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Mission History |
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Mwandi means a place of "plenty fish" It was first established by Lutangu Sipola, the 20th Paramount Chief of Barotseland, who went there hunting, around 1875. In 1884, the Paris Missionary Society settled evangelists at Mwandi, following the visit of a Scottish missionary in 1882. The Mwandi site was the second place in present-day Zambia where Christian missionary work took place. During the mid-twentieth century, the hospital had fallen into neglect, and in 1986, the Presbyterian Church (USA) became involved when it sent as a medical missionary , Dr. Salvador de la Torre, who then served for about twelve years. This was the beginning of a partnership between the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) and the Presbyterians to develop Mwandi into a significant hospital to serve that part of the nation, and particularly the Lozi tribe. The partnership also includes the leadership of the Lozi tribe, in the person of its Senior Chief, Inyambo Yeta. The way by which American Presbyterian participation came about is that the Medical Benevolence Foundation, a volunteer organization whose goal is both to assist and lead, in guiding Presbyterians to enhance Christian medical care in many places around the globe, learned of the hospital and its needs, and convinced the leadership of one congregation, The Thyatira Presbyterian Church at Mill Bridge, Salisbury, North Carolina, to take on the first project of electrification. This was going to be an expensive project, and so, members of that congregation took two years enlisting assistance from other Presbyterian congregations. In 1991, a number of large volunteer work teams traveled to Mwandi, and began to work. This is one of the best of the modern American Presbyterian examples of mission work that is led from the bottom up, rather than from the top down. In time, the work included support and participation from Presbyterians in a number of other states and Presbyteries, as well as from Davidson College, and by now, well over 500 people have traveled to Mwandi to serve. The work of the hospital is directly under the guidance of the United Church of Zambia, through a Board of twelve Trustees, six of whom are Zambian, and six of whom are American Presbyterians. The result of all of this effort is that the hospital is now arguably considered the best hospital in all of Zambia. The work is not completed, however, and the project is on-going. |
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