10 Things You Didn’t Know About Alice Lenshina

Alice Lenshina was a Zambian woman and self-appointed “prophetess” who is noted for her part in the “Lumpa Uprising”, which claimed 700 lives.
She was born Alice Mulenga Lubusha in 1920 in the Chinsali district of the northern province of Northern Rhodesia.
Alice was her baptismal name, while Mulenga was her traditional African name.
Lenshina founded and led the Lumpa Church, a religious sect that embraced a mixture of Christian and animist beliefs and rituals.
Shortly after Zambia became independent under President Kenneth Kaunda, she and her followers were engaged in the so-called “Lumpa Uprising”.
Lenshina was a member of the Church of Scotland until she became very ill with cerebral malaria in September 1953 and fell into a deep coma.
Lenshina preached a Christian doctrine with baptism as the only observance.
She attacked witchcraft and sorcery, and condemned the consumption of alcohol and the practice of polygamy.
A grand temple was built at Zion (the name given to her home village) in 1958.
Gradually the revival became a witchcraft eradication movement and evolved into an independent church called the Lumpa Church in 1955.