Women and the Mothers' Union !
On the 8th March we were
supposed to have a public holiday to celebrate women and to raise
awareness of issues that need to be challenged: gender discrimination,
wife beating, rape etc. However, at 19:00hrs on the 7th
March, the government announced on National News that we wouldn't have a
public holiday after all; not this year anyway, maybe next year…
Let me take you on a whirlwind tour
of some women in Zambia: for starters, fifty percent of married women
are beaten by their husbands regularly (of course, the figure will be
considerably increased when you think of all those women who remain
silent). The sad thing about it is the belief that if your husband loves
you, he will beat you. To be loved is to be beaten. Hence, it pierces
your heart when you realise that some women don't even realise they
shouldn't be treated as a punch bag. For seconds, many young girls are
raped by their own relatives – sometimes even by their fathers. And let
me tell you, it is one thing to hear of a three year old girl being
raped, but quite another to look into her eyes every week. A beautiful
tiny girl, so vulnerable and so trusting and so, so traumatised. And
finally, generally women are considered to be 'possessions', bought at a
price (maybe chickens, cows, land or cash) by their husbands. Of course,
there will obviously be many men who are not like this and who treat
their wives with respect and love them without beating them; and we have
to be careful not to categorise all men as wife beaters. But the above
is reality for many women nevertheless.
Reading the daily newspaper on
'women's day', I came across and lamented over some words written in an
article on gender discrimination: 'we have inherited a lot of
discriminatory concepts from other cultures and the Christian religion.
These "head-of-the-house" and "created-from-a-rib" concepts have brought
a lot of harm…'. So, when I was asked to talk at a Mothers' Union
meeting on the topic of women, I gave a talk on 're-discovering the
Biblical vision of women' – which I think is a beautiful one! We shared
laughter, cheers, Amen's! and tears as we all learnt that God loves and
treasures women, that He gives women respect and dignity and a voice,
calling women to use their gifts. Behind each smile, each tearful eye,
each frown or crease of the forehead, each shaking or nodding of the
head, lay a thousand memories. The lady next to me rocked in her chair,
constantly whispering, 'It's just so beautiful; it's just so
beautiful…'. The lady opposite me however sat staring at me with
forehead frowned and straight back, clutching her Bible. And she looked
at me with unbelieving eyes.
Yesterday the M.U. celebrated 'Mary's
Day' and it was attended by 415 M.U. members; there are 450 in this
diocese. How can I do justice in describing the beautiful singing and
dancing? When I closed my eyes I thought 'This must be heaven!' This
vision was rudely interrupted however as I realised the temperature of
the place could also suggest I was somewhere else… After the service,
some ladies danced down the aisle with a chicken and some maize for the
Bishop and the priest. I was busily clapping and swaying to the beat
when my arm was grabbed and I was pulled to the front; there they
presented me with the biggest chocolate cake I had ever seen (they know
me well!). It was a 'thank you' for the talks and seminar I had helped
them with. I can't explain in words what I felt as the President said
that it had meant so much for them to hear that women are beautiful and
rejoiced over by God, and to feel empowered and of value. I felt a
mixture of jubilation (also because I wasn't given the live chicken!)
and utter unworth, but also sadness that the Bible has so often been
abused and manipulated to abuse and manipulate women. Thank God that I
was staring at 415 women who have overcome this and are working towards
empowering and protecting women in their own society.
African Style!
Very early on into my stay here, I
become passionate about the need to enable people to worship God with
their own words and expressions. We use the South African Anglican
prayer book here for every service – which is fine in itself, but I have
found that often I turn into a robot just saying the words, and many
times I lose the will to live half-way through (okay, maybe slight
exaggeration there!). My main gripe is that it just doesn't feel African
at all. Hence, after writing our own Zambian creed in one of the
classes, I plucked up the courage in a staff meeting to ask whether we
could use that for one of the services. And the response went something
like: 'Huummmm. Well, why don't we have an experimental service where we
try out different styles of worship etc? Emma, why don't you organise
that with the students?'. Ahhhh!!!! I was soooo happy and excited; it
felt a bit like Christmas morning (ok, yes, I really am sad). I checked
with the students that this was something they wanted to do as well
(being wary that I wasn't about to start something for my own benefit!),
and we now have an 'Alternative Service' every month where I meet with
the students to create our own Eucharistic service. The students are
very keen and motivation is no problem at all; however, it's often hard
work to get beyond this and actually produce ideas, so half the time I
feel like I'm trying to shove a big fat hippo off the path and find
myself doing a lot of the work – which isn't actually the point as I'm
not Zambian! We're getting there though…!
The day I ate nshima…
After helping to give a seminar on
leadership for new branch members, they presented the president and
myself with lunch! And this was a lunch that would keep on feeding me
for another week. You've heard of the children's' story about the pot
that never became empty? Well, hear another story about the stomach that
never became empty… Nshima is the staple food for many Africans – it has
the consistency of play-dough and is quite nice; that is, until you
realise after two mouthfuls that it is doubling in size in your stomach
and turning into concrete. Boy oh boy, I didn't need to eat for at least
two days after that…!
Prayer requests
1) We are having a three-day retreat
next week; pray that it may be physically and spiritually refreshing for
both students and staff.
2) Please pray that existing links
and ties with the United Church of Zambia Theological College (over the
road from us) may be strengthened and new links created, so that we can
share teaching resources and share a common aim to train people to be
good leaders of the church – no matter what the denomination. I have now
realised that I am one of the new 'links' having been asked to teach at
the UCZ; thank God for this opportunity and please pray that God would
bless the conversations that I have with the staff and students. After
an unfortunate incident quite a few years ago, there was a 'rift'
between the two colleges; but both sides are now slowly making efforts
to start a new relationship. Praise God for his work of reconciliation!
3) Thank God for the Mothers' Union
here and the work they do to help fight poverty and social injustices.
Often their own lives are full of struggles and challenges, but these
women are a mighty force, solidly committed to helping other people.
Praise God for their faith and steadfast love of people.
4) I am organising several 'social'
events for students and for the staff over the next week. Pray that they
may be good times of fellowship and that they may strengthen the
relationships that have been formed over the term (and also heal some!).
Thank you as always for reading this
and for your prayers! I'm sorry this is a week late; the last few weeks
have been just a bit busy!!!
May we all come to know God's love as
we have never known love before; may we come to know how beautiful God
created us as we have never known beauty before; and may we come to know
God's heaven as we have never known heaven before.
With love,
Emma xxx
