- 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.
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Alice Lenshina
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