MISSIONARY VISIT TO ZIMBABWE
OCTOBER 14 – 25, 2011

1. Introduction

When I booked Kenya Airways, I believed I made the best decision because in this part of Africa, they have taken monopoly of air travel.But to my surprise, I was shocked to learn that the airline is one of the most cumbersome airlines in the continent. I immediately remembered John Fusto who had to spend eight hours at Dar es Salaam International Airport when he was traveling to Nairobi during his visit to Africa in 2007. Instead of arriving in Harare on October 14 at 1030hrs, I spent the whole day traveling and arrived on October 15 at 0510hrs in the morning. I was received at the airport by my host Madam Monica Chihambakwe who had spent the whole night waiting for me. She drove me straight to Madam Ela Chihambakwe’s place situated in the White’s only low density area about 5 km from the city center. Madam Ela Chihambakwe, founder and Director of Guadalupe Association of Zimbabwe is currently in Holland receiving medical treatment. Currently the organisation’s activities are being handled by Monica and Veronica. I ask the HLI family to pray for Madam Ela’s quick recovery.

2. St. Dominic’s Girls Secondary School and St. Ignatius’ Co-Education Secondary School

I began business the same day [October 15] by first visiting St. Dominic’s Girls Secondary School and later in the afternoon St. Ignatius Secondary School.I was accompanied by Mr. Chihambakwe [our driver], Mrs. Monica Chihambakwe, Veronica and two major Seminarians, Frt. Methuli Moyo who is the President of the Seminarians Resource Center at Chishawasha Regional Seminary and Frt. Robert Mudzingwa, the Vice Chairman

St. Dominic’s Girls Secondary School
The pro-life group at this school is called YOUTH AGAINST AIDS [YAA]. It boasts of having active membership of 48. As peer educators the group is involved in educating other young people in schools and out of school on the need to abstain as the best way of avoiding HIV infection. Zimbabwe has one of the highest HIV infection rates in Sub Saharan Africa, and young people account for most of the HIV/AIDS victims threatening the survival of the nation. The president of the group, in her introductory words, said they use EDUCATION AND ENTERTAINMENT as their approach when delivering their message. Besides education on HIV/AIDS the group also runs education on violence and abuse relationships.

In my talk, I made a brief presentation on the pro-life ministry in order to widen their scope of understanding. I then presented to them a talk on the population control agenda outlining the different methods used – such as abortion, contraception, sterilization and sex education in schools. While their effort in promoting abstinence was worthwhile, I challenged them to embrace a wider view of human sexuality which is centered on chastity as a virtue which has a spiritual as well as moral dimension. I asked them to take note that their abstinence message against HIV infection was good and commendable, not because it would help them to avoid HIV infection, rather because engaging in sexual relationships is sinful. It is against God’s commandments. I told them to be pro-life is more than working against HIV/AIDS, it a way of life, it is centered on God’s creation in which we are created in His image and likeness. Our task, therefore, is to defend, protect and promote life from the moment of conception until natural death. Our mission is to promote the Gospel of Life; we are called to engage in combat battle against the forces of darkness whose author and sustainer is the Devil. I challenged them to change the name of the group and call it YOUTH FOR LIFE. This would help them to take a more holistic approach to life, in which HIV/AIDS will be one of the issues to deal with.

In the question and answer session, two challenges came from the students:
(1) how can they, as young people be able to share ideas with other young people within the country;
(2) could HLI organize a youth conference at the regional level so that they are taught, strengthened and enabled to effectively challenged the culture of death in the region?

3. St. Ignatius Secondary School

I encountered a very challenging session at this school. Challenging because it appeared to me that these young students having been visited by population control groups – UNICEF, PSI, PEER EDUCATORS, etc, have been so much brainwashed that they have embraced all the anti-life terminology and ideology. However, being a school run by Jesuit Order, I could still sense some understanding and appreciation of Church teachings on issues of life, contraception [including condoms], abortion and sex education. The session began with a short play in the form of a debate between those who support abortion and those against it. The message in the end was that young people should value the life because abortion involves taking away human life, is ‘murder’ as they put it.

During my presentation students were given the opportunity to make comments, ask questions and give their own views on the issues discussed. Although the presentation took a wide range of topics, the hottest topics were those of condom use and contraception. The following were areas of contention – the issue of discordant couples and the use of condoms; whether or not one can get married to a HIV positive person; shouldn’t poverty ridden families use contraceptives. In my answers I demonstrated how the condom is a false saviour highlighting studies done by various scientific research centers showing the failure rate of condoms. On discordant couples, I asked them a very simple question; “if your husband was suffering from malaria, would you demand sexual relation with him? Or, if your wife was paralyzed from the waist to the legs, would you demand sexual relation with her?” They answered with a loud “NO”.Corollary then, if your spouse is HIV positive we consider him/her to be sick and our responsibility toward a sick person is that of love, care and compassion. So in a discordant couple, the task of the one who is negative is to love, to take care and to have compassion on the other spouse so that they can live life of hope and face a peaceful death.Besides, the Church teaches the right to self defense, so the uninfected person has the right to refuse marital relation with the infected one due to that reason. Regarding marrying a person who is HIV positive implicitly implies that you do not love yourself and that you are careless and that you deliberately decide to commit suicide, for there cannot be true love when you know your decision is going to kill you. The idea of discrimination which students brought up, does not hold here because, our decision not to have marital relation with a sick person is born out of love and compassion. Besides, it is an act of injustice to marry someone you know is HIV positive because your decision is not born out of prudence.
At the end one student stood up and read a speech that looked like a summary of the day’s talk, and it was so good that I thought it worthwhile putting it here:

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. When I look around I see the future of Zimbabwe. I see young leaders with potential not potential leaders. I see you fellow Ignatians. In you I perceive vast potential and it is up to you to unlock that potential and set this fight against AIDS fire. And we all speak of an AIDS free generation – an impossible mission. This fight is much more than good speech.
A curse in disguise, the perpetual war, the moral troops fighting over the mythical truth perishing from the formidable AIDS it shoots missile and miles taking out such a pivotal group and they thought drugs were killing the youth
I stand up here saying this speech to deliver important point. You are the pivotal group I was talking about in the sonnet. HIV has waged a war against us and it is up to you to retreat or retaliate. Our morals are our greatest artillery. I am talking about chastity. As a senior YAA we debated much upon chastity as a topic of discussion. Chastity is the purity of mind, body and soul. By purity I mean abstinence from teenage sex. Teenage sex is murder in disguise. Any form of premarital sex leads to unwanted pregnancies. And as the word suggests unwanted pregnancies are not always welcome. They lead to abortion and infanticide. This is anti-life and this is why today we have special visitors to help us on this topical issue of life.

4. St. Peter Claver Secondary School

Situated in a remote area I visited this school on Monday, October 17. Unlike the other two schools I visited on Saturday, this is a day co-education secondary school. Our team was met by the Headmaster of the school who after appreciating our visit introduced to us Mrs. Veronica Mupfumira Chinwada who is in charge of the YAA group at the school. At this school I presented a talk on the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death and the need to welcome, protect, defend and promote life. Then I talked about the evil of abortion and contraception. The hot subject of condoms was also tackled and students at this school seemed to understand why the condom was a false saviour. I ended my presentation with a talk on chastity and students were invited to make a promise to remain chaste until their wedding day. This last talk was very important to them as I was informed the school has many girl drop-outs due to pregnancy and boys are engaged in drinking and smoking. Mrs. Mupfumira revealed to me that four form four girls have been sent away due pregnancy and she did not know if they would come back for their examinations. At the end of my presentation the group performed a short play depicting how the HIV infection is transmitted through multiple sexual partners. What I did not agree with was the idea that poverty drives girl students to having sexual relations with growth up men in exchange for money which they use to pay school fees and meet other personal necessities. I have the opinion that HIV infection has more to do with loose sexual behavior than poverty.

5. HIV/AIDS

Zimbabwe, a landlocked country in Southern Africa is ravaged by the HIV/AIDS pandemic as evidenced by the many orphans and orphanage houses in the country. I was told when I visited Gopero Homestead for Orphans that most of the children at the home have lost both parents. Without AIDS life expectancy would be 55 years, but with AIDS life expectancy is only 35 years. According to UN statistics, the most affected age group is that of 15 – 49 years, but according Fidelis Chihambakwe, who is working with Regional Community Development Responses, an organisation devoted to research on HIV and counseling to those affected, the group most affected is that of 15 to 25 year old young people. As you can note these are school going young people, most of whom, especially girls, fall victim to HIV infection from grown up men who promise to pay their school fees. The majority of them fall victim due to false AIDS education programs which insist on condom use instead of abstinence. A few of them fall victim due to their engagement in drug and alcohol use. The problem with the HIV infection is that the government as well as ‘development partners’ provide a wrong solution. Much energy and money is wasted on campaigns for condom use instead of the correct solution of abstinence for the young people and unmarried and fidelity in marriage. Education campaigns are centered on what they call ‘safer sex’ which according to the Southern Africa AIDS Action organisation in its “AIDS Action” magazine it means;

1. Non-penetrative sexual activity, such as masturbation, thigh sex (where the penis does not enter the vagina or rectum), stroking, massage or kissing
2. Using a barrier, such as a male or female condom, during vaginal or anal sex to stop HIV entering the blood. This is called protected sex.

[Africa AIDS Action organisation is supported by DFID, ICCO and the Norwegian Red Cross]
Condoms in Zimbabwe are heavily promoted to the extent that they are found in every place – in drug stores, supermarkets, open market places, government offices where they are given free of charge to people. During AIDS campaign events, boxes of condoms are given out freely to those who attend. I was informed that condoms are sold at the lowest price than any other commodity in Zimbabwe. That means literally everyone in Zimbabwe can get as many condoms as they wish. Some of the campaign slogans are “NO CONDOM… NO SEX”, “CARRY A CONDOM…USE A CONDOM”. The biggest organisation in the Southern Africa Region which is coordinating the efforts of organisations engaged in condom campaigns is SOUTHERN AFRICA NETWORK OF AIDS SERVICES ORGANISATIONS (SANASO) based in Zimbabwe. When I visited a Family Planning Clinic located within the Central Hospital of Zimbabwe and as I was gazing around to read the many family planning posters, I found myself sitting close to a heap of condom boxes. The boxes were shipped into Zimbabwe as gift by the American people through their international development agency USAID. The expiry date of those condoms was set at 2016. The ‘family planning’ officer told us that those condoms would be distributed freely to the people.
The solution to the AIDS pandemic according to the mainstream media and the population control organisations lies in the use of condoms. But, condoms have never worked anywhere to prevent infection, and as Pope Benedict XVI told journalists when he visited Africa last year, condoms, may in fact exacerbate the problem. And in fact the Catholic Bishops’ Conference observed this many years back in their pastoral letter when they termed AIDS as a moral issue and called for restoration of morality. “In fact, propagating condoms is tantamount to admitting moral defeat, and, worse than that, it positively encourages promiscuity, especially when they are made available to the young”, [Save our Families, Pastoral Letter on Marriage, Family, Sexuality and the AIDS Epidemic, by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference, March 1991, pg.8]. They continued to observe that ‘the inability to exercise self-control destroys our families and provides a breeding ground for AIDS’. The real solution, according to the bishops lies in ‘Christian education for family life and the need for education in chastity’.

6. Population control organisations

Almost all western population control organisations are operating in Zimbabwe at varying levels, either partnering with government departments or local organisations. There are those who operate independently after securing government permit. All UN organisations are working in collaboration with the government as “development partners” – UNFPA, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNICEF, WHO. The International Planned Parenthood Federation [IPPF] is working in the name of the “Family Planning Association of Zimbabwe”, UNAIDS and WHO are working in collaboration with and as donors to SOUTHERN AFRICA NETWORK OF AIDS SERVICES ORGANISATIONS [SANASO]. PSI with its social marketing approach is operating freely in this country. Marie Stopes clinics are found in various locations in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. They are the main providers of condoms and contraceptive packages. The Family Association of Zimbabwe is mainly concerned with promoting contraceptive family planning while discrediting natural family planning as being ineffective. The family planning poster prepared by The Family Planning Association of Zimbabwe, gives the impression that contraceptives have more advantages to users than disadvantages. On natural family planning the poster says, ‘it requires motivation’ and has many failures. The lie that we read in the Evangelist, John 8:44 that the devil is a liar and murderer from the beginning, so also contraceptive family planning promoters lie to the people of Zimbabwe that contraceptive and abortifacient devices are safe and harmless. And those users who surrender to these lies face the horrible consequences – the many physical as well as psychological effects.
Despite the devastating consequences of these devices to the people of Zimbabwe, population control organisations working in conjunction with the government have successfully raised the prevalence rate of users to 60%. When I visited the Family Planning Division building situated at a remote corner of the Central Hospital of Zimbabwe the family planning officer happily welcomed our delegation and began to ‘counsel’ us on the importance of contraceptive family planning. Going through all the contraceptives, she tried her best to avoid our questions on the side effects instead she said if there were any, they were very rare. She even dismissed the ‘myth’ that the Depo Provera shot increases the risk of obesity. Contraceptives are sold everywhere in the streets and markets of Harare without any medical advice or doctor’s prescription. They are sold like sweets by women who do not have the slightest idea about medicine or medication. At a filthy market of Mbale, where second hand goods are sold to the jammed low income customers, there are women lined up on the sides of the market selling birth control pills. One would wonder on the safety of those pills – exposed to direct sunshine all the time, contaminated with dust – clearly those pills are never safe. I saw some which were very dirty and had even changed in colour. I interviewed one woman, Mawaya Anderson, who is also selling pills, if she was also using them. She responded affirmatively, ‘Yes, I have been using them for the past 25 years, because I am now old and I cannot afford to have any more children…” But, she continued, “I suffer from abdominal pain, numbness in the legs, constant headache and blurred vision”. Besides pill selling, illegal goods such as skin creams are also sold to women. When I took a photograph of one of them she immediately complained to the police officials at the gate who immediately sent someone to me for interrogation. The complaint was based on the fact that if the photograph comes up in the local news papers, the woman would face charges for selling illegal goods – the illegally imported skin creams, not fertility control pills.
Everything that happens has a purpose. Like Saul who set out to persecute Christians in Damascus and later became a convert, a great apostle and now a great saint, St. Paul, the police officers, five of them, who conducted the interrogation, became new converts to the Gospel of Life. During the interrogation I was able to explain to them not only why contraceptives were wrong to the users, but also that they were a tool of the devil for population control purposes – reduce the number of Zimbabweans. And according to the US secret document NSSM 200 these measures would help the American people to control the natural resources of Zimbabwe. They were very shocked to hear that and at the end of my mission of ‘conversion’, I gave them my business card for further contacts, and they were very happy when I left the place.
Development programs in Zimbabwe are centered on false ideologies. While the majority of the Zimbabweans are living in extreme poverty whose income does not exceed $5 a day; our development partners are busy supplying pills, depo-provera, IUD’s and condoms instead of real solutions to poverty. Real solutions would include programs such as reduced farm input prices to enable farmers to farm large pieces of land; good infrastructure – especially roads in the rural areas to accelerate economic development. Poor people are unable to send their children to school because of high school fees, yet ‘development partners’ do not help parents of those children to subsidize their school fees. Roads in Zimbabwe are in pathetic condition, yet none of those interested in development are giving any money for rehabilitation works. The lady at the family planning clinic revealed that beginning October 24, 2011 they would begin a strong campaign on sterilization whose service will be offered free of charge. It is very disgusting. Family planning counseling services are offered free of charge, condoms are dished out freely, at most they are sold at $0.20 for a packet of 3 condoms in big supermarkets, pills are sold cheaply at $0.30 per packet, yet medical services for real diseases are very expensive. For example medical consultation fees costs $20 [and it depends on the status of the hospital] and medication can cost up to $100 depending on the type of drugs prescribed. Mrs. Monica Chihambakwe had to part with $4000 for her last delivery due to pregnancy complications. A poor person from the village would certainly have lost her life and her baby because she would never have been able to meet such costs.

7. Abortion

Zimbabweans are strongly pro-life and their President, Mr. Robert Mugabe is very pro-life. However, there is a loophole in the pro-life constitution which abortion propagandists use to carry out abortions. The law states abortion is illegal, except where the pregnancy is a result of rape, incest or if the pregnancy endangers the health or the life of the mother. Banking on this weakness radical local and international abortionist and feminist groups are waging relentless war against the Zimbabwe pro-life law. The Marie Stopes International organisation is illegally performing abortions in her clinics in the country. Some medical personnel in government hospitals also engage in these evil activities. However because of fear of being caught, abortionists use cover up language to achieve their objectives. Most of those women who seek abortion disguise as going for post abortion care after an unsuccessful locally induced abortion in the villages. Those in the medical field say post abortion care is a necessary medical procedure after an attempted abortion or a miscarriage or else the woman could die from over bleeding or infection complications.

8. Archbishop Robert C. Ndlovu invites HLI to do more

Discussing main areas of concern for the pro-life movement in Africa, when I paid a courtesy visit to the Archbishop of Harare, the Most Reverend Robert C. Ndlovu in the morning of Wednesday, October 19, 2011 in his office, I outlined HLI’s current main activities in Africa as working against the legalisation of abortion contained in the Maputo Protocol, empowering seminarians and young people with the pro-life education, and working with the Church to see that the Gospel of Life is promoted and lived in Africa. I shared with him that it is easier to keep abortion laws away than it is to drive abortion laws out once they have been enacted. The Archbishop lamentably admitted that with huge funding, population control movements are doing a lot to corrupt young people and that with government officers yielding to the anti-life pressure, the future of Zimbabwe looks gloomy. He challenged HLI to run programs aimed at educating young people on the importance of life and family, emphasizing the virtue of chastity. He said abortion is sometimes sustained by ignorance and so if we can run more educational programs on life, we will be able to reduce abortion cases. On the pretext of poverty, I told him that there is no direct relationship between abortion practices and poverty because, rich countries in Europe and America have all legalised abortion, and even here in Africa abortion is more prevalent among well-to-do women than poor women in the villages. He appealed to HLI to increase their pro-life programs among seminarians because as future priests we want them to implement church teachings without ambiguity. He also challenged the Guadalupe Association of Zimbabwe to lobby policy makers so that they can policies in favor of life.
Fr. Mabongo, head of the Pastoral Center of the Bishops’ Conference was pleased with what HLI’s Guadalupe Association is doing in Zimbabwe and promised to cooperate and to give assistance whenever it would be needed. I visited him on the same day just a few minutes after my talk with the Archbishop.

9. A sweet taste of rural Zimbabwe

Rural Zimbabwe is very fascinating. After visiting several [15] countries in Africa, I must admit, my visit to Zimbabwe has been one of the best and extraordinary. While cities like Harare, the capital city of the country are jammed with cars and a confused population, the rural areas, like Musana are full of life, love and hospitality. My visit to this small village, situated 60 km south west of Harare reminded me of my old days, when I was young and used to enjoy eating unpolluted and fresh wild fruits from the trees that surrounded our family houses. At Musana I enjoyed eating “mashanje” fruits that normally ripen when rains begin. They were so sweet that my hosts collected some for me to take to my family in Dar es Salaam. Thanks to the most merciful God, the giver of life, they arrived safely and my beautiful wife and lovely children enjoyed them very much. At Musana village people live a natural life that is vibrant with rich family values, where elders are true educators of the young and where love and sharing are the norm of life. This is the village where Veronica was born and grew. She introduced me to all her relatives who were very happy to receive me among them. Two chickens were slaughtered in honour of my visit for our meals. And green vegetables and fruits were so abundant that I nearly proposed to stay on, had it not been for the following Sunday’s pro-life program with the Seminarians at Chishawasha Major Seminary. Despite all this beautiful and pleasant life in the village, population controllers have already invaded the villages and slowly and systematically are changing the minds of the people. Contraception and sterilisation are already available in this village. The small family mentality is already taking root. Veronica’s uncle shared how the fertility rate has fallen from the previous 6.5 years back to 3.5 currently and it is still declining. He told me a mini-bus that travels between this village, [Musana] and Harare used to be full within 10 minutes in those old days of population boom, now it takes up to one hour to get full. This, he lamented is a clear indication of population decline. Rural Zimbabwe is in fact sparsely populated with a distance of about two km between villages.

10. St. Thomas More and John Fisher Chishawasha Regional Seminary

On Sunday, October 23, 2011, I enjoyed the Shona lyrics during the morning Eucharistic Celebration at Chishawasha Regional Major Seminary in a full packed seminary’s church which on Sundays is used as parish church. The drumming and the singing was excellent. After Mass, by God’s graces I had the opportunity to address the seminary community. This was a full day session. After my presentation, seminarians had the opportunity to ask questions or to make comments. It was apparent from the nature of the questions that there is need for a full pro-life training. Fortunately, I already introduced this idea during my audience with the Archbishop. The rector as well as the professors and seminarians expressed emphatically they needed more training if they are to be effective evangelizers of the Gospel of Life. The professors who attended the session said they were greatly enriched by my talk. They admitted the pro-life approach to human life and family is deeper and richer than what they learned from moral theology lessons.

Emil Hagamu
October 2011