Zamtropia had a serious hunger problem.  The people, especially the 80% who were below the poverty line, were suffering greatly.  They were very hungry.

But Zamtropia was a country with several nice rivers and lakes and it bordered on the Atlantic Ocean.  Plenty of fish were available.  And fish provides a very good protein supply.

The Ministry of People’s Development and Neo-Liberal Planning suggested that perhaps some steps should be taken to develop fishing in order to meet the needs of the people for food.

EFFORTS AT FISHING

The Joint Council for Trying to Recover (JCTR) took up the challenge and received large grants from external donors to develop the fishing industry by encouraging many people to fish in order to provide food for the hungry people.

An initial study was done by the JCTR on the history of fishing, tracing the various ways in which people have fished over the years.  The study was launched at a press conference followed by a meal.  But no fish was served, since no one had done any fishing.

Then a theological reflection was done on the ways in which fishing is talked about in the Old and New Testament and how prominent theologians have examined fishing.  A study guide, “The Practice of Fishing in the Scripture and the Church’s Social Teaching,” was published with 10,000 copies in English and seven local languages.  These were widely distributed for use in small Christian communities.  But no one actually went fishing.

Because it was seen to be important to find out what other countries were doing about fishing, a Study Team was set up to tour ten countries around the world.  (The tour was delayed because of disputes over travel allowances but this was finally solved.)  The Study Team came home and announced that fishing was indeed a very important activity around the world for meeting the needs of the hungry people.  But no one on the Study Team did any fishing.

Upon recommendation of the Study Team, a series of workshops were held for government officials, NGOs, church representatives, etc., to raise their awareness of the importance of fishing.  These workshops went on for several months in nice hotels and tourist resorts around the country, with very impressive reports and plans coming out.  Serious follow-up was made by scheduling additional workshops.  But no one started to do any fishing.

It was then decided to set up a new NGO to deal with this issue and Civil Society for Fish Retrieval(CSFR) was established, with provincial teams in various parts of the country.  People were allowed to offer input into the government’s long-range plans for fishing, and many local teams were trained in ways of monitoring fishing in the country.  But this latter exercise was very difficult, because no one had actually begun to fish.

The University of Zamtropia (UNZA) established a Department of Fishing, offering a B.S., M.A. and PhD in “Fishacology.” Special bursaries were set up to attract students and “practicals” (industrial breaks) were designed so that the students could go out and find out what people were saying about fishing.  But they could not actually see people fishing because not one was doing any fishing.

The President of Zamtropia frequently spoke about the new deal of emphasising fishing to really develop the country.  He emphasised “zero tolerance” on any corrupt practices relating to fishing (e.g., catching too many fish for personal gain).  But it turned out that there weren’t too many corrupt practices because no one was fishing.

Because it was known that good boats would be needed for fishing in the lakes and rivers and ocean, several contracts were tendered to build fishing fleets.  These fishing fleets were designed with very high technology equipment and were very fast in moving around chasing the fish.  But before they could be put to their intended use, they were taken over by the government to provide several Cabinet Ministers with good travel resources to reach their constituencies in some remote parts of Zamtropia (though these constituencies did not actually have any lakes or rivers).  So no one used these good boats for fishing.

A church-sponsored group, Concerned Citizens for Juicy Fish Protein (CCJFP), launched a research project to analyse the protein content of the local fish to see if the needs of the hungry people of Zamtropia could be met.  Special laboratories were set up in parishes around the country and training programmes for local people’s empowerment in this research were begun.  But difficulties arose when it was discovered that in fact there was no local fish to be analysed because no one had done any fishing.

The first PhD graduates from UNZA in “Fishacology” decided to try some fishing and they actually caught a few fish which they promptly ate.  They were awarded a special recognition by the government and given tenured jobs at the university.  But they did not do any more fishing.

THE STRATEGIC PLAN

Because some citizens were raising questions about the availability of fish to satisfy their hunger, the JCTR (Joint Council for Trying to Recover) decided to hold a Strategic Planning session to look at better ways of promoting fishing.  They spent several days re-designing their mission statement, designing new log frames and preparing funding proposals.  “Inadequate Fish Supplies” was identified as the focal problem.

And although they held their session at LakeKariba resort, no one did any fishing.

Peter Henriot, S.J.
JCTR Staff
Lusaka