A Chinese traveller is taking photos of market vendors in Bulawayo (Photo: Travel.fengniao.com)

According to UK’s The Guardian, researchers at AidData, at the College of William and Mary, have spent 18 months compiling and encoding thousands of media reports to construct the database, and hope users will contribute further detail on the projects.

There are 127 China-funded projects that spring up if you put ‘Zimbabwe’ into the search box. ‘Nigeria’ calls up 40 search results while the AidData’s researchers have calculated only 35 China development-finance-supported projects in South Africa. 

For someone keeping an eye on Zimbabwe’s religious context, it might be interesting to notice that two of the 127 publicly reported projects were directly connected to faith-related initiatives.

• In November 2002, the Chinese Embassy handed over USD 1.9 million worth of goods to the City of Harare Mayor’s ‘Christmas Cheer Fund.’ The exchange occurred between the Mayor’s wife Jabu Mudzuri and the wife of the Chinese Ambassador, Zaofen Yuan.The donation consisted of 500kg of rice, 100 baby blankets, 100 stationery kits (school bags and pencils etc), 100 t-shirts, 50 toys and sweets. 
• On November 4, 2011 President Robert Mugabe and his wife attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Grace Mugabe Foundation’s Orphanage school in Mazowe. China’s Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group is responsible for the building the complex at a cost of CNY 50 million [USD 8,140,000 if converted today].

Maybe some of you know of more projects financially supported by China? What would be the accountability procedures for the donated funds and goods? 

See related material

The Chinese help nuns to build a school in Chegutu 

Not so long ago Harare’s premier street 1^st Street was home to street theatre where different groups fiercely competed for attention from passersby, but that phenomenon is gone having replaced by let us call them street preachers.

Under the scorching sun with pitched voices man clad in suits clenching bibles are now a daily feature in the country.

In a country where 80 percent of the populace is unemployed the message from street preachers is usually that of deliverance towards a much sought job.

While many follow the preachers fervently others that I bumped into said they have nothing better today or at least have no food to eat.

Thus listening to the street preachers is an alternative lunch albeit of the soul for a cash strapped populace.

Recently I chose to skip lunch, took a stroll down 1^st street and watched people following sermons delivered by sweating man and women.

Last week I counted at least five preachers who apart from preaching also prophesised and casted out demons.

I sometimes wonder if we suddenly have more churches than is necessary or it is just that we are charged with religious verve that it has spilled to the streets where thieves once ruled supreme.

But as I listened to one youthful preacher my heart broke—I was not touched by his sermons but rather by his youthfulness.

Articulate in English and smartly dressed and apparently streetwise the young man, barely 25, could pass for anything but preacher.

I reasoned why the guy was not at work and the answer was an obvious one—there is just no work around.

Without work many people are seeking the heaven rewards which read by some promises riches after life.

Street preachers have taken the country by storm and for a long time we will have them until at least there are replaced by another phenomenon along the fast lane we call 1^st street in Harare.

The country’s new constitution, overwhelmingly voted for by 94, 5% of voters on March 16 this year, is an affront to the Christian faith. At face value, it would appear this “negotiated” governance charter was probably the best under the circumstances.

Reading the fine print, however, reveals a more disturbing reality.

While we purport that Zimbabwe is, to a greater extent, a Christian nation, a look at the new charter shows that, for all its “democratic value”, it opens up this nation to the proliferation of evil. Although most of those who spearheaded the “Yes Vote” campaign took a rather parochial view of the draft, the more subtle spiritual undertones were ignored.

It is quite unfortunate that for the majority of Christians in this country, political matters are often dismissed as “worldly”. Contentious issues in the new supreme law — such as abortion, homosexuality and freedom of expression — are so loosely crafted that they are open to manipulation.

Section 48 (3) provides for permissive abortion. It reads: “An Act of Parliament must protect the lives of unborn children, and that Act must provide that pregnancy may be terminated only in accordance with the law.” It does not, however, proffer a constitutional framework within which such pregnancy could be terminated.

Legislators of the day, under this law, can, therefore, give a nod to abortion. The Church has over the passage of time contended that abortion should only be allowed if the pregnancy is an outcome of rape or threatens the life either of the mother or the unborn child. This, sadly, has not been captured in the new charter.

Section 60 (1) (a) and (b) guarantee every citizen’s right to freedom of conscience, thought, opinion, religion and belief. This provision is too wide, so wide that it can accommodate ungodly practices such as satanism, or anything that a “democratic” society can possibly recognise. It implies that one has a right to any kind of religion or belief. Sub section (b), in particular, promotes “freedom to practice and propagate and give expression to their thought, opinion, religion or belief, whether in public or in private and whether alone or together with others.”

While the Constitution’s preamble acknowledges the “Almighty God” this is merely symbolic as the God is undefined and there is no other such reference throughout the supreme law.

But perhaps the most contentious provisions are those on same sex unions and relationships. Although the new constitution prohibits same-sex marriages in Section 78 (3), it does not outlaw same-sex unions and partnerships. And in a democratic society based on openness, justice, human dignity, equality and freedom, same-sex unions are regarded as marriage and are protected under the Constitution. The right of every person who has attained the age of eighteen (18) years to found a family as contained in section 78(1) of the Constitution accommodates people of the same sex to found a family as consistent with their sexual orientation.

The Biblical positions regarding the so-called same-sex marriages and relationships are too loud to repeat here (Genesis 18 and 19, Romans 1:26-27 and Jude 7) suffice to say that the Christian faith is increasingly under threat from this dragon before which one nation after another is bowing.

France recently became the latest in a raft of countries, starting off with the Netherlands in 2001, to give the nod to gay marriages. There are about 19 countries worldwide were gay marriages are recognised.

What is very clear is that there are rigorous efforts across the globe for every nation to succumb to homosexuality and embrace it as a normal and acceptable practice. The frightening reality is that governments will not be able to stop the relentless march of this dragon.

It is quite unfortunate that for too long, Christians have been caught napping, distancing themselves from political processes that ultimately have a bearing on their faith as is the case with this Constitution. The draft was overwhelmingly voted for by Zimbabweans, including Christians. What is heartbreaking is that the majority of these people did not study the draft, but gave politicians the opportunity to decide for them.

Although the Church could have fought for the preservation of the Christian faith Zimbabwe during the time when the Second All-Stakeholders’ Conference was held, it was denied the opportunity. Out of the 240 delegates meant to represent the interests of the Church, only seven were allowed in. This was too little a number to coalesce the push for such fundamental issues.

There is a drive across the world, especially in Europe, to stop the preaching of the Gospel which is being classified as “hate speech”. What this implies is that you can not preach Romans Chapter 1, which describes same sex unions as “vile” and “unseemly”, because you risk contravening the law against hate speech.

In an attack on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai after he had spoken against homosexuality at a rally in Glen View on March 8, the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (Galz), stood on the new Constitution and rapped the Premier. They “rightly” argued that he had violated the constitutional provision which says: “United in our diversity by our desire for freedom, justice and equality, and our heroic resistance to colonialism, racism and all forms of domination . . .”

It is important to note that the fight for ‘human rights’ in its advent — especially with regards to minorities — was primarily a question of race. It then moved to women, then paedophiles etc. Today’s fight for minorities has embraced homosexuals.

On May 7 this year, a group calling itself Concerned Christians, will lobby Parliament to make “technical changes” to some of the provisions they feel make the new Constitution too secular and liberal, thereby a perversion of values they hold most dear.

The Christian Change of Hearts Movement mushroomed after some critics doubted the authenticity of a survey that had reported that 80% of Zimbabweans are Christians. Critics say that, if Zimbabwe is dominated by Christians, the country would not have so much conflict, violence, military involvement in politics, and political disharmony among other things.

However, the movement insists that the Southern African country is Christian dominated but there is need for people to change their hearts.

They are distributing a two-page document (CHRISTIAN CHANGE OF HEART MOVEMENT, NOV. 2012) with the encouragement that “Each one of us, as individuals, needs to examine our own conscience, motives and mindset, and try to correct those weaknesses or wrongs in our attitude and behaviour.”

Personally, I think the Church should not tell people how to vote unless there is a very serious reason. Especially this constitutional vote should have been left to the people themselves to decide. There were good reasons to vote YES, but equally there were good reasons also to vote NO. The new Constitution limits the terms which the President may serve to two terms of five years each. That is progress. –The power of the President could be said was the most important issue. — Human rights are all  there and, it is hoped, will be upheld by the Constitutional Court (still to be established). Citizenship is better  defined and safe-guarded than in existing legislation. Humam dignity, the right to life and personal liberty are clearly expressed. Last but not least the Preamble implores “the guidance and support of Almighty God”.

But there were  also serious  deficiencies in the process of drafting this Constitution and in the fundamental law eventually  produced. Many citizens were not really free to express their opinions regarding the Constitution, and the time they had to study the draft before making up their minds about voting for or against was much too short. 

The President has still enormous powers. He appoints the members of all important Commissions. All on his own, he may declare war as well as a state of emergency.  He has great powers even in Parliament, and Parliament  does not limit his powers. Even though the “separation of powers” is said to be one of the basic principles of  governance in Zimbabwe.

The death penalty has not been completely abolished,  which sems to contradict the right to life. In this day and age the state just should not have the right to take life. Far too often in today’s world the state itself is guilty of murder and random killings. Unborn life, as well as the mother’s, should be fully protected. 

Parliament (lower house and senate) is much too large. Zimbabwe cannot afford the enormous expence.

In order to establish a democratic culture, it would have been good if all citizens had cast their votes at this Referendum. It is regrettable that only 55 % did so. However, I  have sympathy with citizens who wanted to express their displeasure with the entire constitutional process by abstaining from voting.  

Regardless of whether we voted or not, voted YES or NO, we, all of us, have to be very watchful to see if this Constitution will be honoured and translated into action. For instance, civil servants, soldiers and police are required to remain politically neutral and non-partisan. Well and good. But in practice, until this very moment, police takes “political” orders  and disregards court orders with impunity. This must stop. Or else we will know that drafting, and voting for, this Consttituion was a waste of time. 

But besides the hullabaloo of where he draws his miracles and powers, Uebert Angel’s life behind public glare is that of an unheralded philanthropist. Through the Hand of Mercy (H.O.M.E), an arm of Spirit Embassy, the youthful Angel has helped thousands of needy and vulnerable people in Zimbabwe and the region.

Home was launched at the inception of the ministry in 2007 with an ambitious programme to assist the downtrodden, outcasts and less privileged people in society.

“The patron of Home, prophetess Beverly Angel, wife to Uebert Angel, together with her husband, has been ministering to the poor, the marginalised and less privileged of our society since the inception of the ministry,” said Spirit Embassy official pastor Mike.

“It has not been an afterthought, but rather a core facet to the ministry.”

Home has adopted multitudes of families under its Adopt a Family Scheme. The families get supplies of groceries monthly and some of them have school fees for their minors paid.

It also runs a soup kitchen for the elderly at Bako reDonhodzo in Highfields, Harare. Every Friday, Beverly and the Home team serve full course meals to the elderly at Bako reDonhodzo.

“The elderly now have something to look forward to every week,” pastor Mike said. “The Hand of Mercy also makes it its responsibility to provide toiletries, clothes and blankets to the elderly at this home and to do just about anything with the potential of bringing a smile onto faces of the elderly and making their living conditions hospitable.”

In Mutare, Angel and his wife fed, clothed the elderly at the Zororai Old People’s Home. Beverley has also donated blankets, sheets, pillowcases and various medical consumables worth thousands of dollars to Mutare General Hospital.

Angel’s scope of help goes beyond Zimbabwe. In Botswana the couple adopted a 74-year-old widow Jessie Molahlehqi and her four grandchildren who were living in appalling and abject poverty.

“She had no means to cater for her four dependents and was relieved to know that all material needs such as clothing, food and full scholarships for her four dependents was to be provided by the couple (Angel and Beverley),” the official said.

“On top of that, the prophets Uebert and Beverly Angel built for her a well-furnished and air conditioned three-bedroomed house, changing her gloomy life into bliss. Prophet Uebert Angel himself was involved in the building process, pushing wheelbarrows and doing shovel work.”

In Zambia, Beverly donated various hospital materials worth thousands of dollars to the University of Zambia, said the ministry’s website. The exact figures of the donation were not provided. The donation included bedding material and other essential items.

After the donation, the dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Zambia said: “We rely on the government for any support in terms of medical equipment and material needs. No one has ever come on board like you have.

“To impact the community and the hospital like you have done is really a welcome breath of fresh air and relief in times of ailing. For us really, your initiative of putting on board our wards and specifically, Ward E22, is a moment that must be underlined.”

In response Beverley said: “The word of God says, true religion is helping those who are in need. The Bible also says that when someone asks you for something and you can see that they are struggling, you don’t say, ‘God bless you’ and leave them as they are. If you have the money in your pocket, you take out your money and you change someone’s situation with it.”

The couple has since identified and adopted 10 primary schools in the country in Matabeleland, Manicaland, Mashonaland and Masvingo.

“The couple will be paying fees for the entire school, making a huge difference in these communities. We are going to inform you, should we have the liberty to do so, of the amount that they will use under the scheme to be named Adopt a School scheme,” Angel’s spokesperson said.

The new pope seems set on the revival and renewal of the church. A day after he was elected, he called for a return to the church’s roots and warned that the church, which has been at the centre of many scandals risked becoming little more than a charity with no spiritual foundations if it failed to undergo renewal.

When he celebrated his first mass as pope, Francis I told Catholic Cardinals that the church could “end up a compassionate NGO,” and also warned them against “the worldliness of the devil”. As cardinal, he was critical of Argentina’s decision to legalise same-sex marriage, calling it “a destructive attack on God’s plan.” He also opposed gay people’s adopting children.

I hope that his stance resonates with the whole body of Christ, and not just the Catholic Church, and that the Church revisits the importance of the Lord’s presence in Genesis 18 before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. 

One of the three visitors was the Lord God himself and in verses 16 to 18 before Abraham pleaded for Sodom and the Scripture reads: “When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.

Then the Lord said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

As believers we trace our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ through Abraham. Which means that we are part of the household after Abraham that is expected to keep the way of the Lord, by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he had promised him. We can interpret in various ways in order to accommodate homosexuality, but this Scripture forms the basis of what the Lord desires of us. The world waits patiently to hear about the renewal that Pope Francis is seeking.

What does the word of God say about renewal and revival? A commonly used scripture is 2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV (King James Version): “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Hope Ministries (www.hopeministries.biz) says: God wants His people to return to the point before they displeased God, to enter back into the relationship with Him, to repent of their sins and allow Him to bless them.

God wants his people to stop disobeying Him, to stop doing evil, to put away our wicked ways, and live lives of righteousness, according to His will and His standards. God wants His people to live our lives choosing to do good and choosing not to do evil, to be blameless, that is; to be righteous.

We find an example of this in the Bible when God spoke to Abram or, as he became known Abraham and told him to live his life in a blame manner, or to walk before God and be righteous. (Genesis 17:1)

Jesus gives a similar command in Mathew chapter 5, as the one God gave to Abraham in Genesis chapter 17. “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”. (Matthew 5:48 NASB) 

To add, “To use New Testament terminology, to turn from your wicked ways is calling His people to repent from their sins. What is repentance? Repentance is changing our thought process to think in the ways of the Kingdom of God, instead of thinking in the ways of the world. Romans 12:2 says it more clearly,

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect”.
Pope Francis’ humility and rejection of pomp and ceremony has already earned him admiration from various quarters, including non-Catholics. He has given the Church body hope and an opportunity to do some introspection and return to the basics about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We pray that the Spirit of the Lord will guide him always as he leads the Catholic Church back to the basics as they are written in the Bible.

From superstitious people reportedly fatally tempering with an anti-tank mine hoping to extract chemicals worth millions of dollars from within the lethal weapon to outrageous miracle claims by boy-faced preachers seemingly failing to outgrow childhood fantasies.

We have also seen the media surprisingly elevating some of these primitive shenanigans to matters of national prominence.

We live in today’s intellectual climate of non-judgmentalism and tolerance, and as such we must be careful what we condemn and how we do so. In the name of adopting secularism we have all of a sudden become a nation of heretics, if some of what is happening in the Christian community is anything to go by.

Apart from the egregious deception and treachery by the people we call politicians, the other real corrosive force of our day is the unbiblical and self-serving influence coming from within the Christian community itself, or is it precisely from within the highly commercialised church movement?

We have prosperity gospel preachers, self-anointed prophets, and self-styled miracle workers, Christological revisionists both in the professoriate and in the media, anodyne spiritualists and other religious charlatans who wrongly appropriate Christianity for self-aggrandisement, or for selfish political ends.

The result of this is a Zimbabwe fast departing from the orthodox Christian search for spiritual transcendence, getting more inclined towards a search for materialistic gratification.

There is an implicit rejection of the divinity of Jesus Christ, and we have this generation of accommodationist prosperity gospel preachers who continually empty Christianity of almost anything that has the potential to offend the sensibilities of a sinning world.

Today we have mushrooming churches that are breeding multitudes of believers with a blasé attitude towards sin and wickedness — an abominable lot with a dismissive attitude towards ordinary moral obligations. This is precisely why it is no longer news that a pastor rapes a 15 year old girl, or that a pastor swindles the public of hard-earned cash, and this also explains why divorce rates, single parentage and counselling services are as high in the churches as they are in the outer world, if not higher.

Read more here.

It is increasingly becoming very difficult to ignore the social and political goings on in Zimbabwe if one is a serious minded citizen with his country’s destiny at heart. It is increasingly becoming tempting to get involved at every turn of things since the wide discussions on our national issues are becoming sensitive and very precarious and one can ignore at their own risk.

The Jowani Masowe WeChishanu church (JMC) is generally a silent and timid looking setup always relegating itself to the dirty woodlands of every settlement arrangement. You hardly hear a JMC member raising a voice in many circumstances where the church gets careless battering from the generally unsympathetic media brothers and sisters. We in Jowani Masowe were taught and trained humility and submission to an extra extent which many times costs us socially and morally and where many times many take us for granted and for a ride. We read, hear and grieve and / or smile but more usual than not we sorb, absorb and keep quite. This is and was the nature of Jowani and that we have inherited with all the courage and utmost humility possible as taught us by our Leader, baba Jowani.

However, I will once again pass a rare comment as a Jowani Masowe church member and identifying myself not as me but as a Mupositori wekwaJowani who is silently watching but being affected by the present.

The issues I will touch on are issues in our Draft Constitution; The few below are my comments, as a member of the JMC .

Homosexuality With all great respects to the people of Zimbabwe and their leadership for a document that finally disowns homosexuality, it would never have gone well if that piece of curse found its way into a draft law for our Holy nation, Zimbabwe. I would like to give all thanks to the tirelessness of the COPAC people, the main parties leadership and the Great people of Zimbabwe for a job well done in shunning this unholiness and blemishing item called homosexuality.

Zimbabwe is the Love of God and Zimbabwe is a sacred and chosen land which does not deserve any such a curse.

The Land Question The land issue has been topical for many years and many of us have suffered because of it. This has not spared us and the church although many people many times have chosen to report us as a colluding beneficiary of the Land grab rot.

The truth is that we of JMC have always known that Zimbabweans would at one point be allocated land. The prophecies to be precise were told us way back in the late ‘70s by various spiritual people in our fraternity. It is still disputable even among ourselves especially among some of the many new recruits to our church and the few self glorifying ‘church leaders/ prophets’ who recently joined our dispensation and the very few greedy and religiously careless, but has always remain very true that every one of our membership was advised to stay put in our rural areas and never to participate in the land ‘grabs’.

However, the religious position is that the Zimbabwean land belongs to Zimbabwean people. The Zimbabwean land is for Zimbabweans. I know many of you learned and clever modern minded people will twist and rough it off but your definition of Zimbabwean is different from ours. Baba Jowani did not mince his words when he announced His mission. Baba Jowani said, ‘’ I have come for the Africans, and only the Africans.’’ On defining ‘’the Africans’’ baba Jowani said ‘’vanhu vatema Vebvudzi pfupi’’.

So, when we define Zimbabweans in our religion we lag behind a bit in modernisation and we do not include anyone other than ‘veBvudzi pfupi’. So according to our understanding from a Church perspective, Land, our farms and their rivers forests and hills and mountains and snakes, and crocodiles and hyenas etc belong in total to the Zimbabwean as defined by our Church founder, baba Jowani. 

The Mines and Companies We of the JMC were the first people to know that the mines would at some point be taken over by the Government and be given back to the Zimbabweans. This was also told us in the later part of the ‘70s just before end of the War of liberation. This among many other prophecies on what is happening today was also described in very clear terms that only that would mean a complete liberation of our land. But once again no one of our membership was ever allowed to take an ounce from any such grabs. We are not a greedy crop, we are not thirsting over things of this world for ours is the Kingdom of Heaven!

The mines, Companies and our land very seriously and specifically define our winning the liberation struggle. That specifically defines the total benefit of why the thousands and thousands of our innocent daughters, sons, infants, the pregnant and disabled were killed and shed their innocent blood in the outstretching bushes of our land and the land beyond our boarders. 

Prominence of the liberation struggle in the Zimbabwean Constitution The liberation struggle was fought by everyone of us the Zimbabweans against non-Zimbabweans. We won the war and negotiated some parts but still we managed a Black Majority rule. We are very proud of that.
We of JMC acknowledge and celebrate that the Zimbabwean liberation struggle was started, blessed by and encouraged by baba Jowani. Way around 1933/4back at Marondera magistrate court whilst being ridiculed tortured and punished by non-Zimbabwean white settlers baba Jowani told the full court that ‘’vakomana nevasikana vachapinda musango. Ndaona vadzoka vabata pfuti dzinobvira moto ndakaona vakurwisa iwe kesari (the whiteman). Handina kuona wamira. Ndaona wakurirwa wabviswa pachigaro. Hauitonge nyika ino ndeye vanhu vatema! Ichatongwa nemunhu mutema vana ava vagozvitonga’’ The prophecy about our war, the liberation struggle. Many vapositori joined the war and many of them also perished in that war but others also came back and among them very humble village men and women still with us today. It was inspired by Jowani, To us in JMC , it was our war because ‘yakatangwa naBaba Jowani’’

The courageous infants, blind, deaf, old and pregnant innocent women and men, boys and girls who fought that war and the many also who died in that war at Chimoio, Nhadzonia, Tembwe and the thickets and wide plains of our land and the lands beyond, to them we owe great Respects and unending and unreserved loyal Gratitude for ever! Our war was our religious war. Our war was our sacred war. Our war was baba Jowani’s war to end the then draconian, segregationist, racist, cruel, enslaving, savage and murderous regime. We will ever remember and celebrate both the living and fallen Heroes of our liberation struggle. We will always talk about the War of Liberation and the courageous Zimbabweans who fought against the coward racist regime of the non-Zimbabwean whiteman of that time. We will for ever celebrate and pray for the Peace and Rest to be afforded or awarded to the spirits of the dead who fought for the liberation of Zimbabwe. We will not forget that war and it must be hailed and come out very prominent in our National Document and feature in all like discussions about our national Sovereignty. We may never stand by and watch if some people chose to sweep it under the carpet and persuade our generations to forget the blood that drenched the lands, drains, gullies, rivers, valleys hills mountains and paths of our long walk to freedom. We will deny any monopoly over our war’s hegemony. It was a people’s war and to us it was a spiritual war inspired by our Spiritual Leaders.

We choose to come out and see to it that the blood of the Zimbabwe people was resurrected and celebrated in a way befitting of the courage and sacrifice of the war. Therefore on the issue of the Zimbabwean Liberation struggle, we in JMC are spiritually at the fore front supported by the revolutionary cadres in the rank and file of the revolutionary minded people and the generality of the long suffering enduring masses of the Zimbabwean populace. We salute COPAC and we salute the GNU Principals for seeing reason and affording the aforementioned its rightful position in our Draft Constitution.

The Future and our Space in the politics of our land Zimbabwe is in the hands of God. The future is in the hands of God. No country more than Zimbabwe has ever been dictated on by God on all its happenings. So far so good with regards the championing of the law of our land despite the few tricky issues as discussed above. We are equally traditional and conservative on the rulership of our land. Our God is a Dictatorial God and he wants authority. We would choose peace ahead of chaos and violence and love ahead of hate . In our beautiful Zimbabwe, we are full aware that the God provided will see the road to rulership. Them will enjoy the rulership as bestowed on them but them also we implore to be God fearing and rule according to the dictates of the Laws of our God. Behold the time is near and God is very soon claiming back His position and is coming to enjoy His more equal space, his Higher space in the land of Zimbabwe.

Whilst we remain apolitical as a church, our individual members can go and exercise the rights to vote for whatever they like and the church has no direct influence on that. Our members will desist from all forms of civil disobedience. We publicly denounce any of our JMC members who will take part in civil disobedience, violence and any forms of civil unrest. Them we disown as malcontents who are in our church to destroy its good name and hide behind the white cloth for diabolic selfish motives. That is not like us. We remain silent but watching. We remain humble but knowing. We remain subordinate by choice. For we are a God serving people and do not pay much attention to the earthly, but to Caesar we will give what is Caesar’s. We are for ever waiting for The Second Coming and for that we are longsuffering.

See related reading

Jowani Masowe WeChishanu’s views on the draft constitution (Part 1)

MDC draws attention to African Apostolic Church leader’s ‘political’ prayers

Zanu-PF continues roping in members of Apostolic sects

Normally, they’re separated by differences in culture and lifestyle, not to mention about 1,100 miles and the myriad laws and regulations regarding travel and border crossings.

Zimbabwean Sr. Annah Nyadombo, left, speaks with Kenyan Sr. Veronica Rop, right, during a session at the August gathering of theologians in Nairobi. In the background is Cameroonian Sr. Solange Ngah. (Photo: Fr. Yiu Sing Lucas Chan, SJ)

But from the first look on Zimbabwean Sr. Annah Nyadombo’s face, you wouldn’t know it. She smiles widely the moment she sees Sr. Marie-Rose Ndimbo, a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Meeting for the first time in late August, the sisters had traveled to Kenya’s capital for a gathering of African theologians focused on ethical issues, convened under the aegis of a global network of scholars called Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church.

It’s a group that, thanks to a series of pioneering scholarships, the women are set to join themselves.

In the last few years, the group has secured funding for seven African women to pursue doctorates at African Catholic universities. They’ve also arranged funding for an eighth, Nyadombo, to pursue a doctorate at Trinity College Dublin.

Describing the scholarship program during the August 21-23 event, Jesuit Fr. James Keenan, chair of the ethics network and theology professor at Boston College, said, “If this program succeeds, we are looking at the future of theological research, scholarship and writing on the continent of Africa.”

Standing outside a retreat center and hostel in western Nairobi where conference participants were staying, Nyadombo was bouncing on the balls of her feet as her fellow scholar Ndimbo arrived for the event. With barely a word, the two embraced in a long hug.

Through the help of a translator — Jesuit Fr. Peter Knox, a South African theologian — Ndimbo, a French speaker, and Nyadombo, an English speaker, started to compare notes of their lives.

Similarities abound: Both are members of local orders of women religious, both come from poverty-stricken areas and have dedicated themselves to focusing on issues of justice. Both also have clear views about the struggles women face throughout Africa. One common theme shared among Nyadombo, Ndimbo and several others in the program: using their status as female moral theologians to address the place of women in African society and church.

Another commonality: deep personal experience of some of the world’s most debilitating societal and economic suffering and personal journeys of unexpected hope and triumph.

Across the continent

The women in the theological ethicists’ program come from countries across the continent: Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in the east; Nigeria and Cameroon in the west; Zimbabwe in the south; and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa.

Seven of the eight are members of diocesan orders of women religious. Diocesan orders are not international and instead fall under the canonical authority of a particular diocesan bishop, who technically serves as their superior general.

The women’s journeys of faith are complex and varied, mired in both personal and societal struggles.

Sr. Veronica Rop, a native Kenyan, is a member of Kenya’s Kalenjin tribal community, one of dozens of major tribal communities that make up the country’s ethnic background.

A convert to Catholicism, she was the first Christian in her family. The second of her mother’s eight children — her father has had four wives — Rop grew up without electricity and walked three miles back and forth to school growing up.

Rop is from Eldoret, a fast-growing town in western Kenya, near the Ugandan border. The first person in the family to graduate high school, she soon joined a local community of women religious, called the Assumption Sisters of Eldoret.

Sr. Wilhelmina Uhai, who is from Tanzania, Kenya’s southern neighbor, had something of an opposite upbringing. Both her parents are Catholic, and she recalled how they would never let her or her siblings begin to eat without first saying prayers.

“We didn’t eat, we didn’t sleep, we didn’t do anything before prayers,” said Uhai, now a member of the Uganda-based Little Sisters of Saint Francis of Assisi. “They taught me morals. Otherwise, I would not really feel to love the moral issues and to become a moral theologian, and a theologian in the first place.”

With the help of the theological ethicists’ group, Rop and Uhai are pursuing doctoral work at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, a pontifical university in southern Nairobi.

Before beginning her own doctoral studies, Rop studied for eight years in the United States, completing bachelor’s degrees in theology and special education at Miami’s Barry University.

Uhai, who graduated with a master’s in moral theology from Nairobi’s Catholic University in October before beginning doctoral work there, first completed separate programs in philosophy, pastoral ministry and spiritual direction. While such lengthy academic study might separate some from normal life experience, both Uhai and Rop said it’s the struggles of everyday Africans, especially women, that inform their work.

After almost a decade abroad, Rop said she eventually decided to come back to Kenya because she wanted to see what new perspective her time away might have given her.

“I felt that the studies I had in the States gave me a platform to speak for women,” Rop said during an interview, as she sat back in her chair and adjusted a brown coat she was wearing over her long white habit.

“I feel that women here just do not have a voice,” she said. “I thought that I had to come back to use that platform. Especially as a religious woman, my voice may carry a little more weight.”

‘Why not speak up?’

Several of the women in the theological ethicists’ program expressed this responsibility to speak for women across the African continent.

Each mentioned such a feeling of obligation after sharing deeply moving stories of societal and economic strife.

Minutes into their first meeting, Ndimbo and Nyadombo ventured from the traditional icebreakers of a conversation toward their work — in both cases, focused squarely on helping the neediest.

Nyadombo, who is a member of the Handmaids of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a Mutare diocesan religious order with a Carmelite charism, explained that she is working on a research project focused on developing a holistic pastoral approach toward those who are suffering from HIV/AIDS. Nyadombo represents her approach with the acronym AGAPE for Access, Generosity, Action, People/Prayer and Involvement.

“It’s the same problem everywhere,” said Ndimbo, who before pursuing doctoral studies served as a superior of the Congregation of the Sisters, Daughters of Mary, an order based in the northern Congolese city of Molegbe. There are orphanages throughout the Congo filled with “hundreds upon hundreds” of AIDS/HIV orphans, she said, all needing care. Her own congregation has opened up several boarding houses for young mothers who cannot care for their children.

In her interview, Uhai also focused on her experience living face-to-face with poverty and societal strife. But she set her sights too on broader issues of gender inequality.

Following the completion of her initial studies in theology and philosophy, Uhai said, groups of women in her home village asked her to give seminars on how to address some of the most difficult subjects.

Most of the women who approach her are single mothers or refugees, she said, who may live with their children on the street and may have become addicted to drugs.

“They have nobody to help them,” Uhai said. “Nobody who will talk to them about how to live.”

Their status, she said, is also hindered in some African cultures by views of women in relation to men.

“In some cultures, women are considered servants,” she said. “You have no say, you have no rights. You do everything for your husband, but you cannot challenge your husband because you are married. So who are you in the society? You have no voice.”

Speaking for and with those women, she said, is fundamental to how she understands her role as a moral theologian.

“God calls us as moral theologians to enter into these situations and to help them come out of it,” Uhai said. “Maybe we will not have material things to give them, but maybe through advice, or in talking about the larger problems of our society we can make some difference.”

Rop echoes that sentiment, mixing the local and the global.

While her doctoral dissertation at Nairobi’s Catholic University focuses on the participation of Kalenjin women in human development efforts in Eldoret, Rop identifies among her role models American women like St. Joseph Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, a theologian at Fordham University in New York noted for her work in feminist issues.

Pointing out an African saying that women are the backbone of the family, Rop asked, “If we take that seriously, and women are so important, why not speak up?”

Moving forward in her chair, she said: “We need to talk and speak and talk and speak, until we are heard, until we are given a chance to participate in what is going on.”

Back outside the retreat center, where the smiles radiate at the first meeting of sisters in the scholarship program, Ndimbo finds a similar note.

Holding Nyadombo by the elbow, Ndimbo tells her newfound kin she feels empowered by their meeting.

“It’s so important that women are now speaking on these issues,” she tells Nyadombo. “And it’s not just for our generation. There are so many women who will come after us because of these scholarships.”

Walking hand-in-hand, the two head inside for more time to connect and share their many similarities — without the aid of the translator.

“We don’t need him,” Nyadombo says, laughing. “We’ll speak heart to heart.”

Since this story was published in December, Handmaids of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Sr. Annah Nyadombo successfully defended her dissertation for a doctorate in theology from Trinity College Dublin. Her thesis was “A holistic pastoral approach to HIV/AIDS sufferers: Reduction of Stigmatisation in Zimbabwe.” She is set to graduate in June.