Compassion in Community

It was our last day in Senanga and my colleague Richard was teaching. Into the classroom burst Rev. Lydia Mwale with an unmistakable sense of urgency. Rev. Mwale is the pastor of the local congregation of the United Church of Zambia. Facing the class and peering out of her oval, black-rimmed glasses, she somberly announced, “We have a problem and I need your help. A man whom we don’t know died yesterday (most Zambians don’t embalm their dead; hence, some of the urgency), and his only living relatives are two women from out of town. They have no money, not even for a coffin, and they have come to us hoping for help providing a proper burial. What should we do?”

The class participants began peppering Rev. Mwale with questions and exchanging ideas. What would a new coffin cost? 190,000 kwacha. (~$55 [U.S.] – consider that ~70% of Zambians are unemployed and many of those employed earn < $1/day). Rev. Mwale suggested a more economical option, making a coffin from planks of wood they’d buy. (One elderly woman offered two planks she had at home. Moments later she was called away and informed that she herself had need of the planks. Her mother-in-law had just died. The good news is that the woman had celebrated 105 birthdays, about 2.75 times the thirty-eight of the average Zambian.)

Rev. Mwale led the class to consensus. A collection would be taken and the course of action determined by the amount received. Richard offered a brief prayer and the first contribution (a substantial one, I think). A man named Happy (Zambians have the coolest names), who had walked forty miles over two days to attend these classes, made his way to the front of the class. A female student handed him a white lace handkerchief in which to place the collection. The class began singing in Lozi. Happy cradled the handkerchief in his hands as one by one, randomly like corn popping, students rose and strode forward to release a cupped, kwacha-filled palm into the cloth. Later, I learned that enough had been collected to honor this man with a dignified burial. Is there not a profound contrast between this community-oriented society – sharing, giving, and yes, even asking and receiving when in need – and the one many of us know, a society oriented to being fiercely independent?