I don’t know”. He delved in the mystery of dreams with Jeremy Taylor, and also sat in utter silence with the Society of Friends.

Liguori loved teaching and sharing his fund of knowledge with young people. During his years in Lusaka he taught Scripture to young religious. He was intent on revealing to young people that Jesus was a Jew. He loved to celebrate Jewish meals and rituals with his students so that he could convey to them the real meaning of Jesus’ message. He also attended the Jewish synagogue here in Lusaka on a number of occasions and met regularly with a small group to study the week’s portion of the Torah.

He had extraordinary patience with the poor and the sick. During his years in Lusaka, he visited the bedridden AIDS sufferers at Mother Teresa’s hospice every day. He spent hours with them, reading them newspapers, holding their hands and praying with them. He provided them with an experience of kindness and compassion.

He could also be impetuous and impatient. As a young man he longed to be the ideal Christian Brother but alas he was conscious of fragile areas in his life. Impetuously he endeavoured to meet and speak with Chiara Lubec, the foundress of the Focolari, but a minder prevented him from having a conversation with her. He did however meet and talk with St Padre Pio, whose only comment to him was “Pazienza, pazienza”.

Liguori loved Africa, and Sierra Leone Liberia and Zambia in particular. He had a deep respect for African culture and on at least one occasion he encouraged Brothers to beat out a haunting African rhythm on individual drums as they sat in the community oratory and allowed themselves to be embraced by the loving presence of the Divine.

Liguori was basically a simple man. His material needs were small, though he had a wonderful curiosity for new ideas. He was a tremendous listener and was very life-giving to people he accompanied on their spiritual journey. I had the wonderful privilege to live with him. I was absolutely certain that he was my friend who would celebrate with me by sharing a glass of whiskey, and who could cry with me when we had occasion to share our pain and our brokenness. He was a true brother of Christ, of Edmund Rice, and of each of us. We retain vivid life-giving memories and we are most grateful to his parents and his brothers and sister who generously gifted us, the sons of Blessed Edmund Rice, with Liguori.

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. (Keats)

 [Seamus O’Reilly]

Christian Brother-Zambia DLT 

May 2011

WHAT YOU SEE IS POVERTY- By Chewe Stephen

Zambia must realize that, more than ever before, its greatest resource is its people and that it is through their active and full participation that Zambia can surmount the difficulties that lie ahead (South Commission). But the difficulty that we have to realize is that poor people live without fundamental freedom of action and choice that the well off take for granted. They always lack adequate food and shelter especially when it is raining, which makes it difficult for them to find a job that will enable them meet their basic needs.

The poor also lack access to education, information and health.  At the beginning of the year two of our girls made it to grade ten. These girls spent their morning in school, and the afternoon selling locally made brooms. The money they raised was spent on their school fees, which were at K170, 000 per person per term. This was how they spent their time in grade eight and nine.

After introducing games at our project they started coming for games. They did this by dividing their time and how they did it I do not know. The girls up to now have no money to pay ZMK1, 000,000, the equivalent $200. The Edmund Rice Youth Project coordinator and his assistant have talked to the headmaster of the school they attend to allow them to learn while they help in sourcing the needed money with the girls.

The poor also face extreme vulnerability to ill health; HIV/AIDS is the case in point. Most of our youth have no parents. Almost every two days Good Samaritan Center (the centre that host ERYP) takes someone to the hospital or a family for burial. These are just some of the problems our project and our people are facing. The experience of multiple deprivations is huge and painful. Our people’s description of what living in poverty means bears a more self explanatory testimony to their pain.  A quote from the world development report summarizes everything; “don’t ask me what poverty is because you have met it outside my house. Look at the house and count the number of hole. Look at the utensils and the cloths I am wearing. Look at everything and write what you see. What you see is poverty.”