We were sitting in a small mud church with dirt floors near Mazabuka, Zambia, a three-hour drive from the capital city of Lusaka. The plate was piled high with fried banded tilapia caught with gill nets thrown from dugout canoes on the nearby Kafue River. We were supposed to eat the heads. One nearby village has figured out to eat the whole fish, bones and all.
The church ladies looked at us eagerly, proud of the feast they had laid before the Americans, who had whisked into their village to drill a new water well. This was their best effort to show their gratitude.
I picked nervously at the fish, happy to find an edible chunk of white fishy flesh easily peeled off just below the dorsal fin. “This is delicious,” I proclaimed loudly. “Umm, umm!”
As my pile of cherry-picked fish started to grow on my plate, I was greatly relieved when the church pastor politely asked if he could finish off what I left behind. By the time the church ladies returned with the next course, the fish were all headless and properly consumed. They smiled with satisfaction.
Moments earlier, in the same church, we could hear the screaming of the pastor as he exorcised demons out of four church members, who hissed back at him during the process. Demon possession and exorcism is a very real part of their religious experience.
As the sun fell, Delaney Crawley cranked up the Jesus film. Delaney has converted millions through the Jesus film. He handled the equipment setup with skill, directing the locals this way and that. Beautiful African music rang out and a crowd soon gathered to watch “The Gospel of Luke” in their native language for the first time.
As the two-hour film came to the crucification, the movie was stopped and the local pastor preached. Hundreds of villagers stepped forward, hands raised, to ask Jesus to forgive their sins and be their savior. As usual, tears came to my eyes.
Zambia is six times the size of Mississippi and has a population of 16 million people. There are 73 ethnic groups, each with their own language. The official language is English.
Zambia is 95 percent Christian, the result of decades of work by great evangelists such as Delaney Crawley. He is so vigorous that I can not believe he is 83 years old. It truly seems like the Holy Spirit has delayed the aging process in him so he can continue his work.
When we are in deepest, darkest Africa, there are inevitably scary moments. I asked Delaney how he handled it. “Just stay calm and trust the Lord.”
Moments like when my son John, overwhelmed by the poverty, decided to give away all his snacks in his backpack. He was instantly besieged by 50 children, pushing and grabbing for a taste of something that had never crossed their lips. He was in danger of being crushed. I literally had to pull the children off him and run to the car where I locked him inside.
Lawrence was a huge hit. The village children were mesmerized by his red hair. They followed him around for hours like he was the pied piper. They were freaked out by an app on Lawrence’s phone that transformed photos of their faces into a variety of funny images.
One afternoon I attended a Bible class in a small church with a dirt floor. The pastor helped translate my comments to the villagers as we studied the gospels and how it applies to our lives.
The thoughts, comments, fears and aspirations of the villagers were identical to those at my Sunday school class at Covenant Presbyterian in Jackson, Miss. From a superficial, materialistic perspective, we were worlds apart. But from a human perspective, we were all the same, struggling with the same eternal challenges of human existence.
There is an American expression, “You had me from hello.” Well, the Africans get Jesus from hello. They have been waiting for centuries for the word to finally get to them and when it did, there was no hesitation, no doubt. In many respects, Africans have much stronger faith than Americans. They do not have as many material temptations to obscure the fruit of the spirit.
Christianity has many skeptics in the world and in Mississippi. As for me, when I can travel to the other side of the world and meet people from a culture competely different from my own, yet feel as though they are my brothers and sisters in Christ, how can this not be a marvelous miracle. Why would anyone want to resist a spirt this powerful, this good?
People think it is dangerous to go to the heart of Africa. In fact, the crime rate is worse in Mississippi. Everywhere I went, I found law-abiding, cheerful Christians who were as friendly as they could be.
Africa is booming. After Asia, African per capita GDP is increasing the fastest in the world at three percent a year. If we want to see the old, impoverished Africa of yesteryear, we better move fast and look hard. It is quickly disappearing. As I told my sons, when we see Soweto gentrying, we know globalism is real. Indeed, the South African slums of Soweto now have boutique shops and cool ethnic restaurants.
Zambia was quite different from Malawi, where I last visited drilling water wells. Zambia has four times the per capita income of Malawi. It makes a huge difference.
For instance, the villages we visited in Zambia were more like urban slums. Nearby were roads travelled by 18-wheelers transporting copper from the huge copper mines. Power lines loomed overhead.
In Malawi, there was no electricity, no paved roads. Malawi is more like the Africa of 2,000 years ago while Zambia is transforming into a developed country. Malawi is a country of rustic villages, to which its natives can always return in times of need. Zambia is a country of massive urban migration with its rootless dislocations. Half the population is under the age of 16.
The Zambian villages are filled with children; many are AIDS orphans. The national infection rate is 12.5 percent, down from 15 percent a few years ago. As dismal as that may seem, the African continent is winning the battle against this scourge.
We had planned to drill 10 wells, but we ran out of time and money. Two wells were dry holes. Delaney was using a man with a Bible in his hand to pick the drilling spots. After a couple dry holes, Delaney told me, “I think I better use the government surveyor.” Yes, even great missionaries have to be practical. It was a funny moment.
Six wells are no small achievement. Each well will serve about 2,000 people. That means 12,000 people who will have cleaner, safer water. I have no doubt dozens of lives will be saved.
In a few decades, Africa will not need this charity. I feel blessed to be able to participate while I still can.
–
Wyatt Emmerich is the owner of Emmerich Newspapers and the publisher of The Northside Sun in Jackson.
