The Malawian brothers in the area had organized themselves into eight villages. They had gained much experience in adapting to a new life-style in the bush and had developed their skills in building houses, Kingdom Halls, and even Assembly Halls.

Why the Halls Fell

The Malawian brothers in the camps had enjoyed considerable freedom of worship. When the Mozambican brothers arrived, they initially benefited from this. Each day, they would gather in one of the large Assembly Halls for a consideration of the day’s text. It was often a Malawian circuit overseer who presided. “It was strengthening,” recalls Filipe Matola, “after months of imprisonment and traveling, to hear spiritual exhortations in the company of so many brothers.” However, this relative freedom did not last.

On January 28, 1976, government authorities, accompanied by soldiers, went through the villages and announced: “You are forbidden to worship or pray in these halls or anywhere else in the villages. The halls will be nationalized and used by the government as it sees fit.” They ordered the brothers to bring out all their books, and then they confiscated these. Of course, the brothers hid what they could. Following this, flags were raised in front of each hall, and soldiers were stationed as guards to ensure compliance with the decree.

Although the halls were built of stakes and appeared rustic, they were quite strong. Yet, in a relatively short time, all of them began to disintegrate. Xavier Dengo remembers that on one occasion he and the administrator had just arrived at one of the villages when the hall actually began to collapse, even though it was not raining nor was the wind blowing. The administrator exclaimed: “What is going on? You people are bad. Now that we have nationalized the halls, they’re all falling down!” On a later occasion, the administrator said to one of the elders: “You must have prayed for the halls to fall down, . . . and your God made them fall.”

Organization in the Villages

Nine Mozambican villages sprang up parallel to and facing the existing eight Malawian villages. These two groups, united by the “pure language,” would live together for the next 12 years. (Zeph. 3:9) The area of each of the villages was divided into blocks, lined by well-maintained streets, each block encompassing eight plots of approximately 80 feet by 110 feet [25 m by 35 m]. The congregations were grouped according to blocks. After the ban had been proclaimed in the camps, they could not build conspicuous Kingdom Halls. So, instead, they built special L-shaped houses to serve the purpose. A widow or other single person would live in these to give the appearance that they were residences. Then, when meetings were held, the speaker would stand at the corner of the “L” and thus be able to face the audience on either side.