Our Lady’s Hospice gets new solar geysers for the wards
- At November 12, 2012
- By getchart
- In Africa, Communication, Mission Stories, News, Our Mission Work, Zambia
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Our Lady’s Hospice was founded in 2001 in Kalingalinga, a neighborhood of Lusaka, Zambia, when caregivers were first trained for a Home-Based Care program for people suffering from HIV/ AIDS.
Kalingalinga is one of the poorest areas of Lusaka and has a population of around 200,000 – 250,000 people. The public hospitals are overflowing with terminally ill patients, and there is a need to house and care for these patients.
The Zambia Delegation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate was one of the four religious congregations involved in building the Hospice that helps providing palliative end-of-life care for patients with HIV/AIDS.
The first inpatients were admitted in 2003. Free Anti-Retroviral drugs came in 2004 and revolutionized the care that the Hospice offers to HIV+ clients.
Today, the hospice runs an Outpatient Clinic, a Children’s Clinic, and offers inpatient services through 30 beds spread across wards – St Joseph (male ward), St Anne (female ward), St Clare (income generating high cost ward), St Jude (semi private), and Maluba House (Children’s ward).
St. Joseph Ward’s new geyser
St Joseph and St Anne are the general wards, and patients admitted to these wards are provided with clinical and nursing care, meals and drugs for a nominal fee that does not cover the cost of care. Also, a hostel has been built for volunteers to stay in.
The Oblate Partnership also ssisted the Hospice to obtain a grant for $5,000 to purchase and install geysers to provide hot water for showers in the male ward and the hostel, all other wards already had hot water.
The geysers are now installed and working well and the patients are benefiting tremendously from the availability of running hot water.
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- St. Joseph Ward’s new geyser
Zambia
- At January 19, 2012
- By getchart
- In Zambia
- 0
The Oblates of Mary Immaculate first arrived in Zambia in 1984. They established the first mission in Lukulu and later their mission was extended to Kalabo, Mongu, and Limulunga, all locations in the Western Province of the country. In 1987 a Mission Center House was opened in Lusaka to serve as the home base for the Oblates in Zambia.
Today, Oblates of Mary Immaculate are working in three missions: Kalabo and Lukulu in the Mongu Diocese, and Shangombo in the Livingstone Diocese, with Mary Immaculate Parish in Lusaka.
In their 25 years of mission in Zambia, the Oblates have penetrated nearly every aspect of the Zambian people’s lives and provide hope, health care, human rights, agriculture, food, employment, education, catechists, and worship.
Lusaka
- At January 19, 2012
- By Oblate Partnership
- In Zambia
- 0
Ash Wednesday celebration at Mary Immaculate
The headquarters of the Oblate Zambia Delegation are in Lusaka, the capital of the country, where Oblate presence is visible in many ministries.
One of such ministries is the Mary Immaculate Parish that opened its doors in January of 2004 with a Mass for 250 to 300 people celebrated in a canvas tent. Currently, several hundred people attend daily services and a new building is under construction to house the growing number of parishioners.
Mary Immaculate's Youth Group
Following on the words and work of St. Eugene the Mazenod:
“I will make every effort to preserve the youth from the evils that threaten them ….”
particularly important at Mary Immaculate Parish are the programs for local young people, who actively participated in the building of the current structure and who occupy three positions in the Parish council. Mary Immaculate Parish offers retreats, workshops, evenings of prayer, vocation clubs, and field trips to Oblate missions in the Western Province of the country.
Chapel and wards
Another Oblate ministry is Lusaka is Our Lady’s Hospice, in the area of Kalingalinga. The Oblates are one of the religious congregations involved in the building and management of the Hospice that has the mission of promoting and providing quality palliative care to patients who have HIV/AIDS and cancer.
The priority is to enhance the quality of life of those patients by controlling their pain and giving them the courage to live as full a life as possible. Services are availagble to all who need hospice care and provided free of charge although those who can afford to make a donation are invited to do so. Recently, the Partnership was instrumental in obtaining funding to purchase and install solar-powered hot water geysers to all of the wards of the hospice.
Please, also visit How to Build a MissionMaking: the De Mazenod Formation House at Makeni.
Mongu
- At January 19, 2012
- By getchart
- In Zambia
- 0
Jack Joyce House
The city of Mongu is situated on a small promontory on the eastern edge of the Zambezi River’s Barotse Floodplain. The whole surrounding region is flat and sandy. Mongu is the home city of the Lozi(or Barotse) people.
The city is known for basket and carpet weaving, as well as for its mango production and fish, especially the tiger fish. The area is also the major rice growing region of Zambia. The seasonal floods provide favorable breeding sites for mosquitoes contributing to high malaria morbidity and mortality in the district. The incidence of HIV/AIDS is also high.
New Chapel located in the Jack Joyce Community
The current Bishop of the Mongu Diocese (as well as the first Bishop of the Diocese) is a Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Additionally, Oblates, minister through the Oblate Community Radio Liseli and serve several outstations and other local ministries. They live together in the Jack Joyce Oblate Community, named to honor one of the founder fathers of the Delegation.
A new chapel located by the Jack Joyce Community will soon offer religious services to the people of Mongu.
The Missionary Oblate Partnership has been actively supporting the Mongu Mission, through efforts to obtain funding for the new chapel and other projects.
Oblate Radio Liseli
- At January 19, 2012
- By Oblate Partnership
- In Zambia
- 0
Launched in 2004 to respond to evangelization needs in the Western Province, Oblate Radio Liseli (Liseli means light in Silozi) serves the whole Diocese of Mongu that covers an area of 87,293 square kilometers (33,716 square miles).
With a potential to reach close to one million people in the most remote villages throughout the Province, and broadcasting in English and Silozi.
Radio Liseli promotes the development of the Zambian people in all spheres of life: spiritual, developmental (health, education, agriculture, environment, culture, civic, financial), cultural and art, and informational.
As a Catholic Community Radio Station, Oblate Radio Liseli has a good number of religious programs on schedule. These religious programs are either locally produced or syndicated from other radio stations and organizations within or outside Zambia.
Syndicated programs are mainly teachings on the Catholic doctrines and are done in English. The locally produced programs are meant to evangelize the local people. These programs are produced by the local communities themselves and broadcasted in both English and Silozi languages.
Because of these characteristics, and because they portray Zambians evangelizing Zambians, the locally produced programs are better tailored to the local culture and needs and are a more powerful evangelization tools.
New chapel inaugurated in Mongu
- At January 19, 2012
- By getchart
- In Communication, Mission Stories, News, Our Mission Work, Zambia
- 0
On the Oblate Feast Day, February 17th, 2012, members of the Zambia Delegation blessed a new chapel in Mongu, capital of the Western Province. The celebration was graced by more than 30 religious men and women working in Mongu.
Jack Joyce Chapel - Mongu
The new chapel just completed will also serve as a broadcast center for Oblate Community Radio Liseli broadcasting Masses, other spiritual gatherings and mission related programming to several outstations and other local ministries.
Additionally, the chapel will be used by other members of the faith community for prayer, meditation and Mass. In summary, it will provide a “home for the people.”
Shangombo
- At January 19, 2012
- By Oblate Partnership
- In Zambia
- 0
The Oblates of Mary Immaculate took over St. Leopold Parish in the town of Shangombo (Diocese of Livingston) in 2009, after the parish had been without a resident priest for several years.
Fresh Water at last! Shangombo
Currently, the mission has 25 outstations with an estimate of 15,000 parishioners dispersed over a very extended area.
The Oblates’ programs since their arrival in Shangombo include sinking a borehole to provide fresh water to the mission, the launching of an English education program for students in grades eight and nine, and now the opening of a “Health Care Day” small clinic that will operate in the facilities of the Mission providing basic care with the help of a local parishioner that is a retired nurse.
The Missionary Oblate Partnership has been instrumental in raising funds for the provision of fresh water to the mission and the opening of the clinic.
Lukulu
- At January 19, 2012
- By Oblate Partnership
- In Zambia
- 0
Mass at Sancta Maria Mission
Santa Maria Mission was founded in 1936 by the Capuchin Friars and was taken over by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1984.
“Today, the parish covers the entire district of Lukulu and has an estimate of 9,000 parishioners in 76 outstations; it is the biggest parish in the diocese of Mongu.”
This is an area of extreme poverty and difficult to travel due to the bad state of the roads. Besides pastoral work and outreach with the support of the parishioners themselves the Oblates have created various groups and projects to meet the most pressing local needs: the Catholic Commission for Justice, Development and Peace educates on human rights and civic education; the Community and Social Development Outreach supports an agriculture shop for district farmers.
Learning at Sancta Maria Nursery School
In the area of Education, in 2007 the Oblates built a Girls Dormitory to house high school students while they attend classes in town. In 2008, they launched a Nursery School for children 4-6. Currently, the school enrolls more than 30 children and the demand for places is growing. For this reason, a second classroom is under construction.
In the area of health, and in partnership with the local health authorities, the Oblates run a Counseling and Testing Centre for HIV/AIDS. Additionally, an old leprosarium remains open. Leper has been basically eradicated from Zambia but there are still a few old patients that have nowhere else to go.
Leprosarium
The Partnership has provided support to several of these projects: medicines for the leprosarium, installation of solar panels and construction of a house for the matron for the Girls Dormitory, and the construction of a second classroom for the Nursery School.
Kalabo
St. Michael Church
In September 1986, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate took over the mission that had been started by the Franciscan Capuchins in 1942 with St. Michael Parish as its center.
Today, St. Michael’s Parish covers the whole district of Lukulu and has an estimated of 55,000 parishioners distributed in 65 outstations.
During the past 20 years, the Oblates have not only served the catholic mission but the district as a whole. Since their arrival, they have opened agricultural development centers to ensure food security and promote the growth of cash crops, have started an education assistance program to assist students who cannot pay school fees.
Pastoral teams created by the Oblates accompany the priests in their visits to outstations. Other lay groups established by them are the Catholic Women’s league, Legion of Mary, St. Vincent de Paul, the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) and the Alume (an organisation of the men of the parish).
Kalabo Harbour
Access to the Kalabo Mission is not easy. Roads are in very poor conditions and are usable only the dry season. During the high water season, about eight months/year when the Zambezi floods the plains, the only way to access the Kalabo Mission and surrounding area is by boat. Bringing provisions, goods, and needed medicines that cannot be found locally implies traveling to Mongu, a distance of about 50 km.
Currently, the Partnership is working with the Kalabo-based Oblates to raise funds to purchase a small speed boat that will make easier and faster to travel to Mongu.
St. Eugene De Mazenod Church
One of the main outstations of the Mission in Kalabo is Lukona, where the Oblates have recently dedicated St. Eugene de Mazenod Church, named to honor the congregation’s funder.
In addition to meeting the spiritual needs of the people of Lukona, the Oblates are also involved in humanitarian efforts. They oversee the operation of a farm where maize is grown to help feed those with nutrition needs and work to develop a water system for the area. At present, Lukona residents have to carry water from neighboring towns, a journey that usually takes several hours.