It concerns the small village of Katondwe in south-western Zambia, where, in 1910, Polish Jesuits, among others, established the first Catholic mission there. The Jesuits then fled across the nearby Luangwa River from revolution-ridden Mozambique (then under Portuguese rule). Northern Rhodesia (present-day Zambia), part of the British Empire. This is how it all began!

The following decades were marked by the activities there of, among others, Poles, who, as part of the Jesuit mission in this mountainous and moderately hospitable area, helped the poor primarily in the basic necessities of life, as well as in religious life, as the order obliged them to do.

In 1939, the Polish Servite Sisters of Starówka arrived in Katondwe for the first time and joined the work of the Jesuits. A turning point came in the 1960s, when the first hospital was opened here, which has been looked after by the servant sisters since 1969.

At present, there are three Polish nuns working in Katondwe, who are ambassadors of Poland in charitable terms, through their work in the hospital, but also through the promotion of our culture, for example by teaching Polish songs in the local school or church and nurturing the memory of the Poles who used to work there.

Polish accents include testimonies of the activities of the Poles of the past 114 years, such as the cemetery where the Jesuits who used to work there are buried, including Father Jan Waligóra (1890-1968), who rendered great service to the community and is well remembered, and finally a number of Polish artefacts!

In the local church hangs the painting "Jesu, ufam Tobie" by Prof. Adolf Hyła, signed, dated 1957. Prof. Hyła painted a number of other paintings, and they can be found, for example, in Zakopane's Krzeptówki.

Where did Prof. Hyła's canvas in Katondwe come from? Most likely, after the Jesuit thread, it found its way to South Africa, from where the nuns in Katondwe, Zambia (in the late 1990s and early 2000s) applied to have it brought to the local church.

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