Katibunga, Zambia

Facts about Katibunga and the monastery that resides within this small village.

They would place 'bunga' between
the trees.

Katibunga actually received its name by combining two words together. A long time ago when there was not much in the village, poachers (hunters) would come to hunt. Considering Katibunga is in the bush it makes for a great place to do so. When hunting they would bring what is called “bunga” for food. Bunga is the product one gets after crushing maize (corn). We use this mainly to feed animals now, however in Africa it can be made into ugali which is a very filling and bland mash-potato like meal. The hunters would place their bunga in between trees to protect and hold it while they were out. The word “kat” means in-between and, therefore, we get the word Katibunga.

Bemba is a specific dialect that is spoken in this area. Swahili is a very popular language in central-eastern Africa, but most do not know it here. In Tanzania, where I will be in January, they speak Swahili.

There are 73 different languages throughout Zambia.

English is recognized as a national language here, but not many people know it very well. The one’s that do usually only speak the basics.

The Katibunga monastery was started in 1989 and is connected with the Hanga Abbey in Tanzania. To be considered an Abbey the monastery must have an Abbot. Abbot comes from the word “Abba” which means father/Christ-like. The Abbot is the head monk and leader of the monastery. So, there is usually an abbot, a prior, and a sub-prior. Katibunga is just considered a monastery because it has a prior, but no abbot. The prior in Katibunga reports back to the Abbot in Hanga.

There are around 30 monks here in the monastery. Many are brothers and only a few (maybe 3) are fathers. In a monastery, both brothers and fathers are monks, however a father is an ordained priest and can preside over mass, marriages, and other main things where a brother cannot.

Zack and I are the main guests here, but Abbot Anselm from Austria is also visiting. He took a six month sabbatical from his monastery in Austria to visit the holy land and this monastery in Zambia. He is going around and seeing where funding should be given. He is an abbot, but considering he is not associated with this monastery he does not have the same power as he would back home. When establishing an internet connection we helped the abbot with his own emails and figuring out how to use the internet. Once he figured it all out, he yelled “I love Americans!” It’s pretty funny seeing a 77 year old Austrian man say that. Abbot Anselm leaves to visit another monastery in Tanzania today.

Two Italian women will be arriving in August to stay for one month and help with the medical clinic.

The villagers in Katibunga live in huts made of tree and dirt, cook over an open fire, and collect water from the nearby stream.

The monastery is extremely self-sufficient. Being that it is out in the bush they must grow their own food, collect and use their own water, and produce their own electricity. They have many cows, pigs, chickens, roosters, goats, and a donkey. There is also a fish pond where they are able to fish. They eat some of their livestock as well as sell some. Furthermore, they grow maize, onions, tomatoes, mangos, peppers, oranges, and bananas. They create electricity by using a hydro pump. There is a clean spring where they collect water to drink and another river that is used in the hydro pump to create electricity. A very green and impressive way to live.

We eat three meals a day with nothing in between. For breakfast, we have bread with jam or margarine and sometimes some eggs. Lunch and dinner usually consist of ugali (maize meal), beans, some kind of meat (fish, beef, chicken, or pork), and sometimes a vegetable. The fish served is a complete fish scales, eyes, and all. We peal apart the fish and pull back the scales to reach the meat. For beverages, we drink water and cow’s milk (which must be mixed with butter because it tastes like butter milk). There is chilled water, but most of the time its hot water and always hot milk. I don’t mind, though, and in fact prefer the hot beverages because then I know it has been cleaned a bit more.

Benedictine monks have certain things they do at meals. Here in Zambia they say a prayer at breakfast, have a monk read a passage from a book for about 20 minutes at lunch (which is wonderful. Very peaceful), and sing a song before eating at dinner. The Saint John’s Abbey in Minnesota eats breakfast in complete silence (who wants to talk in the mornings anyways?) and reads a passage from a book at dinner. To signal the end of the reading for the day the prior rings a bell and from there everyone is able to talk.

The water from the faucets is unclean and cannot be consumed. So it is used for flushing toilets (the monastery has toilets, but the village and school use pit latrines – outhouses), washing hands, and bathing.

It is currently winter here (June-September), but for a Minnesotan it feels great. The average temperature is 75 degrees. The summer months are coming, though, and I am sure it will get very hot. Along with summer comes rainy season. It rains a lot during October, November, and December. However, I am a big fan of mangos and they are harvested during the rainy season so I am looking forward to that.

There is no air conditioning. It will be interesting to see how the summer months go!

The monastery runs a primary and secondary school, a medical clinic, a carpentry shop, a store, and oversees the farming. They hire a lot of the locals to help with teaching, farming, and running the carpentry shop. The store is very small and holds only a few main items (cooking oil, a few snacks, maize, and the occasional beer).

Notice the 24-hour clock

The main sport played here is football, or as we like to call it in America, soccer. Volleyball is also played a bit.

They use the 24-hour clock here so rather than 1 o’clock it’s read as 13 hours.

Everything is much more relaxed here. A quote that describes African time well is “Africa has the time and America has the clock.” In America everything is done by the clock and at a certain time. In Africa, things are much slower. Many people relax during the day while getting a few certain things done. If something doesn’t take place today it’s okay because we can do it tomorrow. In America this kind of behavior and mindset wouldn’t fly because we are so adamant in getting things done and progressing to the next step.

It seems to me as if the people here are content with just living in the present where as Americans are always concerned about the future. However, in addition to that thought, I believe some who have never been able to leave the village are also unaware of the outside world and the progress that has been made elsewhere. So there are positives and negatives to both sides.

  

A small update of what Zack and I have been up to:

The past couple of days Zack and I have just been getting the lay of the land and seeing what there is to do. As for work, we hope to help with multiple things. We are unsure of what we will be doing yet, but we are thinking it would be nice to help with the medical clinic some days while farming and/or teaching a class the other few. Zack was a physics major so he could help with a math class and I could help with either an English or science class. Farming and assisting with the clinic seems like a rewarding and fun time as well. Teaching can be difficult considering we don't speak their language and they don't speak ours (think of it as being in a chemistry class taught by a professor that only speaks German. Exactly.) So, it's not that I don't enjoy teaching, it just can be difficult and slow at times. However, this is Africa and they do need teachers so we are finding out that it may be good to teach at least one class.

Another part of being in the BVC is attending prayer with the monks at least once a day. Zack and I have agreed on attending midday prayer which is right before lunch. We will also attend holy mass on Sunday.