Vicariate Apostolic of Ingwavuma

From the Memoirs of Fr John LeMay
of the time when he was Brother Jack,
in the early days of the Servite mission in Zululand.

2. Hlabisa c. 1960
Hospital, bees, confirmations, fire!

Hlabisa township; what was and what is...
Hlabisa is the Zulu word for slaughter. What took place there to give it that name I don't know. At one time Hlabisa was the headquarters of the magisterial district. Once the railway reached the town of Mtubatuba the town of Hlabisa lost its important position. The American Lutheran Mission, however, took it over for service and built a hospital. While I was stationed at Hlabisa I had a chance to need their service. While building our mission house I seriously cut my left hand index finger. Doctor Hall did a good job of suturing and saved my finger.

Now a more dramatic story. I was driving on the straight uphill road to the mission when I was surprised to see quite a few children from the mission running down the road frantically waving their hands. Well, I thought, That is a surprise welcome! As they got closer to the truck I could see the reason for the excitement. -They were covered with bees. I stopped the truck and went immediately and tried to kill the bees, only to be attacked myself. I don't really know what happened since I went into a confused state. Somehow Fr Hayden was able to get the children and me to the hospital. We were given injections to prevent further swelling. What a mess we were! Thankfully none of us was allergic to bee stings, which can be fatal.

From the Memoirs of Fr John LeMay
of the time when he was Brother Jack,
in the early days of the Servite mission in Zululand.

1. Ingwavuma c. Nineteen-fifty-something...
Learning Zulu, the cattle sale, making blocks, a snake

The teacher was very good and patient. The beginning classes were very simple; we would point to some object asking What is that? And she would tell us what it was in Zulu. We wrote the word down in our assignment books.
Home work: memorize the words and be ready for the next class.
As the classes got harder we weren't always prepared. So we would look for some diversion. We would ask questions about grammar, hoping for a long explanation, but she would catch on and scold us.

(Isaiah 25:8-9)

From the Archive

Ingwavuma parish extends some thirty-five miles to the south, east and north. It is a big area, with not too many Catholics. I am in charge of what we call an Out-station. These are places some thirty-five miles from the main mission in Ingwavuma. They are taken care of by the priest of the parish. Such places may have their own church building, small communities, but no priest in residence. The priest comes along every two weeks to celebrate Mass; he visits the people's homes during the week.

MPALA
Mpala is a little place some twenty-five miles from Ingwavuma. It has no church building. It is on what we call the Veld. This is very flat land. It stretches for miles and miles along the Mozambique border. It is a very hot and humid area. Malaria is a common disease here, causing many deaths. People have no tap water, electricity, phones or tarred roads. The things that folk from overseas take for granted. It takes me nearly an hour to get to this particular home. The road being gravel is very dusty and bumpy, due to the pot holes and the variety of stones strewn all along the way. Other hazards are donkeys, goats and cows on the road. These are liable to jump out in front of your truck, or simply to stand in the roadway. Even when you blow your horn at them, they pay no attention. You just have to manoeuvre around them.