However, the Christian presence in India is very strong and Father Kuriakose Kozhikkadan of the Holy Cross Catholic Church in Gaborone is a living testimony in Botswana. He grew up in a Christian family in India’s Kerala state. His younger brother is a priest while one of his sisters is a nun. Kerala is a Christian area and the residents believe St Paul once visited it.
The 49-year-old Kozhikkadan moved to Africa 20 years ago. “I read in a German magazine about the challenges of living in Africa and I was interested. I applied to Rome and was transferred to Zambia where I spent 18 years,” he says. In Zambia, he stayed in a rural area with no electricity and running water and the community came together to build him a multi-purpose mud house. He says he helped in the building of a church in the small village of Mokuni near Victoria Falls.
Moving to Botswana two years ago, Father Kozhikkadan found a different society. He says that many people in Botswana seem uninterested in Christianity because they are just idle and drink on Sunday mornings. He says young people are the worst abusers of alcohol and they need guidance. Speaking in both Setswana and English, the priest says he finds language very important because it is the only way one can communicate with others to be able to hear their problems and assist where possible.
Now that Africa has become his home, Kozhikkadan says he holds prayers with some of his compatriots once a month and visits India once in three years. He says that local people were surprised when they learned he was a priest.
