The Jewish community in Northern Rhodesia was composed of the early pioneers, mainly from Eastern Europe, that came in the late 1800s followed by those escaping the Holocaust. While it may be 2 different stories they are linked as the established Jewih pioneer families provided support and assistance to help the refugees get established. While there obvoiusly was sympathy it was not entirely frictionless, the pioneer families did feel some of the refugees were a bit soft, remember many of the pioneers came on the back of ox wagons and had endured the Great Depression, malaria and other hardships in an unforgiving land. 25% of the burials in the early cemeteries in Northern Rhodesia are shown as babies in the registers, that does not include those that were children.
Northern Rhodesia was very proud of the fact they never turned away a refugee, a tradition Zambia continues to this day, a claim some other countries can not make. There was also a large Polish refugee population during WWII.
I think having one project for the region is fine, particularly in the case of Northern Rhodesia/Zambia it my opinion it creates a divide in the community. But the decision is obviously one for the Jewish community to make, I am not Jewish, just interested in the history of NR.
