A Treasure of Darkness (Mabel Shaw)

Subtitled 'An idyll of African life', this is another fine and often poetic book by Mabel Shaw, headmistress of the Livingstone Memorial Shaw at Mbereshi in Northern Zambia.  This one is intended for children, published in 1936 and told in the style of a story, but relating true events.

Notice the words Bashilikale ba mfumu around the logo on the dustcover, Bemba for 'the children of the chief'. (See my previous postings on the school for an explanation.)

Photos in the book were taken by 'Ma Sabin', who some googling suggests must be Margaret Sabin.  ('Ma' and 'Ba' are used as honorifics for seniors in this book'.)

Although many children from the school and some of the male staff are mentioned, the story mostly concerns Mary Livingstone, who was adopted by the school as a baby in about 1928, based on Mary being 8 in 1936, when the account ends.

Glaxo!

We begin with the story of Joseph and Mary travelling to Bethlehem, as a parallel of sorts with the story of Shambuluma and his wife Mwansa who have been travelling from the mines in the south (though we are not told where exactly). They had been travelling 10 days already on foot and still had 6 or more to go. Mwansa was carrying a sewing machine, a bowl and cloth, while Shambuluma had a spear to protect them and not much else it seems.  Mwansa is pregnant, and exhausted, and dies shortly after giving birth to their baby girl, saying only to take the baby to their village.  Shambuluma buries Mwansa nearby, and carries on with the baby, leaving the sewing machine behind. He considers leaving the baby behind as a lost cause, particularly as he meets people in villages on the way who mock him and tell him the child will never live.  The baby's head is misshapen from being carried on one side for so long. He feeds the child with fruit juice and water, with some watery porridge, but she is getting weaker all the time.

Greeting Bole-Bole

After some days of travelling like this Shambuluma meets a man who tells him to take the child to the people 'of the way of God' at Mbereshi, as they will have milk and he decides to do this rather than to his own village of Kakonde (in the Congo?)  He meets Mapoma from Mbereshi and Ana who call Mabel Shaw ('Mama') and the child is taken in.  The children tell Shaw that she has to keep the baby, and Shambuluma says he will work in the village while they look after it.  However, the baby does not thrive on the powdered milk they have and their cows are nearly dry.

Shaw wonders if the child will do better with a product she has seen advertised on a bus in London, which 'builds bonnie babies', Glaxo, but they have none. Then Solo is dispatched to Elizabethville by bicycle, a 6 day round-trip, and there is a tense wait for him to return. Finally he is seen returning on the 6th day, with 6 tins of Glaxo.

Mary holding Ba Honor's baby

The baby gets stronger and is eventually named Mary, after the mother of Jesus. Shambuluma returns to his village, now having the name Shi-Mary (father of mary). At 10 months, when Mary is baptised the name Livingstone is added, after David Livingstone.

Mary's grandmother comes on foot to visit from 130 miles away, saying only 'you have given her life', and 'my daughter's little baby' before returning to her village. Shambuluma also visits again, bringing gifts of food and news of a half sister to Mary called Dinah, at Kambole. The grandmother dies at this time.

There is a big scare when Mary falls 16 feet from a verandah, but miraculously she is found unharmed.

The rest of the book tells us about Mary's childhood in some detail, including how fond she was of little animals (especially frogs) and her favourite phrases. She seems to have been a lovely little girl and was a favourite with the older children, as we can imagine. 

Mary holding 'Bunny'

We hear many other tales of school life, the subjects the girls are studying and their chores around the school, also about Mary's friends as well as the older children at the school, in their yellow uniforms.

The children say that Mary must only be taught good things, and they must set a good example for her.

As in the other books often only first names are given, and older people are often not named in full, but here is a further list of names. If you look at the three postings I've done on Mbereshi you can also piece together some more of the detail of who is who and get some idea of ages in some cases by comparison with Mary.

We hear that Nellie Lombe, Ana and Betty went to Bulawayo for 2 years teacher training.

Names

Ba Agnes - nurse
Ba Chali - teacher
Ba Honor - nurse, 5 children
Ba Jennifer
Ba Leah Kabanda (headmistress)
Ba Mary Duncan
Ba Mapoma
Ba Rosalia
Ba Solo
Ba William (carpenter)
Bole-Bole
Ma Bishop
Mama Doctor
Ma Sabin
Mama Gorton

Annette
Betty

Charity (twin of Felicity)
Chanda
Chewe, Mercy (5)
Chililalila
Chiluba
Chola
Chungu (the cook, who was one of the first girls at the school)
Clarissa (dau of Ba Chali)
Daisy (5)
Dinah (Mary's sister, Kambole)

Eshnati
Fanny
Felicity (twin of Charity)

George, Bonaventure David Chileshe Washington 'Bunny' (Roman Catholic father clerk in town; mother died at birth) came from 400 miles away in Congo

Huldah (child of older girl at school)

John - son of Ba Honor

Jairus
Jeanne - 'little white Jeanne  at Kawambwa who came to see 'Murry' as she called Mary
Jennifer
Jess
Joy
Kabanda
Kabula, Hilda
Kapanga
Kasampa
Kathleen
Lombe, Nellie
Ludiya
Lupupa
Luse

Maggie
Margaret
Miriam
Monica
Mpongwe
Mukamba, Mary (big)
Mulenga, Rachel (teacher)
Mwaba
Mwila, Ana

Ponde
Pule, Ada

Ruthie

Sumaili
Susan - teacher of baby class

Tessie, Margaraet (head girl)

God's candelights, Mabel Shaw

'God's Candlelights, an educational venture in Northern Rhodesia'  is another book about the first Girls' School in Zambia, at Mbereshi (see my previous post here on Children of the Chief). This one is based on Mabel Shaw's letters dating from 1916 to 1933 during her time heading the school that (in her own words)

'tells of an attempt to conserve all that is true and good in the old life and to build upon it; and so to present the Christian faith to the community and to the individual that they see it not as the white man's religion... but through the familiar ways of their own thought and belief.'

This follows closely the idea expressed at the Le Zoute 1926 missionary conference that 'everything that is good in the African's heritage should be conserved, enriched and enobled by contact with the spirit of Christ'.

The Journal of the Royal African Society said in 1934 (Vol 33 No. 132) 'During her nineteen years of missionary work ... Miss Shaw has made a name for herself and for the school she has built up in Mbereshi. God's candelights is a record full of meekness, devotion and thanksgiving, of the patient sympathy which has led to that success - in which failures and difficulties are spoken with candour and triumphs with humility. If there was an Mbereshi in every African village, there would be no need, from Africa's point of view, for the pomp, the circumstance, and the heavy hand of colonial government.'

This is a fair summary of the book.  Although initially the narrative appears rather rose-coloured, there is also later admittance of where things have gone wrong and discussion of problems in the village and failings of her own and the children's.


There is a long waiting-list to join the school. In some cases parents return for years as they move up the waiting list, with only 6-8 children being admitted a year. For some this happens until their child is too old to join.

There is mention of some local customs, including the practice of killing a chinkula baby, one who is born with their top teeth appearing first, which is a bad omen.  One such child is saved from this practice.

Other customs we hear about include how fire is taken from one village to another, and of how fires are extinguished when somebody dies, a new fire is lit and then all fires are started from this new fire. Also we are told of the sprinkling of flour on the ground for various reasons, and spitting out the first mouthful of water.  A stick is placed in the ground for protection. A game the children like to play is tying a bird on a piece of string and whizzing it around until it dies (at least, before Mabel!)

The LMS were also against polygamy, beer drinking and 'certain inheritance rites', which newly baptised Christians agreed to refrain from. The last presumably refers to inheritance by a brother of a spouse on the husband's death. But Shaw also prefers to stand back from interfering in girls' coming of age rites until invited in by the older women, who it appears later abandon their traditions in this respect. 

We are told that Sanda, or insulting somebody's appearance, is taken as a serious offence. On one occasion a girl is made to wear large paper ears for suggesting another girl has large ears. The Bemba proverb is 'she who sandas spoils her own looks' but they also say 'the mother does not throw the bad child away'.  The last rain is called kunta nsoka, which translates as 'the shaking off of the seeds'.

When Mabel first arrives the children are usually married at 14, but she extends this to 18 during her time.  There is a maternity and children's hospital alongside the school buildings and dormitories. Infant mortality is high - about 45% of first babies die.

Northern Rhodesia, 1927

Other places mentioned are: Kasembe (Kazembe's village, 10km south), Mpolokoso (Mporokoso), Kawambwa, Mbala, N'kana (mine),  and Elizabethville (now Lubumbashi, DRC).

Mbereshi is close to the Luapula River, on the western border of Zambia, and we hear of people crossing the river.

As the map included here shows (from Funk and Wagnalls Atlas of the World, New York, 1927) Lusaka doesn't really register at this time, and Elizabethville is the largest town nearby. We also hear about people coming from Lake Mweru (here Moero), Lake Tanganyika, and a visit to Kalambo Falls. You can also see Fort Roseberry here (Mansa). See also the map here.

'Is it ready yet?' Hilda Katongo and Mary Livingstone

One of the girls makes a trip to Elizabethville to experience town life, and everybody at the school wants to learn about this exciting trip. Mbereshi itself is quite wild. Post is a treat and when Christmas bags arrive only carrying Bibles from the British and Foreign Bible Society, there is great disappointment.

Shaw hears an interesting legend from an older tribesman about the awe inspiring Kalambo Falls (which is more than twice the height of Victoria Falls). The man says that two chiefs were always fighting over who owned the gorge. Eventually 'the young wife' (the chief having many wives) with her first born on her back came one dawn and threw herself over, 'thus making it ours forever'.

There is quite a lot about Chief Kasembe and how his power has dwindled during the time of the school.  It is told that the previous Kasembe punished various people by mutilation, including removal of ears, nose, fingers, tongue and lips. Victims included Katayi and Mwaba.

A particularly good tale is of how Shaw was telling some of the young children the parable of the Good Shepherd. The children are paying rapt attention. When she is finished she asks them why the shepherd was looking for the lost sheep. One girl immediately pipes up Munani! (relish!) in other words, because he wanted to eat the sheep.

Names

Sometimes it is unclear whether a person is a teacher or student, particularly since children who had passed Standard II were given teaching duties themselves during their last year. Subjects taught included geography, biology, hygeine and arithmetic (counting and money).

The abbreviated names include Dr M, Nurse R (Rebecca? A Scots midwife perhaps) , Miss B, Miss S and Miss W.

The children are given English names alongside their Bemba names.  There are some unusual names recorded, not given by the school: Trotters, Comic, Bunkum, Giotto and Giovanni.

David Livingstone is still fresh in the memory and gets a couple of mentions.

Men 

Andreya (evangelist)
Bole-Bole (trips with Shaw, day watchman)
Chakota, Nelson (evangelist)
Joshua  (evangelist)
Kakula, Paul - witchdoctor turned apostle
Kansenga (kapitao at Kawambwa store, uncle of Grace Katunansa)
Kasembe, Chief
Kasokolo, Henry (ministry training since 1927)
Mapoma, helps transport cycle during trips
Nshimba (Chief, Chilwa Island, L. Mweru, muslim)
Ntundu, John
Solo, seems to be a leader of others on trips

Girls and teachers

Mostly first names are given so some guessing is involved here.

Amelia (became teacher, fell pregnant unmarried)
Ana

Banachimumbwa
Bwalya,  Leya
Bunyan, Johnny (nickname of girl from L. Mweru who arrived as a 4 yr old) 

Chama, Phyllis (head girl)
Charity and Felicity (twins)
Chilima, Bessie (sister of evangelist brother, fell pregnant, daughter Ruth?, later married)
Chilufya, Mary

Chipampa - joined school aged 4, punished for sanda
Chipepa, Alice
Chipili

Chishimba, Lise who married 'Timorthy Crocodile'
Chitoshi (girl, died)
Chomba (her house)
Chongo, Enesi (married at 15, went to Congo)
Christina (teacher)
Christine, daughter of chief's man
Chulunoma (watchman, old)
Chungu - Kasembe offered to marry her, visited Elizabethville, later deacon of church, first marriage failed, had daughter Betty
Constance, house-mother

Duncan, Mary
Ethel
Gracie
Hilda (and her dimples), perhaps Catholic, mother wears a St Christopher's - is it a charm? The chlidren debate.

Kabanda, Fane
Kabungo, Katie (daughter of teacher in American mission in Congo)
Kabwe, Ethel * (teacher)
Kabwe, Dinah (*sisters)

Kalulu (little girl, presumably nickname)
Kaoma, Rebecca (house mother)
Kapaya, Cicely (baby, mother died)

Katongo, Hilda
Kisha, Luse (teacher)
Kwenda, Mutemwa (old)
Livingstone, Mary (there is apparently another book telling her story)
Lumanya, Josephine
Lupambo, (polygamist man)
Lupapa
Lushiya

Malita (house-mother)
Mambepa (beaten by others when she became an 'elder', for her insolence when younger)
Margaret
Masala (has a child called Leya)
Masapanshi
Margery (teacher)
Mfuta, Mary
Milika (teacher, went to Elizabethville, later Ndola where she was a cook to a protestant missionary, married Mbereshi man)
Mulenga, Maggie
Mulenga, Rachel (mother was widow of evangelist, died, children Rachel and Tabita left to Mabel Shaw; marriage problems described)
Mumbi, Emily
Mpuya
Mubanga, Isobel (house mother)
Mubanga, Jessie
Mubanga, Nakulu (last words recorded)
Mupelwa (buried baby)

Mulengo, Lise - daughter of Lupambo from Wankie (S.Rhodesia) married about 1928, husband 'Light' died about 1932, remarried his brother Sambini by inheritance, had a child by each father. She was lame, saved a chinkula baby from destruction.

Musonda, Mariya (chinkula baby saved by Lise Mulengo), daughter Priscilla died aged 1.
Mutiyampa, Fane (has child called Hilda)
Mwambwa, Mary
Mwansa
Mwenya (oldest girl? school matron? Girls' teacher at puberty, chimbusa; she was rescued from an Arab slave caravan)

Namusonda
Nellie (baby boy burial)

Ntinda, Rebecca (matron and midwife?)
Philemon, Mercy

Rachel (teacher)
Ruth (golden-haired, 'half-caste' girl)

Safila and Susan (girls who were good at weaving)
Sela
Shi-Chongo (man of the village)

Zipa

Deaths remembered on All Saints' Day

Chipola, Agnes
Chitoshi, Agnes
Kapaya
Kabesi
Malita
Mwamba, Mary and her little son Michael