Bereaved mother’s recitations
‘just a revelation from God’

Dorothy Kafuliza, 54, who, after the death of three of her children in 1999, sought solace in the Bible and then developed the habit of memorising verses. She now has more than 24 chapters of the Bible committed to memory and leaves audiences speechless with her feats of memory. Blantyre, Malawi. Photo: BSMalawi (MAI04DJ-2.JPG)

BLANTYRE, Malawi — When her two eldest daughters died in what she describes as “unlikely circumstances”, Dorothy Kafuliza grieved her loss but on the whole took it fairly well. But when, in 1999, only hours after complaining of a headache, a third one, still a child and not long out of school, was taken from her, she reached breaking point.

At first she was tempted to seek help from one of Malawi’s many traditional doctors to find out what had caused the death of her child.

But Dorothy is a member of Likhubula Church of Central Africa Presbyterian church in Blantyre and friends from church who came to comfort her persuaded her to seek solace from the Bible instead. And through turning repeatedly to it, she found she could memorise a surprising number of verses – and even chapters – from its pages.“The first chapter I memorised following the death of my daughter was Psalm 137,” she remembers.

She is in no doubt about where her gift comes from. “It was just a revelation from God,” she says. “It is nothing to do with my intelligence or my educational level, because, although I can speak in halting English, I only went up to Standard Eight.”

What makes her gift unlikely in human terms is that at her age, people normally show signs of losing the faculty of memory. At 54, however, she now has more than 24 chapters of the Bible committed to memory. And when she starts narrating, she can astonish and move even the most hard-hearted listener.

She recently demonstrated her powers at an event the Bible Society of Malawi held to raise funds for the reprinting of the HIV/AIDS-related Portion entitled Living in Hope.

The audience at the prestigious Le Meridien Mount Soche Hotel, in central Blantyre, were spellbound as she recited verses from Deuteronomy and Joshua for a full ten minutes.

“I don’t just memorise verses, I memorise situational and circumstantial verses,” she explains. This applies to the increasing number of church events she now takes part in. “For example, if it’s about AIDS, I recite verses from Deuteronomy,” she says, breaking off into an unprompted demonstration.

At the beginning of a recitation, she announces the page of the Bible from which she will be reciting and the heading of the chapter or passage. Able to vary her tone of voice to suit the passage, she has proved to be a captivating storyteller. Memorising a chapter of around 50 verses takes her, on average, two to three days.

At the moment she has set herself the long-term aim of memorising the entire Bible, a feat which she knows may ultimately be beyond her. She also has plans to record verses on tape so that they can bring solace to others in the same way as they did to her during her misery in 1999. Meanwhile, the Bible Society, recognising in her gift a very special public testimony, wants to work with her at public events of all kinds. (WR 387/20 - 8/9.04)