Mutima Walowa member bitter

co.zm” class=”f”>Zambia Daily Mail by Online Editor on 6/8/13

By CHAMBO NG’UNI and NOMSA NKANA
A MEMBER of the Mutima Walowa wa Makumbi church (The Sweet Heart of Nimbi) is bitter with her parents for having misled her to be a member of the church since she was a child.
The 35-year-old woman of Ndola says she is happy that the Sunday Mail in its Sunday In-depth exposed the perplexing practices of Mutima Walowa church, adding that it is good riddance that the Registrar of Societies has decided to ban the church.
The woman, who claimed that she was on her way to Lusaka but decided to make a stop-over in Kabwe to give an interview to the Sunday Mail on Tuesday around 12:00 hours said, “What you wrote is the truth. This church should be banned.”
While admitting having participated in some rituals of the church-including, ‘praying’ while in the nude, she said there are many practices in the church which were difficult for her to explain in details.
“Yes, I participated in prayers while in nude state,” she said. “Those things are true; all people present at such meetings were required to undress as demanded by rituals.
“I was just going to that church ignorantly…to be honest my mother misled me. My friends are working and as for me, I have realised now when it’s too late,” she sadly said.
The woman, who sought anonymity for fear of being victimised by members of the church and her mother, said the dark practices of her church have affected her life.
The woman, who only revealed her first name, could not reveal the identities of her parents, her husband or her siblings, saying if her identity was known, she would find herself in trouble.
“I need spiritual help because I need to be free and do something worthwhile with my life because if I am not helped and also remain in that marriage, I will continue suffering,” she said.
She said her deceased grandparents were members of the church and her parents followed suit.
Because of her parents’ religious convictions, she and her siblings were automatically members of the church.
She said her parents married her off in the church at the age of 16 and she has two children with her husband.
She, however, said her two elder sisters ditched the church some years back and they refused to be married off in the church.
She said her mother is a staunch member of the church and believes everything that the church does.
“When I am saying I am hurt, there is no way I can start telling lies….To my mother’ everything this church does is normal, and as children we were blindly following. We were afraid of saying anything because we were told we would get mad or die and even have a troubled life,” she said.
Asked if she was still a member of Mutima Walowa Church, she hesitantly said she had not been going to this church for the last two months.
She said when her husband was not at home, she would go to attend mass at the local Roman Catholic Church. However, some members of the church who spotted her would report her to her husband.
She also said she is now on separation with her husband, and she wants their marriage to end.
She further lamented: “I am now 35, I have realised when it’s too late and I don’t know how I will live my life; only God knows…problems in marriage come one after another and in this church you can’t take your problems like other churches do to seek counsel.”
Meanwhile, Acting Chief Registrar of Societies Kakoma Kanganja has lashed out at members of re-deregistered Mutima walowa church for accusing him of being influenced by the Sunday Mail in his action to ban the church.
Mr Kanganja said the church was de-registered in 1999 and the Sunday Mail had nothing to do with the closure then and now.
He said his office has on record, reasons the church ,was earlier de-registered in 1999, reasons which were advanced to the church then and also on May 24 this year when it was re-deregistered.
Mr Kanganja has, however, commended the Sunday Mail for exposing the activities of the church without which the church would have still been operating illegally.
“Despite the church having been de-registered, it was still operating and this was brought to light by the Sunday Mail. Be informed that we do not do our work at every whim as we operate professionally and according to the law which we followed when we re-deregistered Mutima,” he said.
Mr Kanganja has also warned that it is illegal for a de-registered society to be found operating in other premises.