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Zambia & Malawi

Our presence in Zambia & Malawi

The Religious Sisters of Charity were founded in 1815, by Mary Aikenhead where she laid the foundations for the work of our Congregation, by founding a hospital, founding a school, and visiting poor people in their homes.

Our work today still falls into those same three categories of ministry, as our foundress, Mary Aikenhead’s work did:

  • Education ministry
  • Healthcare ministry
  • Pastoral/social ministry

See the form our work takes in the Zambia & Malawi Region, detailed below.

Zambia - 1948
On 28th September 1948 three sisters left Dublin to travel to the Southern part of Zambia. This was to answer a request made by the Irish Jesuits in Zambia who asked for a group of sisters to take over from the Notre Dame Sisters who had been working in Chikuni since 1920. They were responding to the educational needs of the girl child and the needs of the sick poor in Chikuni and the surrounding villages.

The Sisters made their one-month long journey by boat, road and rail. They set off with the Athlone Castel to Cape Town, South Africa and continued overland to Zambia. This was a journey of the heart as the Sisters travelled with great desire to give their ‘all’ to God and to the people of Zambia.

The Sisters arrived at Chisekesi Siding on 28th October, at 3 o’clock in the morning They were met by a Jesuit priest who drove them to Chikuni – and so began our presence in Zambia. This humble beginning has blossomed into a number of foundations, which today urged on by the love of Christ attempt to respond to the various needs of the Zambian people.

Malawi - 2011
In January 2009 the Apostolic Nuncio of Zambia/Malawi came to say Mass at an international formation meeting that was been held in Zambia. Hearing of our interest to move into a new country he asked the Bishop of Chikwawa Diocese, who was in need of personnel, to invite us to Malawi and a new community was opened in Konzalendo, on 8th October 2011. Three of our sisters, two from Zambia and one from Nigeria were the pioneers.

When our mission opened in Malawi we agreed that we would operate from a model of Participatory Development, which promotes true sustainable development: the ultimate goal of any development initiative.

Our sisters simply work beside the people. And this model works on every level of provision – from healthcare, education and welfare. Our sisters advocate on behalf of the people and encourage them to become involved in making the future better for themselves and their children.

The sisters are encouraging the people to get involved in their local communities and for them to make the difference. Of course, our sisters help them by advocating on their behalf to the local, regional and national authorities, but they bring the people with them and show them that they have the power to change their lives.

Our Ministries in Zambia & Malawi

Education Expand

In the area of education, the Zambia Region runs six schools. These include three secondary Schools namely: Chikuni Girls, Roma Girls and Caritas Convent.

Three Primary Schools: Shimungalu Co-Education (Grades 1-9), Mary Aikenhead (Grades 1-7) and Roma Primary (Grades 1-7). In addition, two Early Childhood, care, development and Education (ECE) – Pre-Schools: Shimungalu and Mary Aikenhead.

In all these schools with the exception of Shimugalu, the focus is the girl child given that the levels of illiteracy are higher among females mainly due to poverty and the belief that females will be taken care of by men if they did not get an education.

According to the Zambian Education Policy, “Educating Our Future - 1996” the aims and goals of education in Zambia is the promotion of the “full and well-rounded development of the physical, intellectual, social, affective, moral and spiritual qualities of all students so that each can develop into a complete person for his or her own personal fulfilment and good of the Society.”  Sisters make every effort to bring out integral human development as comprehensively expressed in the policy but not without challenges. This is supported by The Education Act, 2011 [No. 23 of 2011]. It is important to note that, each government of the day revises certain aspects of the policy to suit their Mandate through Acts for instance the Free Education Policy of 2022 by the New Dawn Government.

One of the concerns raised is that minimal attention had been paid to the teaching of Religious Education in our schools which is intended to provide a value base for the pupils.  Little time is allocated to this subject and the emphasis for many teachers is on passing examinations.  The sisters work closely with the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops Education Secretary and Curriculum Development Centre in reviewing the 2013 Curriculum.

Pastoral & Social Work Expand

Pastoral Work is cardinal to our way of life and visiting the sick poor still remains a great part of it. Other Pastoral ministries include but not limited to:

  • Visiting out-stations
  • Organising catechetical programmes
  • Helping parishioners develop their spiritual lives
  • Skills training
  • Water and sanitation development
  • Women and youth empowerment
  • Coordinating Catholic Health Facilities
  • Home-Based Care
  • Enhancing food security programmes
Spirituality/ Formation Expand

Spiritual guidance is offered to different groups such as Small Christian Communities, prayer guides, legionaries, the sick poor, and people with disabilities. Training is also offered for those who wish to be Spiritual Directors.

JUSTICE AND PEACE Expand

Our sisters are involved in advocacy work as well as service-provision ministries. Advocacy involves a call for structural change. Keeping in mind that the well-being of many poor people depends on fairness within institutions, sisters work closely with faith-based organisations and other civil society groups in the field of development to influence policy. Areas of focus in this regard are the formation of Christian Communities in the Social Teaching of the Church, promoting human rights, especially Economic, Social and Cultural Rights essential for human development and contributing to the constitutional issues raised as Zambia is currently working towards coming up with a constitution to stand the test of time.

In relation to issues of social justice, in Zambia, the Sisters of Charity are involved in addressing human trafficking, the safeguarding of vulnerable persons and a campaign on Access to Information Law. In regard to human trafficking, they are a Lead member of Talitha Kum Zambia, (TAKUZA), a Network of 45 Religious Women Congregations and collaborators working to end human trafficking. The Sisters are also running a Project to reduce vulnerability to sexual abuse, child pregnancies and child marriage in Shiwang’andu in more than 100 villages, under Dialogue for Development.

The Region is part of the Civil Society Coalition campaigning for Zambia to enact an Access to Information Law which is significant for transparency and accountability.

Health Expand

The Zambia/Malawi Region runs one (1) hospital and one (1) Rural Health facility. These are in the Southern and Northern Provinces (Chikuni Mission Hospital and Mulanga Rural Health Centre). Some of our sisters, however, work in government Hospitals.

One major challenge faced in this apostolate is limited resources as the government does not allocate much to these clinics though the demand is often high. Enough resources would mean better delivery services. Often there is a lack of transport and insufficient power systems and inadequate human resources which attracts work among the limited staff. In all these patients are provided with quality medical care within limited resources.

Religious Sisters of Charity, Zambia & Malawi

Regional House, P.O. Box 30437, Roma,
Lusaka, Zambia

Email: zammalregion@gmail.com

Telephone: +260 763302247

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Zambia & Malawi Safeguarding Policy
  •  Policy on Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable People Zambia Malawi Region

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