Mount Zion and Sanje Hill

One of the highest points on the Christian Vision Farm is Mount Zion. I posted a photo of the steps leading up to the transmission tower on 'May Day in Zambia'. Recently, Andy managed to get hold of the keys to enter, so that I could take in the views from the top.

I don't know why the name 'Mount Zion' was given to this elevated point to the north of the site. Perhaps it resembles the temple mount in Jerusalem, which was known by the same name in the time of King David.

There are hymns about 'going up to Mount Zion', which are usually talking about the New Jerusalem in St John's vision given in Revelation, in the Bible. Perhaps those who laid the hundreds of crazy paving steps to the transmitter, sang songs about climbing up to Mount Zion and so it was named.

Whatever the reason, I think it is quite fitting, and the views right across the farm and out towards Lusaka are wonderful; miles and miles of uncultivated bush, making you feel very small indeed.

I took this photo of Andy standing on Mount Zion that day. It was approaching sunset and the western sky was already changing colour. If you look closely you will see a little blip on the horizon - that is Sanje Hill, a few miles away.

Andy left for UK on Saturday, so on Sunday I invited John and Antonio to climb Sanje Hill with me. Antonio declined, preferring to rest after an extra long week, but John was rather glad of a change of scene and the challenge of a climb.

Andy and I had climbed Sanje Hill in 1994 but I couldn't remember exactly how to approach it, so we drove towards the mound, parking the car nearby. There wasn't a direct path, but the bush was scorched, as though there had been a recent fire. We thought that perhaps local people set fire to the scrub to make charcoal for their fires at home. The undergrowth was not dense and quite easy to walk through. We both carried a stick to help us with the climb, and to move infront of us - just in case there was anything on the path.

As we started to climb we suddenly came across a man lying under a rocky area. He was a bit startled, but we introduced ourselves and said why we were there, asking if he knew the best way to the top. His name was Patrick and he proceeded to show us the path and then took us right to the top. It wasn't far, and although a bit steep in places, only took us about 30 minutes to reach the summit. I'm sure it would have taken us much longer if we hadn't had Patrick to help us.

Sanje Hill is an outcrop of a mineral containing significant iron ore. It is very heavy and I recently found out that it may soon be mined. A factory is being built for the processing of the iron ore and discussions have already taken place to discuss the effects on the environment and to those living nearby. It will mean blasting with its resultant dust, together with frequent heavy vehicles using the local roads.




The view from the top was wonderful, as I remembered, and we picked out the various sites around the farm. The road out to the Sable Sugar Plantation and factory towards the Kafuwe river was very clear and the thin blue line of river in the distance was just visible to us, but is difficult to pick out in a photograph.

Patrick is Nyanja, but spoke quite good English, and had been living on the hill for about a month, consulting with spirits. We asked him lots of questions trying to understand why he was on the hill and came to conclusion that he was training to be a witch doctor.

We asked him whether he had heard of Jesus Christ and what his understanding of God was. He was open to listening to us, but we are not sure he understood our explanations. He asked if we had brought him food from the farm. Unfortunately we didn't have any food with us, except a sweet, but shared our water with him, wondering where he could possibly get water from on this barren hill. When asked about food he said that local people brought him food and he traded with them. We asked what he traded and he said he cast out demons!

We told him about Christian Vision, that people who could speak Nyanja would be able to communicate with him better than us and would help him. He allowed me to take photos of him and wasn't afraid of the camera. He came from a village to the west, where Nyanja-speaking people lived but he didn't have a family. I would have liked to have talked for much longer and learnt more about him, but I was conscious of the time, now 3pm and thought we should be heading back.

Patrick took us down Sanje Hill, via an easier route and pointed out another road we could have taken. He was very open to us going back to see him, but I would like to take a Nyanja-speaking Zambian and some food to give him. I felt this was a real opportunity and made us realize how much work is still to be done to connect meaningfully with the local people near the farm.