The Role of Women in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mozambique

By Rumbidzai Chidoori

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mozambique (ELCM) is only 16 years old. With the assistance of Francisca Mavunduse,wife of the current ELCM missionary, Dean Hendricks Mavunduse, the women's group is growing in membership. The women's group has become active and mainly focuses on issues relating to HIV/AIDS.

It is mainly women who are directly affected and are more involveld in the fight against HIV/AIDS. They care for the sick and orphaned children. The women's group has managed to organize HIV/AIDS workshops at congregational and district levels and are planning to organise the workshops at a national level.


They also offer support in the form of feeding schemes for the children in their local communities whenever they can. They also conduct hospital visitations and offer emotional and psychological support through their prayer groups.

The women's group also speaks out against violence and abuse targeted at women and children. The group advocates for gender equality and power sharing. Currently the Church has two trained female evangelists and the majority of church members are women. Some of the women are lay preachers.

In November of 2004 the Church sent three representatives to the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA)Consultation for Women Leaders held in Johannesburg, under the theme "Gender Dimension of HIV/AIDS Pandemic.” This Consultation is held annually and is a platform for women leaders within the member churches to consult and share ideas. In June 2005 the Mozambican women's group sent two representatives to this event and they presented a report on the Role of Mothers within the Young Church in Mozambique.

Another huge challenge that is faced by the women in Mozambique is poverty. Most of the women are unemployed and the few that are self-employed survive by selling vegetables and fruits at the markets and at street corners. Most women are single mothers and they struggle daily just to feed their own children, many cannot afford to send their children to school. Thus it becomes extremely difficult to organise projects as they require funding, and these women can not afford to start the projects themselves as they have nothing to give. Furthermore illiteracy among the women makes it difficult for them to get jobs and thus they remain trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty.

The lack of proper infrastructure such as roads results in some areas being completely inaccessible and in most instances travelling from one district to another by car takes two to three days. Mozambique is a vast country, unfortunately the distances are quite long and the roads are bad, this poses a problem in that the women are unable to meet regularly in order to make progress.

Mrs Francisca Mavunduse has managed to assist the women to get their Church uniforms and to educate them about the structure of the church and what the Women's Constitution entails. The purple colour on the uniforms symbolises ' victory'. In an interview Mrs Mavunduse explained that the women's group is trying to find ways in which they can empower themselves in all aspects so that they can in turn empower others. She admits it has not been easy so far but she has faith in God's power and guidance to see them through to' victory'.