Scottish Catholic Observer

Fr Bernard Makadani Zulu visited Scotland last week as a guest of Mission Matters Scotland and he sat down with the SCO to discuss next month’s visit to his country of six Catholic teachers from across Scotland.

The priest, a former teacher himself, said he hopes to give the Scottish visitors a flavour of the life of the Church.

“They must understand that education is a part of how the Church grows,” he said. “The Church in Zambia has been involved with education for many years. It has been a champion in that. We want to give them an opportunity to understand education in Zambia and how Catholic mission societies have been supporting education.”

From June 27 to July 7, the teachers will travel to the African country with a representative of Mission Matters Scotland. There they will link up with Fr Bernard, who will take them on two visits a day to witness development work in the country. The teachers will visit schools, some attached to orphanages, where children come from families that live on less than a dollar a day.

Fr Bernard said it will be useful for the teachers to compare each country’s schools. “They will be able to see the differences between the education system here and what we have as an emerging country,” he said. “Our children have to walk long distances to go to school. In Scotland, during school time the children have a meal; that is not the case in our society. Classes are overcrowded and the teacher student ratio is a challenge. That affects the quality of education. It will be good for them to see the different scenarios.”

Despite these challenging circumstances, Fr Bernard has a strong belief in the quality of education offered to children in Zambia, much of it by the Church.

Fr Bernard also spoke about the difficulties in Zambia, and his hope that the Scottish people can offer a helping hand. “There is corruption; children of civil servants are the ones who have access to education resources that are supposed to help the poor families,” he said. “People at the end of the ladder have nothing. They have no food and no shelter. In Zambia when a teacher retires it takes them a long time to get their pension. I’ve seen people dying quickly because they can’t cope with life when they have no more income.

“This will be the second time Fr Bernard has hosted a group from Scotland and he hopes the teachers this time will see the positives in his country. “There are beautiful stories that are worth sharing with people,” he said. “From simple infrastructure and facilities—meagre resources—people are doing so much work. I look forward to hosting the team from Scotland and I hope this is not the end and we continue to build up a relationship.”

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— Pic; Hugh Dougherty

—This story ran in full in the May 23 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.