That’s alright
Every
conversation seemed to end with these words - the words of a great hearted man
who had an infectious optimism for just about everything. But now he has died.
Brother Canisius Chishiri, a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), died in
his sleep on Thursday morning, 6 November, after a nine year battle with
cancer.
He
was extraordinary and deserves a little write up. He was born in Nyamaropa in
1948 and felt a calling to devote his life to the service of God and his people
early on. His parents were against his plans. He was the eldest of eight and
maybe they felt other responsibilities awaited him. But he “left father and
mother” - who were later delighted by his choice of life - and pursued his way
as a Jesuit.
During
the war he worked with Christian communities in the rural areas, supporting
them and training them in their faith and the challenges they faced. With the
coming of peace he met people who were traumatised. Many were displaced by the
war. Many had seen their relatives killed before their eyes and been told not
to weep or mourn or talk. These people were physically and psychologically
stranded.
Canisius,
whose formal education was minimal set about carefully selecting some helpers,
mainly mature women, and inviting these sufferers to “Rehabilitation Retreats”
or “Crying Retreats” as they were sometimes called. The first step after
gathering the people was to let them cry and weep and wail as they had never
been allowed to do until then. Their bottled up emotions were given the chance
to come out and for the first time they were able to mourn.
Then
Chishiri and his helpers would invite them to speak and to share their pain
with one another. Those for whom their experience was just too painful were
given one wise counsellor to whom they could talk privately. The third stage
was to begin to rebuild through scripture, prayer and practical help with
projects. Heaven knows how many people were rehabilitated in this way after the
war.
Later
Canisius went to St Paul’s Musami, near Murewa, where he opened a home for
handicapped people, ‘wobblies’ as he called them, and this Arrupe Centre
continues to this day. The last great work of Chishiri was to found Zambuko
House, a home for street children in Hatfield. The aim here was to welcome
children who found themselves on the streets of Harare and try to reunite them
with their parents while giving them a start in life through skills or formal
education.
All
of these initiatives were done by a man with no degrees or education beyond
primary level, and even that was by correspondence. He was a man of great heart and great faith.
He educated himself. He read. He prayed. Nothing was beyond his imagination and
no obstacles daunted him. As already mentioned his last years were dogged by
illness but he was never self-pitying, never complained. His constant comment;
“That’s alright.”
9
November 2014
