ZAMBIA — Kapembwa Village, along Lake Tanganyika in Zambia was known as one of the darkest communities bordering the lake because of the stronghold of witchcraft there, but thanks to the prayers and outreach efforts of OM missionary Clement Chama there are no longer any witch doctors in the village and some of them have even been completely healed and set free after they accepted Christ.

Clement Chama, OM Missionary in Kapembwa

Kapembwa was known as a dark village along the lake shore. People used to worship the spirit here. The spirit used to live behind this mountain. There were a lot of witch doctors in the village. If somebody is sick they say ‘Oh well, let’s take him to the witch doctor’. Even if he has got Malaria they say ‘No it’s not malaria, he’s been witched’.

So every time when people want to go fishing they will use magic. It was not very easy for me to start doing the work of God. Cause that was too much darkness in the village.

So what I did I said no, I will not start doing anything. Let me just pray asking God. For three months I was not doing evangelism. After three months that when I started evangelism. Through my lifestyle they started seeing something different. So a lot of people, they believed, and say yeah your Jesus is strong. Because as we are using charms, but we can’t do anything.

Through prayer we’ve seen the lives of people changed. Like Mulima, Martin, Joseph these are the guys that came close to me and they have been discipled. And today they are different and they are doing the work of God and they people say yeah these guys they have been changed. Because Mulima was the secretary to the witch doctors, but he is changed.

As time goes on we have Ba Francis, he also converted into Christianity. He was a witch doctor.

Francis, Church Member

I was a witch doctor and witch finder with charms. I offered people charms that brought fortune and success in fishing. I was the most powerful witch doctors in Kapembwa. All the others were under me. I came to know Jesus when I started to have problems. I was not able to help myself using witch craft.

My problem was a swollen leg and it was getting bigger. Even when I apply medicine it didn’t work. That’s when I went to the missionaries. I pleaded for them to come to my home to share the truth and heal me. If I died without truth, they would be accountable. When they came to my house, I fully surrendered my charms to follow Jesus. They prayed for me and I was healed through prayer not medicine. Now I go to church and learn about the Bible. I meet the missionaries three times a week.

Even when I am sick, they come to visit me and encourage me through the Bible.

Clement Chama

So through prayer things have changed in Kapembwa. In Kapembwa we have no witch doctors. Maybe one can come today and lift his banner after two or three days he will leave this place. The witch doctors that were living in the village when we started praying they started seeing that no, their prayers are neutralizing the powers of the charms that we are using so they started running. As it is now we don’t have a witch doctor.

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About Operation Mobilisation (OM)

Operation Mobilization started in the summer of 1957 when George Verwer and two friends sold their possessions to raise money for a trip to distribute Christian literature in Mexico. From this first trip, the small team began to share their vision to mobilize Christians from around the world to reach the nations. As hundreds of Christians responded, the Operation Mobilization movement was born.

Today, over 3,300 OM workers, representing over 100 nationalities, are bringing God’s love and truth to millions every year.