Paul Mushindo

Reverend Paul Bwembya Mushindo (born 1896) was a Zambian minister of the church, teacher, writer and politician. He translated the Bible from English to Bemba language, a task that took him 53 years.

Early life and education

Rev Mushindo was born in 1896. Both his mother and father were members of the Bemba royal family. His father Mr Mushindo was a first nephew of Chiti Kafula, one of the important members of the Bemba royal household. His mother, Kapolyo Mwaba was the daughter of Chief Mwaba Kabundi of the Ngulube clan in the Bemba district of Nkulungwe.

Like many Zambians who went to school in his time, Rev Mushindo graduated as a teacher and taught at the Church of Scotland school at Lubwa Mission near Chinsali Boma and at Shiwa Ng’andu where he met Sir Stewart Gore-Browne, a colonial settler who genuinely and steadfastly supported African advancement and emancipation.

While working as a teacher, he proceeded to Livingstonia, the present day Malawi where he studied theology and qualified as Minister of the Church of Scotland.

Church ministry

He was instrumental in the formation of the United Church of Zambia. He was ordained Minister of the Church of Scotland in 1947.

In 1971, at the accession ceremony for Chitimukulu Bwembya, Rev Mushindo became the first Christian minister to be asked to speak at the traditional rites. It was a great expression of the respect that the Bembas had for his knowledge of their traditions and history as it was also a confirmation of his aristocratic ancestry.

Rev Mushindo retired as Minister of the Church of Scotland in 1965 but volunteered to continue evangelising in order to help the growth of the United Church of Zambia.

Translation of the Bible

When he was headmaster at Lubwa, he worked at the school from 07:00hr to 12:30 and then after an hour’s rest. He would spend from 13:30hr to 17:30hr on the huge task of translating the Bible from English to Bemba language, a task that took 53 years to complete. The translation of the Bible led by Reverend Robert McMinn started in 1913 at Mpandala and was only completed in 1966 at Lubwa.

Political career

Sir Gore-Browne encouraged many Africans to take an active part in politics and supported their education. He was responsible for the sponsorship of Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula’s studies at Makerere University in Uganda. It appears Sir Gore-Browne’s influence led Rev Mushindo to develop interest in politics. In 1944, Rev Mushindo was appointed a member of the Northern Rhodesia African Representative Council for the Northern Province and later became its chairperson. During debates in the council, he consistently opposed the establishment of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

In 1950, he joined Donald Siwale, the chairperson of the African Welfare Societies, in advocating African rule in Northern Rhodesia and spoke on many other subjects that affected the livelihood of the people of his area. For example in 1948, he called on the government to establish a secondary school in Northern Province and campaigned for better prices for African foods and for an increase in the size of land allocated to peasant farmers.

Bare feet

All that time, Rev Mushindo walked and cycled barefoot. Nobody remembers the exact date when he stopped wearing of shoes, but the incident which led him to stop wearing shoes is well remembered and collaborated by many who lived with Rev Mushindo.

One day, it happened that while at Mpandala working on the translation of the Bible in the 1940s, a hawker passed through Rev Mushindo’s office selling some merchandise which included a pair of shoe. Rev Mushindo bought without knowing that it was stolen somewhere. A few days later, the hawker was arrested and he revealed that he had sold the shoes to the Reverend. The hawker was taken to Mpandala where Rev Mushindo was found wearing the shoes. After hearing the story and the confession of the hawker, Rev Mushindo took off the shoes and handed them back to the owner and, vowed never to wear shoes again. He stuck to this decision until his dying day. He never forgot the incident, which he even made as his main theme in many of his sermons.

He always warned people against stealing saying in Bemba: "Nga waiba ilaya lika kulaya umweo, Nga waiba akaputula kakakuputula umweo, Nga waiba insapato shikakusapulula umweo." (If you steal a shirt it will steal your spirit, if you steal a short, it will break your spirit, and if you steal shoes, they will desecrate your spirit).

Books

It is incredible that Rev Mushindo had time to write books despite his heavy days. He wrote three Bemba titles, Imilumbe Nenshimi (Riddles and Folktales), Amapinda Mulyashi (Proverbs in Conversations) and Ulubuto Mumfifi (Light in Darkness) and two English titles, A Short History of the Bemba and the Life of A Zambian Evangelist: the Reminiscences of Reverend Paul Bwembya Mushindo. Historian Andrew D Roberts describes Rev Mushindo’s A Short History of the Bemba as a ‘very important source for Bemba history up to the death of Chitimukulu Chitapankwa in 1883.’

Another writer Audrey I Richards describes the book as “the fullest version of Bemba traditions to be written by a Mubemba and the people of Zambia will be grateful to Mushindo for writing down these traditions before the old men and women who could remember the past had died one by one, taking their memories with them.”

Rev Mushindo was able to collect the traditions of the Bemba because he spent his childhood in the royal palace of two Chitimukulu; Sampa and Makumba. His works made him a venerable figure among the missionaries and the people alike were called upon to lead prayers and deliver historical accounts at many important functions.

Honours

In 1947, Rev. Mushindo was honoured by King George of England for his contribution to society.

Death

He set up temporary residence at Mulashi Primary School which lies about three kilometers from Mpika town along the Great North Road. It was while he was cycling back from an evangelisation trip back to Malashi that he was killed in a hit and run road accident in December 1972. The car was driven by a white couple who were never identified or found.

He is buried at the Lubwa cemetery where all the pioneers of the Church of Scotland Mission and School at Lubwa are buried.

The North Eastern Presbytery of the United Church of Zambia approved the construction of a memorial church at Malashi and the congregation that gathers there is known as the Paul Bwembya Mushindo Congregation.

References

• PAUL MUSHINDO’S GREAT LEGACY DESERVES PROPER RECOGNITION Times of Zambia, 8 July 2014