Dominican Missionaries in Zambia don't waste time on despair. They are too busy educating the girl child, building hospices for AIDS patients and transient homes for children without families, establishing and maintaining rural health clinics, barefoot schools, youth movements, and well-baby programs. They are educating over 500 of the poorest children in a community school built of shipping containers-- old versions of the containers we find on 18-wheeler trucks on our highways! These Dominican women are helping to transform two former neighborhood taverns into community schools. Hot, crowded, lacking in educational resources, yes: but these schools are providing children with a nourishing meal every day and teaching them skills and disciplines that will make a difference. The same is true of the boarding schools, the health clinics, the youth movements, and the transient homes: seeds of hope planted daily in the rich soil of Zambia by Dominican women who simply refuse to give in to the facts.

Members of the Zambia region barely seem to notice that their sharply distinct German and African cultures should make getting along together nearly impossible: they can often laugh at their differences, and their mutual affection and respect are evident. Their confident acceptance of diversity enables them to meet separately as Africans and as Germans for one weekend each year. The community's musical common prayer is a beautiful blend of European harmony and African rhythm. Quite a witness to the power of Dominican community! That witness was expanded further by the discovery of deep bonds of tradition, affection, and respect with the Dominicans "from America."  written by Claire McGowan, OP