White Fathers

From Great North Road

In the early fifties a common sight around Kasama and the Northern Province was to see the White Fathers dressed in their white cassocks, black and white rosary beads, beat up pith helmets or bush hats as they raced down the bush roads on their large motorbikes. Talk about flying on a wing and a prayer.

The headquarters for the Northern Province was in Kasama, and the closest mission stations were Lubushi, Malole and Mulelansolo. The Fathers belonged to an order that was started in Algeria and they all spoke French. They came to the Northern Province in the early 1900s and were a teaching order. As a result of their ministries the majority of Bembas were Roman Catholics.

Father Hugh Bonar was a wee Scotsman ,and it was little wonder Brian Mulenga's Dad and other students spoke the Kings English with a broad Glaswegian accent.

His great friend was Father Dan Sherry a red headed fellow Glaswegian. They both had a great love of life and enjoyed a wee drap of "Holy water" the nectar of the gods known to us mortals as Scotch Whiskey.

The White Fathers were also active in chaplaincy work with the prisoners at the Kasama indendi and through their involvement became good friends with my parents Tommy and Margaret Miller ( my parents were not inmates, rather my Dad was the Senior Prison Officer )

There were also White Sisters, whose missions were close to the White Fathers, and is was not uncommon to visit their missions to see the Mother Superior repairing the mission roof or one of the sisters stripping down a truck engine.

Being a young innocent Scottish Episcopalian, I had problems comprehending the relationship between the Fathers and the Sisters and assumed that they were married. When I asked Father Bonar, he replied " Merried ? no kenneth, only soom of the sisters think their merried to us. "

The White Fathers and Sisters played a major role in educating the multitudes, caring for the sick and being friends to all, regardless of colour or creed. God certainly sent his angels to work amongst us.

Contributed by Ken Miller.

July 13, 2001