Prior to the 1970s, missionaries
provided distinguished services including education, healthcare and spiritual prayer.
Much of this has been lost. The purpose of this article is to give younger generations
an idea of what existed between 1900 and 1970 in order to enable them to
compare with what is going on in their churches at the moment. To this end, an examination
of services rendered by priests then in the Protestant church in the Rujumbura
area of Rukungiri district will be undertaken.
Priests worked full time on church
related matters, recruiting worshippers, teaching them to read the bible,
conducting marriage ceremonies, baptizing and confirming children and spreading
the word of God and counseling couples that faced challenges in their marriage.
They helped build churches and
schools or expanded existing facilities. They particularly encouraged children
of poor families to go to school as that was a sure way to get them out of
poverty and help their parents and relatives as well. They visited homes
regularly, counseling and praying with families and encouraging them to send
all of their children to school stressing that the long-term benefits to the
children and parents would outweigh the short-term ones like helping with
farming and other domestic chores or of getting girls married at an early age. They
would give examples of families that had improved their standard of living by
sending their children to school. They pointed to nurses and teachers as
examples to emulate. They urged parents to minimize drinking alcohol and other
wasteful expenditures such as marrying more than one wife to save money and
send their children to school. To enable
them remain energized at school and reduce absenteeism, children brought their lunch
from home. As examples to emulate, priests sent all of their children to
school.
Priests were disciplinarians as
well. To succeed in that noble task, they had to set a good example. They did
not drink alcohol, smoke or engage in extra-marital relations. They did not
embezzle church money for personal use. When they preached in churches or in
schools or counseled families, they did so with confidence because no one would
point a finger.
In schools, they preached hard
work, warned against premarital sex relations so that girls do not get pregnant
and terminate their education prematurely and produce illegitimate children.
They also stressed the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases and the
potential to render one infertile. They warned teachers against exploiting
school children. And those who did so were severely punished. Teachers were also
prohibited from drinking alcohol and smoking on campus. The discipline
inculcated in teachers and students enabled both to avoid all temptations which
would have affected their work and their learning respectively.
On Sundays church wardens made sure
that those who had a hung over were not allowed to enter the church or loiter
on church premises because they would set a bad precedent. Those who wanted to
smoke and could not wait until the service was over moved far away from church
premises. After smoking they chewed herbs to mitigate smoke odor. Priests’ premises were also out of bounds for
those who were drunk or smelled of tobacco.
Because of the great benefits in
after life as contained in the scripture, priests did not have the urge to
accumulate wealth on earth. Consequently, geed and corruption in churches were
very rare.
Spouses of priests played important
roles as well. As members of Mothers’ Union, they underwent training in the
basics of Home Economics. The courses included the preparation of balanced
diets to get enough carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals and fats; hygiene
which stretched from washing hands and dishes before serving and eating to keeping
the house and courtyard clean; using latrines which were fumigated regularly to
keep flies away, draining standing water to prevent breeding of mosquitoes, eating
cooked food and drink boiled water. To close windows and doors early in the
evening to shut out mosquitoes and other insects was emphasized.
Equipped with this knowledge, the
spouses taught the women in their parishes in collaboration with government
health officials. Most importantly, women were advised to only sell food that was
over and above domestic requirements and to store enough to hedge against potential
harvest failure in the next season.
The benefits were enormous. Poor
kids were able to go to school, some of them obtaining good education and jobs.
Scholarships helped bright kids from poor families to continue with their
education. Even those who did not have the opportunity to attend school learned
reading through the church which taught catechism.
Food and nutrition security
improved and combined with good hygiene reduced the incidence of disease and
mortality rates. Reduced levels of drinking and having one wife enabled parents
to save and send their children to school and diminished domestic violence and
crime. Sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies out of wedlock were
significantly reduced. These were wonderful days for parents and children. Priests
enjoyed enormous respect from their flock.