Zimbabwean woman honored in Pittsburgh, USA

A Zimbabwean woman, Lois Mufuka Martin, the daughter of Professor Ken Mufuka and Mashura Mufuka, was awarded the Martin Luther King award for peace and justice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States.

Some civic organizations gathered at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on Martin Luther King’s day to honor Mufuka Martin, whom they now consider their very own.

These organizations included the members of the Baptist Convention, the Allegheny County Bar Association and the brotherhood of Black Attorneys affiliated to it and members of the WQED, a television station of Pittsburgh.

Ms. Lois, as she is lovingly known in the Pittsburgh area, received the highest honor the Allegheny Bar Association can give to a person who has exhibited qualities defined by the late civil rights leader, the Reverend Dr, Martin Luther King.

The Drum Major for Peace and Justice Award honors the work of Dr. King. In his instructions to fighters for peace and justice, Dr. King left these memorable words.

“I want you to say that I have tried to love and serve humanity

Say that I was a drum major for justice

Say that I was a drum major for peace

I was a drum major for righteousness

I just want to leave a committed life behind.”

The citation in honor of Ms. Lois says that she has served “in rapidly transforming communities in South Carolina, North Carolina and most recently in Pittsburgh as Chief Executive Officer of Bethlehem Haven, an organization that provides housing and supportive services to homeless women.”

What caught the attention of the community was Ms. Lois involvement of the community as a whole in the transformation of those people, “the least among us” as Dr. King called them in reengaging in society. Almost all religious denominations in Pittsburgh, including the Islamic Faith, played a part in the restoration of the lost ones.

In 2008, Lois was selected as a “Woman of Excellence” by the New Pittsburgh Courier in recognition of her efforts on behalf the people she served.

Ms. Lois is most proud of her work in 1999 as a governor’s appointee for the inaugural South Carolina First Steps to School readiness Board of Directors, a pre-school initiative that is still thriving in South Carolina.

Ms. Lois was born in Zimbabwe and attended Victoria High School in Masvingo. She moved to the US with her parents in 1984. He received a B.A degree from Lander University and a Master’s degree in Counseling from Clemson University. In 2011 she served on the White house Community Leaders Briefing.

In her response, Ms Lois referred to her roots among the Bantu-Ubuntu and the African concept that has guided her steps over the years.

“We are because you are,” she told her benefactors. Loosely translated, Ubuntu is the heart of Arican-ness, the idea that one sees their own reflection in others, and then only kindness can follow because one cannot be human by oneself. We are all inter-connected.”

Ms. Lois now serves as Vice-President for United way of Pittsburgh, an organization devoted to the uplift of those citizens of that great city who have fallen on hard times.

Ms. Lois is the grand-daughter of Salvation Army officers, Brigadier and Mrs. Elsie Mufuka. She is married and has two children.